91 A. 684 | Md. | 1914
This is an action of replevin to recover ninety-eight machines of the variety commonly designated as "slot machines," a roulette wheel and the appurtenant mechanism, which had been siezed by the appellants as Police Commissioners of Baltimore City. At the time of the seizure all of the articles were in the possession of the appellee, in a single room, part of the first floor of a building on Born Alley, the remainder of the floor being occupied and used as a carpenter shop. The ownership of the property in question is not entirely clear. Some portion of the machines seem to have belonged to the appellee, while some may have been sent to him for alteration or repair. A small number of them had in addition to their main feature a musical attachment, or chewing gum attachment, but in all, the leading characteristic was the possibility held out for gambling and some of the machines at the time of seizure were susceptible of no other use. There is no evidence to show that they ever had been used by the appellee for such a purpose, either at the place on Born Alley or elsewhere.
The important question in this case is the right of the police authorities of the City of Baltimore summarily to seize and retain possession of these machines as a matter of preventive justice when no charge whatever of a violation of the laws of this State against gambling had at the time, or has at any time since, been made against the appellee, and there is no claim that they were required as evidence in any existing or contemplated criminal proceeding. It is contended on behalf of the appellants that a slot machine is per se a gambling device, and therefore,malum per se, and liable to confiscation in the hands of whomsoever found. The proposition as stated is too broad for this Court to adopt, in view of the decision in State v. Howell,
83 Mo. App. 198, and the language used by this Court in PoliceCommrs. v. Wagner,
The two Wagner cases,
In what has been said this Court must not be understood as holding that the police may not seize property for use as evidence, or that in a proper case and before a proper tribunal, they may not, upon a conviction, confiscate or even destroy the property so taken, but this case was not in a forum where the guilt or innocence of Michal could be established.
There was an exception reserved to the ruling of the trial Court in refusing to permit the plaintiff, Michal, on cross-examination, to answer the question, why he sold the machines outside of the State. Either this was a collateral issue, not germane to the case being tried, and for that reason properly excluded, or else it was intended to bear on the intent of the plaintiff. The intent of a person is often an important element in a criminal case and in some the intent is the gist of the case. In this case the intent could only be relevant to show that the plaintiff intended to make an illegal use of the machines, and what his intent was in that respect had already been fully testified to without objection. No reversible error can be predicated upon this ruling. Peters v. Tilghman,
Some question was raised that the Police Board could not be proceeded against by way of replevin to recover possession of goods illegally seized. But the same form of action was resorted to in the Wagner case, supra, and inferentially approved, and unless such an action is maintainable, the Police Board would be amenable to no authority, no matter how wanton and unjustifiable the seizure of the property of a citizen might be.
Judgment affirmed, with costs. *546