145 N.W. 1033 | N.D. | 1913
Lead Opinion
As early as chapter 72, Session Laws of 1899, the legislature of the state of North Dakota enacted laws relative to pure foods and honest weights. This legislation covers almost every article of food, — beverages, Paris green, paints, formaldehyde, and other articles too numerous to mention. The weight of a bushel of every kind of grain is specified, as well as the size of a gallon, quart, pint, etc., in liquids. The sheriffs of the various counties are given authority to examine and test scales and measures, and confiscate those found to be false. Among other subjects regulated is lard. In 1905 an act was passed providing that all articles of food should be considered misbranded if the package, bottle, or container did not bear the true net weight, name of the real manufacturer or jobber, and the true grade or class of the product, the same to be expressed in clear and distinct English words in black type on a white background. In 1907 this act was re-enacted with a few changes, to read as follows: “If every package, bottle, or container does not bear the true net weight, the name of the real manufacturer or jobbers, and the true grade or class of the product, the same to be expressed on the face of the principal label in clear and distinct English words, in black type on a white background, said type to be in size uniform with that used to name the brand or producer” [chap. 195], the same is to be considered misbranded, etc. This article applied to all food products as well as lard.
Chapter 236, Sess. Laws 1911, reads as follows: [Section 1. Food sold by weight, measure or count.] “Every article of food or beverage as defined in the statutes of this state shall be sold by weight, measure, or numerical count, and as now generally recognized by trade custom, and shall be labeled in accordance with the provisions of the food and beverage laws of this state.- Only those products shall be sold by numerical count which cannot well be sold by weight or measure. All weights shall be net, excluding the wrapper or container, and shall be stated in terms of pounds, ounces and grains avoirdupois weight, and all measures shall be in terms of gallons of two hundred and thirty one (231) cubic inches or fractions thereof, as quarts, pints, and ounces. Seasonable variations shall be permitted and tolerations therefore shall be established and promulgated by the food commissioner. Section 2, weight of lard. Every lot of lard or of lard compound or of lard substitute, unless sold in bulk, shall he put up in pails or other containers
The defendant is a corporation, with packing houses in Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, and other larger cities, doing a large business in the various lines incident to the packing trade. They maintain a branch establishment in the city of Eargo, in this state, in charge of a general manager. In October, 1911, Professor Ladd, state food commissioner, went to this establishment and asked to purchase 3 pounds of Armour’s Shield Lard. He was sold a pail which is one of the exhibits in this case, and which admittedly contained 2 pounds, 6 ounces of lard. Hpon complaint of the food commissioner, arrest was made under the provisions of the 1911 law. The purchase was made and the complaint filed with the direct object of testing the constitutionality of the law. The defendant admits the sale within the state of a single pail of lard, but urges that the law is unconstitutional and void in so far as it attempts to regulate the size of the pail, for six reasons given in the appellant’s
(1) The first contention is that the law is arbitrary, unreasonable, and not justified under the police power of the state. Thereunder appellant has advanced six arguments, and we will therefore subdivide this first subject, and discuss each of the reasons given under the designation of a letter of the alphabet. Before taking up those matters in detail a few general remarks may be useful. The lard sold in this instance was not adulterated, but misbranded under said statute, but the principles governing are identical. The questions of pure food and honest weights are inseparably allied, and any argument advanced upon one applies equally to the other. That the subject is well within the police power of the state is so well settled that it seems a waste of time to cite authorities at length, and we will therefore content ourselves with a few citations upon this general proposition. In the excellent work of Thornton on Pure Food & Drugs, § 3, we find: “At this day and age it seems scarcely necessary to state the ground upon which pure food legislation rests, nor to cite cases in support of it. The right . . . rests upon the police power of the state, which remains unimpaired by the Federal Constitution. ... It has not only the right, but it is a duty and obligation which the sovereign power owes to the public, and as no one can foresee the emergency or necessity which may call for its exercise, it is not an easy matter to prescribe the precise limits within which it may be exercised.” (§4) “For it is the settled doctrine of this -court that as government is organized for the purpose, among others, of preserving the public health and the public morals, it cannot devest itself of the power to provide for those objects, and that the 14th Amendment was not designed to interfere with the exercise of that power by the states.” The same author, speaking of the power
Keeping in mind, then, the extraordinary burdens of proof placed upon the defendant in this case in its attack upon this statute, we approach the facts in this case. As early as 1899 the legislature of this state provided for a food commissioner, and enacted pure food laws. Every session of the legislature since that time has contributed further legislation upon the subject. For nearly fifteen years complaining
(a) Appellant contends that chapter 195, Sess. Laws 1907, was amply sufficient to protect the commerce of the state against fraud, and that there was no necessity for the 1911 legislation, and the same is therefore void. We cannot agree with this proposition. The 1907 law was a re-enactment of the 1905 law, with a few amendments, and its text will be found earlier in this opinion. It provided that the net weight should be placed upon each package of food. The legislature was not confined to this remedy. They might repeal it and provide further regulations if they so chose. They had as much right under the police power to require even weights as they had to require the net weight to be printed upon the outside of the pail. This court has no right to interfere with legislation and say that one measure is superior to the other. During the last dozen years there has been a decided tendency of manufacturers to pack foods in cans and packages. Improved machinery and improved sanitary conditions have enabled foods to be packed cheaply and safely, therefore conditions have been changing year by year and legislation necessarily must change to meet them. The object of all net weight and measure laws is to prevent the opportunity for fraud. See Freund, Pol. Powers, § 274; Tiedeman, Pol. Power, § 89; People v. Wagner, 86 Mich. 594, 13 L.R.A. 286, 24 Am. St. Rep. 141, 49 N. W. 609; McLean v. Arkansas, 211 U. S. 539, 53 L. ed. 315, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 206. It is not material whether the defendant in this case was guilty of fraud in the sale of this particular
With this conduct of the packers well known to the food commissioner and legislature of this state, it was only natural that an effort be made to secure better laws upon the subject. People had been educated to call those 1, 3, 5, and 10 pound pails, as appears from the testimony of the defendant. Indeed, exhibit B in this case is a bill from Armour & Company to the Aneta Mercantile Company of Aneta, North Dakota, in which those pails were so designated by the defendant company itself. The purchaser was not able readily to extract the lard from the pail and weigh it. The lard was used from the pail itself in small portions, and the fact that the pail was included in the gross weight might not ordinarily occur to the housewife. The contention of the
(b) Defendant further claims the law to be unreasonable, because it had been its custom and the custom of the other packers for over twenty years to use gross-weight pails, and that it had therefore become a settled right of the trade. We do not believe this argument sound. The pails have been in use less than thirty years, while the lard industry has existed for many hundreds of years. Questions like this are not settled in a day, nor in thirty years. No reason is given why gross-weight pails were used in the beginning. Gross weight is unfair, always has been unfair, and always will be unfair. Net weight is fair and just, and should eventually predominate. It is hard to believe that the selection of gross-weight pails thirty years ago was not an attempt to deceive somebody. Gan it be possible that a thirty years’ tolerance of an evil forever thereafter forecloses mankind from seeking a remedy ? It may be that North Dakota now stands alone in this particular law; twelve years ago it stood alone, or almost alone, upon the entire subject of pure-food regulations. To-day there is scarcely a state in the Union that has not such legislation. Public opinion has forced this legislation, and it will force the net-weight legislation. Net-weight pails may be the rule, and not the exception in a very few years. While it is just that the consumer pay for the container, it is equally just that he should know how much container he was purchasing and how much lard.
(c) Defendant next contends that the law is unreasonable because it imposes an additional expense upon the packers in that they must furnish a different sized paid for North Dakota than is supplied to the rest of the states. Much evidence was introduced upon this point, but it does not appeal to us for two reasons: (1) There is no reason for furnishing other states with gross-weight pails, and (2) the evidence in this case shows that the defendant could comply with the North Dakota law with little extra expense. Mr. Nichols, superintendent of the defendant’s tin shops, was one of the witnesses, and upon cross-examination admitted that the firm of Park & Tilford, of New York city, had insisted upon receiving net-weight pails, and was being supplied with the same by Armour & Company during all the time of this litigation. He says: “Q. And you make net-weight pails for them now? A. Yes, sir. We make and fill them. . . . Q. For how long?
(d) It is next urged that the law is unreasonable because in any event the consumers are not prejudiced. That they are paying merely the price of tierce lard plus the extra expense of the tin pails, the handling of the lard in such small quantities, and packing the same. We think this argument fails, and again for two reasons. (1) The defendant does not sell to the consumer, but to middlemen. Conceding that defendant charges the middlemen merely for the actual cost of pails, we know that the middlemen would expect to profit upon his entire investment, and therefore the consumer would have to pay not the net cost of the container, but the middlemen’s profit thereon as well. In exhibit B defendant sold to the Aneta Mercantile Company 1 case of 3-pound pails. The case contained 20 pails, and the Mercantile Company was charged for 60 pounds of lard at 16 J cents a pound, or $10.13. When the Mercantile Company placed these pails upon the counter for sale they naturally added a profit upon the whole amount invested. They had purchased 47-J pounds of lard and 12-|* pounds of tin and had paid 16| cents a pound for the whole. When they sold the same the purchaser would be obliged to pay for the lard, with the profit thereon, to the Mercantile Company, and for the pail with the same profit to the Mercantile Company; and, while Armour
(e) It is next urged that the law is unreasonable in that other traders have been using gross-weight methods also. For instance, they claim that butchers weigh the paper along with the meat, and charge meat prices for the paper. To this we have only to say that if the statement is true, the butcher is dishonest in charging 25 cents a pound for paper that cost him less than a cent a pound. However, this would not help the defendant. The fact that the butcher may be dishonest in his business does not excuse dishonest methods in other lines, nor render unreasonable laws to regulate them.
(f) The defendant urges that the enforcement of this law will drive the packers to use bulk lard only, and that this is unsanitary. This is not in point. The packers have never supplied more than 40 per cent of the trade of this state. During the past two years the packers have withdrawn from this state with their pails, and there is no sign of any great damage to the state. We do not believe the packers will abandon North Dakota nor that it would ruin the state if they did.
Thus, upon complete analysis we find that the 1911 law is not unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious: that it has supplied a necessary piece of legislation and that it has worked no hardship upon the defendant in this case.
We think that we have given' reasons enough to sustain our position without reference to the decisions of other states, but upon an examination of all the authorities upon statutes in any way similar we find our position sustained by a large majority of the decisions. True, no state has a law exactly like our net-weight lard law, but other states have regulated similar articles, bread, corn meal, tobacco, molasses, etc., generally. We review a few of those cases. The state of Tennessee enacted a law requiring corn meal to be' put up in sacks containing 2 bushels, 1 bushel, -1 bushel, ¿ bushel, or % bushel respectively, and made it unlawful to pack for sale, or sell, or offer .for sale any corn meal in bags of other weights. This is almost identical in principle with the case at bar. This is a well-considered case collecting almost all of the authorities. Therefrom we quote: “Legislation for the prevention of fraud in weights and measures, especially in the sale of food and other essentials of life, was early enacted in England and is common in all the state.
(2) Taking up the second objection, the defendant claims the law unconstitutional because it interferes with the guaranties of the right of freedom of contract and of the equal protection of the law afforded
(3) The third contention of the appellant is that the statute constitutes the taking of property without due process of law. Much the same answer can be made to this that has been made in article 2. In the case at bar no property has been taken without due process of law.
(4) The fourth claim of appellant is that the 1911 statute is void as class legislation; that lard is singled out from all the articles of food and subjected to restrictions while being prepared for market. To this it need only be said that the law of 1911 as well as many preceding laws regulated fhe manner of selling every article of food and beverage. Lard, lard comporinds, and lard substitutes being sold largely in pails, required a particular regulation not necessary for the regulation of such articles as butter, eggs, milk, and cream. The regulation of the size of the pail is but an incident of the law. The fact that all foods are subject to regulation to prevent the opportunity for deceit is the main idea of the law. In appellant’s brief the argument is made that the 1911 law is discriminatory in that it prescribes no regulations for such
(5) The fifth claim of the defendant is that the law is in violation of the commerce clause of the Federal Constitution. In this we believe that appellant is again mistaken. The power of Congress and the power of the state are two distinct and separate things. Thornton, in his excellent word on Pure Food and Drugs, says in his preface: “In the last few years great interest has been taken in the subject of pure food.....The Federal pure food and drugs act of June 30, 1906, has acted as an incentive for state legislation on the subject of foods and drugs. . . . Owing to the complex systems of government under which we live, the states were not able to protect their inhabitants as effectually as was necessary or desirable. They had no power over food that entered into interstate commerce, until it was too late adequately to protect the consumer. The Federal pure food and drug act of June 30, 1906, is intended to cover the point which the states were not able to reach, and it has been far more efficacious in its provisions than perhaps the law of any state has been for its own citizens. But the Federal statute does not by any means reach all instances of adulterated foods
Whether or not the sale in this instance was an interstate or an intrastate sale becomes important in detenninng whether the prosecution should be under the Federal or the state laws, and for this purpose we refer to the testimony in this case. Mr. Howe, general manager of the Omaha plant, testified that they had a branch office in Fargo, North Dakota, to which point carload lots were shipped, to be later broken up and distributed to the smaller towns of the state. Sales were not made to their customers in carload lots, owing to the small size of the local sales. Some of the state of North Dakota was covered from Aberdeen, South Dakota, in a like manner. Professor Ladd testifies that on the 8th day of September, 1911, in the city of Fargo, North Dakota, he went to the person in charge of the Armour & Company establishment at Fargo, and called for 3 pounds of Armour’s Shield Lard. This was given to him, and he paid therefor, and took the same away. At that time the pail was one of a crate of 20 pails which had been crated for convenience in shipping. The manager of the defendant company broke open this crate, and took therefrom the single 3-pound pail of lard, and then and there sold it to Professor Ladd. Under these undisputed facts we are asked to say that the single pail of lard was an interstate shipment, and as such coming under the inhibitions of the Federal pure food law of 1906, and thereby not a violation of the state law. We find the law upon this point pretty well settled in the courts of the various states and of the United States under the heading of original packages. The cases under this subject are collected in Thornton on Pure Food & Drugs, § 88, and we will but briefly refer to some of the leading cases mentioned by him. Thus, in Austin v. Tennessee, 179 U. S. 343, 45 L. ed. 244, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 132, affirming 101 Tenn. 563, 50 L.R.A. 478, 70 Am. St. Rep. 703, 48 S. W. 305, it is said: “Original packages are such as are used in bona fide transactions carried on between
The breaking of the original package once, if not twice (car and case), before the sale was made, added the goods to the general property of the state of North Dakota, and the subsequent sale was an intrastate transaction and subject alone to the laws of the state of North Dakota. It naturally follows that the defendant is not protected under the commerce clause of the United States Constitution.
(6) We reach now the sixth heading, that in no event under a proper construction of the statute can a conviction be sustained. At the oral argument of this case counsel stated that they had no intention of raising any minor objection to the information, nor did they desire a decision which would evade the question of the constitutionality of the law in question, and that under this objection they meant to be considered the following proposition: that the courts should give a reasonable construction to the law, and in this instance hold that, notwithstanding the wording of the law, that it should be so construed as to permit the
(7) At the time of the oral argument the objection was made to the statute that the pure food and drug act of June 30, 1906, was an assumption of the entire field by Congress, and that therefore the laws of North Dakota upon that subject were in effect repealed or rendered inoperative. Under § 5 we have outlined fully the field of congressional control and the field of state control. Congress can only regulate interstate commerce. The states have exclusive control of intrastate commerce, and, in the absence of legislation of Congress, have certain nights of control over interstate commerce within the boundaries of the state, while Congress is limited to control of “commerce with foreign nations, among the several state, and with the Indian tribes.” The assumption by Congress of its authority to regulate the interstate commerce effects nothing excepting the right of the state to control interstate commerce within its borders, and does not in any manner curtail the right of the state to control its own commerce, provided such state control does not incidentally interfere with interstate commerce. It is thus seen that none of the objections raised by the defendant to the validity of chapter 236, S. L. 1911, has any merit, and as no other points have been presented to us, we must hold that the law is constitutional, and the conviction thereunder is accordingly affirmed.
Concurrence Opinion
(specially concurring.) I concur in the opinion of Mr. Justice Burke. The relative spheres of the courts and of the legislatures in the matter of the so called police power control seem now to have been well defined by the courts of the county, and especially by the Supreme Court of the United States. In Planters’ Bank v. Sharp (1848) 6 How. 301, 319, 12 L. ed. 447, 455, we find the following: “It is to be recollected that our legislatures stand in a position demanding often the most favorable -construction for their motives in
In the Sinking Fund Cases, 99 U. S. 718, 25 L. ed. 501, Mr. Justice Waite, in speaking for the court, said: “Every possible presumption is in favor of the validity of a statute, and this continues until the contrary is shown beyond a rational doubt. One branch of the government cannot encroach on the domain of another without danger. The safety of our institutions depends in no small degree on a strict observance of this salutary rule.” In the case of Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. McGuire, 219 U. S. 563, 55 L. ed. 337, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 259, the court, among other things, said: “There is no absolute freedom to do as one wills or to contract as one chooses. The guaranty of liberty does not withdraw from legislative supervision that wide department of activity which consists of the making of contracts, or deny to government the power to provide restrictive safeguards. Liberty implies the absence of arbitrary restraint, not immunity from reasonable regulations and prohibitions imposed in the interests of the community. . . . Where the legislative action is arbitrary and has no reasonable relation to a purpose which it is competent for government to effect, the legislature transcends the limits of its power in interfering with liberty of contract; but where there is reasonable relation to an object within the governmental authority, the exercise of the legislative discretion is not subject to judicial review. The scope of judicial inquiry in deciding the question of power is not to be confused with the scope of legislative considerations in dealing with the matter of policy. Whether the enactment is wise or unwise, whether it is based on sound economic theory, whether it is the best means to achieve the desired result, whether, in short, the legislative discretion within its prescribed limits should be exercised in a particular manner, are matters for hie judgment of the legislature, and the earnest conflict of serious opinion does not suffice to bring them within the range of judicial cognizance. . . , ‘The
The reasoning of counsel for respondent may not appear conclusive to this court, but we cannot say that the legislature was not justified in considering it to be so. “Lard,” says counsel for the state, “is a household necessity which is largely used in cooking and baking, and, for convenience in handling, as well as for other reasons, it has become a universal and extensive practice to pack lard for sale in pails or containers of convenient size for meeting the requirements of the ordinary householder buying lard. These pails have acquired by usage the designation of 3-pound pails, 5-pound pails, and 10-pound pails. The actual net weight of lard they contain depends upon the whim of the manufacturer. The actual amount of lard in these several pails put up by the defendant is as follows: In 3-pound pail 2 pounds, 6 ounces of lard; in the 5-pound pail 4 pounds, 2 ounces of lard; in the 10-pound pail 8 pounds, 10 ounces of lard. In the mind of the average buyer, however, the pail contains the number of pounds of lard which its name implies; that is, the 3-pound pail represents 3 pounds, the 5-pound paid represents 5 pounds, etc. In the absence of any law requiring the net weight of the commodity to be disclosed, the manufacturer or merchant has the opportunity to actually and even wilfully deceive as to the actual contents of the package. He may reduce the net weight of the lard, or increase the weight of the package; and unless the container is opened and the contents actually weighed, the consumer must depend upon the representations of the maker or merchant as to the real amount of lard he is getting. In actual practice the representations of the maker or merchant are accepted and acted upon by the general run of consumers. Nay more — the popular conception as to the quantity of lard is the conception accepted and acted upon by the ordinary buyer; and the maker and merchant can merely tacitly adopt the popular conception, and profit accordingly at the expense of tho
Nor, too, is there any force in the contention that the statute in question is in derogation of the interstate powers of the Federal Congress. The most recent cases upon the subject, and upon which counsel for the defendants principally rely (Savage v. Jones, 225 U. S. 501, 56 L. ed. 1182, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 715; and McDermott v. Wisconsin, 228 U. S. 115, 57 L. ed. 754, 47 L.R.A.(N.S.) 984, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 431) make it clearly appear that the mere fact that Congress may have passed a so-called food and drugs act has not tied the hands of the state in the case in question. State statutes in such cases are only invalidated where they interfere with or frustrate the operation of the acts of Congress. It cannot be said that the act in question does this. It is merely supplementary thereto. All that the act of Congress says is that if the weight of the package is given upon the label it shall be the
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I cannot concur in the conclusions reached hy the majority. Much that is said in the majority opinion concerning abstract propositions of law is coneededly correct and no longer open to debate in the courts. Indeed, counsel in the case at har do not disagree in the least upon those fundamental and well-settled rules; nor do they seriously differ in any respect other than in the application of such rules to the case in hand.' I take it for granted that all must agree that, in its exercise of the so-called police power of the state, the legislature does not have absolutely a free hand, but is restricted by certain constitutional limitations, and that it is the solemn duty of the courts, when called upon so to do, to uphold such constitutional limitations by pronouncing any act null and void which plainly transgresses them. Instead of the legislature being the exclusive judges, it is for the courts to determine whether an attempted exercise of such police power is necessary for the public welfare, or whether it is a mere arbitrarily, unnecessary, and capricious interference with the legitimate business of the citizen.
I am, therefore, unwilling to sanction the doctrine that because Professor Ladd, who concededly stands high in the public estimation as an expert on pure foods and pure drugs, drafted the bill which finally became the act in question, and that such legislation successfully found
The supreme court of Illinois has said: “When the police power is asserted for the purpose of regulating a useful business or occupation and the mode in which that business may be carried on or advertised, the legislature is not the exclusive judge as to what is a reasonable and just restraint upon the constitutional right of the citizen to pursue his calling and to exercise his own judgment as to tJtie manner of conducting it.” Ruhstrat v. People, 185 Ill. 133, 49 L.R.A. 181, 76 Am. St. Rep. 30, 57 N. E. 41, 12 Am. Crim. Rep. 453, and cases cited.
The United States Supreme Court in Lawton v. Steele, 152 U. S. 133, 38 L. ed. 385, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 499, in speaking upon this subject through Mr. Justice Brown, said: “To justify the state in thus interposing its authority in behalf of the public, it must appear, first, that, the interests of the public generally as distinguished from those of a particular class require such interference; and, second, that the means are reasonably necessary for the accomplishment of the purpose, and not unduly oppressive upon individuals. The legislature may not, under the guise of protecting the public interests, arbitrarily interfere with private business, or impose unusual and unnecessary restrictions upon lawful occupations. In other words, its determination as to what is a proper exercise of its police powers is not final or conclusive, but is subject to the supervision of the courts.”
As is very aptly stated by Freund on Police Power, § 494: “To prevent an abuse of the police power for the alleged protection of health or safety, or the alleged prevention of fraud, the courts must be allowed to judge whether restrictive measures have really these ends in view. A
Upon the question of the police power of a state and the restrictions upon its exercise, Marshall, J., in speaking for the supreme court of Wisconsin in a recent case, very exhaustively and accurately stated what I deem to be sound. Among other things, he said:
“It is conceded that the legislation in question was an attempt to exercise the police power of the state, which is inherent in sovereign authority under such limitations as exist in the national and state Constitutions, and that if as a police regulation it is not legitimate, it is not the law though possessing the form thereof. A legislative enactment approved by the executive, and duly published, is not necessarily a law or binding on anyone in respect to his liberty, his business, or his property. It is such if it is susceptible 'of passing the judicial test of whether it is warranted by the fundamental law, which our constitutional system contemplates may be applied to all such enactments. Perhaps the thought sometimes expressed that the vital feature suggested, which every good law must possess, is not as fully appreciated by the lawmaking power as it ought to be, leading to infractions of some express limitation as well as that broad general restriction of legislative power contained in the declaration that ‘all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; to.secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.’
Too much dignity cannot well be given to that declaration. That it was intended to cover a broad field not practicable to circumscribe by any specific limitation or limitations cannot well be doubted. This court has given thereto its proper place in unmistakable language, particularly in recent decisions. Durkee v. Janesville, 28 Wis. 464, 471, 9 Am. Rep. 500; State ex rel. Adams v. Burdge, 95 Wis. 390, 37 L.R.A. 157, 60 Am. St. Rep. 123, 70 N. W. 347; State ex rel. Kellogg v. Currens, 111 Wis. 431, 435, 56 L.R.A. 252, 87 N. W. 561; State ex rel. Zillmer v. Kreutzberg, 114 Wis. 530, 58 L.R.A. 748, 91 Am. St. Rep. 934, 90 N. W. 1098; State ex rel. Jones v. Froehlich, 115 Wis. 32, 42, 58 L.R.A. 757, 95 Am. St. Rep. 894, 91 N. W. 115; State ex rel. Mil
The idea is found expressed now and then, that the police power is something not dealt with or affected by the Constitution, at least in any marked degree, which is a mistake hardly excusable. The error suggested here and there, that the police power is ‘a sovereign power in the state, to be exercised by the legislature, which is outside, and in a sense above, the Constitution (Donnelly v. Decker, 58 Wis. 461, 46 Am. Rep. 637, 17 N. W. 389, or that a police regulation which is clearly a violation of express constitutional inhibition is legitimate, subject to a judicial test as to reasonableness. . . . (Tiedeman, State & Federal Control of Persons & Property, § 3), or that no police regulation, not condemned by some express constitutional prohibition, is illegitimate, or that legislation not so condemned is legitimate if the lawmaking power so wills, though it violates some fundamental principles of justice, or that the reasonableness of a police regulation, and whether it unjustly deprives the citizen of natural rights, is wholly of legislative concern (Hedderich v. State, 101 Ind. 564, 51 Am. Rep. 768, 1 N. E. 47), and others of a similar character now and then found in legal opinions and text-books, are highly misleading’ and have been distinctly discarded by this court. State ex rel. Milwaukee Medical College v. Chittenden, supra. As was there said, ‘If it were true that all police regulations are legitimate which are reasonable, and all are reasonable which the legislature so wills, the Constitution as to very much of the field of civil government would be of no use whatever. The contrary has been the rule without any legitimate question since Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 137, 2 L. ed. 60.’
“The following significant expressions of this court as to the consti
‘As the police power imposes restrictions and burdens upon the natural and private rights of individuals, it necessarily depends upon the law for its support; and, although of comprehensive and far-reaching character, it is subject to constitutional restrictions. . . .' State ex rel. Adams v. Burdge, 95 Wis. 390, 398, 37 L.R.A. 157, 60 Am. St. Rep. 123, 70 N. W. 347, 349.” State v. Redmon, 134 Wis. 89, 14 L.R.A.(N.S.) 229, 126 Am. St. Rep. 1003, 114 N. W. 137, 15 Ann. Cas. 408.
Judge Marshall, in the above case, defines the term “police power” as “the power to make all laws which in contemplation of the Constitution promote the public welfare.” And he says “that both defines the power and states the limitations upon its exercise, it being understood that it is a judicial function to determine the proper subject to be dealt with, and that it is a legislative function, primarily, to determine the manner of dealing therewith, but ultimately a judicial one to determine whether such manner of dealing so passes the boundaries of reason as to overstep some constitutional limitation> express or implied. This court, in common with others, has said that the police power extends to legislation, regulating, reasonably — that is, to an extent not entering the realms of the destructive — all matters appertaining to the lives, limbs, health, comfort, good morals, peace, and safety of society. ...
As it is a judicial function to define the proper subjects for the exercise of police power (Lake View v. Rose Hill Cemetery Co. 70 Ill. 191, 22 Am. Rep. 71), it must be to decide, as to any enactment, whether it really relates to a legitimate subject, or under the guise of doing so violates rights of persons or property. The idea that all legislation is within the police power which the lawmaking authority determines to be so, and that all which might be within such power is within it if the legislature so determines, is, as we have seen, a heresy, and one which was repudiated sufficiently for all time by the early decision, heretofore referred to, in Marbury v. Madison, supra, the American classic which first and conclusively defined the general character of the constitutional limitations and the relations of the legislature and the judiciary thereto and to each other. The doctrine there laid down
These words of the Supreme Court of the United States, speaking by Mr. Justice Harlan, in Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 623, 661, 31 L. ed. 205, 210, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 273, 297, express in a different form the spirit of the opinion in Marbury v. Madison, supra:
'The courts are not bound by mere forms, nor are they to be misled by mere pretenses. They are at liberty — indeed, are under a solemn duty — to look at the substance of things, whenever they enter upon the inquiry whether the legislature has transcended the limits of its authority. If, therefore, a statute purporting to have been enacted to protect the public health, the public morals, or the public safety, has no real or substantial relation to those objects, or is a palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law, it is the duty of the courts to so adjudge, and thereby give effect to the Constitution.’ . . . It is not every enactment which will, to some extent, promote the public health, comfort, or convenience, which is legitimate. Otherwise the way would be open for legislative interference with the ordinary affairs of life to an extent destructive of many of the most valuable purposes of civil government. An expert on sanitation, or one on the manner of living best calculated to promote long and enjoyable life, who has become an enthusiast in his special study of the matter, could doubtless suggest a multitude of really, or apparently, good rules to be followed; the temperature of the air of sleeping rooms, the proper size of the rooms as regards the number of occupants, the arrangements for frequently changing the air by displacing that within for that without the habitation, the hours for sleeping, for retiring, and for arising, the amount and kind of food to eat, the proper number of meals per day, the proper admixture of solids and liquids, and length of time for each meal, the amount and kind of exercise required, and other things too numerous to mention might be suggested for legislative interference, each with a provision for severe penalty for its violation, with a division of the penalty, perhaps, between the informer and the public, till one would be placed in such a strait-jacket, so to speak, that liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the incentive to industry, to the acquirement and enjoyment of property, — those things commonly sup
That police regulations must bear the judicial test of reasonableness under the circumstances is well settled. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537, 41 L. ed. 256, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1138; Rideout v. Knox, 148 Mass. 368, 2 L.R.A. 81, 12 Am. St. Rep. 560, 19 N. E. 390.
The highest court in our land in the recent case of Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45, 49 L. ed. 937, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 539, 3 Ann. Cas. 1133, announced the principle that the individual right to make contracts in relation to business is a part of that liberty protected by the Constitution. The court there fully vindicates the right of the individual to freedom in the' conduct of any legitimate business and his right to make contracts accordingly.
The New York court of appeals in the recent case of Schnaier v. Navarre Hotel & Importation Co. 182 N. Y. 83, 70 L.R.A. 722, 108 Am. St. Rep. 790, 74 N. E. 561, announced a principle in harmony with the foregoing. In condemning as unconstitutional a statute requiring that every employing or master plumber shall be registered and hold a certificate of competency from the examining board of plumbers of the city, the court said: “It is not within any reasonable or proper exercise of the police power, since a provision for the registration of the firm as such, or for the registration of one or more members of the firm who were skilled plumbers to act for the firm, would be a sufficient protection to the public from all the dangers that the legislation was supposed to prevent or mitigate.”
According to the reasoning of the majority opinion in the case at bar, as I construe it, the question of the sufficiency of the protection afforded the public under the facts in the New York case would be held a legislative, and not a judicial, question.
"With these preliminary observations and the foregoing well-entrenched rules as to the limits controlling the legislative exercise of the police power in mind, I approach a consideration of the act in question, which is chapter 236, Laws 1911.
Appellant was informed against and convicted for selling to one E. F. Ladd “a quantity of lard, and not in bulk, which said lard was then and there put up, sold, and delivered to said E. F. Ladd in a pail which then and there held more than 2 pounds and less than 3 pounds net weight of lard, to wit, 2 pounds and 6 ounces of lard, and which said pail or container did not then and there have or display on the face label thereof the true net weight of said lard in even pounds or whole multiples thereof, but expressed the weight of the lard in pounds and ounces.” The quotation is taken from the information, and it should be noted that the only complaint is that the pail did not contain even pounds, it being expressly alleged that the true net weight was stated on the face label thereof in pounds and ounces. Defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction.
The statute is assailed as unconstitutional upon various grounds, but two of which I need notice.
Appellant contends that the act Complained of is unnecessary, unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious as applied to the lard industry at the date of the passage of the act; and as a side-light to show the correctness of such contentions it offered at the trial a large mass of testimony showing the growth and development of the lard industry, the business methods in vogue in the conduct of such industry at the date the act was passed, and also showing the effect-of such act upon this industry. Such testimony is uncontradicted, and while the same is not necessarily of controlling or any particular weight in determining the constitutionality of the law in question, I here give space to the following summary of such testimony as stated in appellant’s brief:
“Lard is not used as a food by itself, but only in the preparation, of*216 foods. .It is a pastry shortening and cooking fat. It bears the same general relation to foods in the domestic economy as seasoning or spices, on the one hand, and butter and oils, on the other. The original shortening and cooking facts were vegetable products, notably olive oil, cocoanut oil, peanut oil, and a considerable number of other similar vegetable oils. Indeed these oils have all along been used in large quantities for these purposes. To them should be added cotton-seed oil, which is one of the most popular and commonly used shortening products at the present time. By a process of hardening and bleaching these oils have the general appearance and consistency of lard, and are-, put up in pails of similar size and shape.
“Aside from the production of lard in the home and retail market, the principal source of supply is the packing establishments. In these establishments lard is a by-product, utilizing the fat of the hog remaining after taking away the portions that commonly go into hams, bacon, pork loins, and pork sides. The relative proportion of lard from these various sources at present sold in North Dakota has been estimated at 40 per cent produced by local meat markets, 20 per cent by consumers, and 40 per cent by packing establishments.
“Originally lard was sold only in tierces or tubs, a method of sale commonly referred to as in 'bulk,’ but early in the industry there arose a demand for smaller packages of a size suitable for the consumer, and this demand has been supplied by lard in pails. The demand for this style of package began about the year 1880, and has grown until at the present time about 40 per cent of the lard sold by the defendant in the United States is put up in pails.
“The advantages of the handling of lard in pails are numerous to-the manufacturer, dealer, and consumer; namely (a) the improved keeping and handling qualities of the article, both in the store and home;, (b) the protection to the public against careless or dishonest tradesmen as to the quantity given; (c) the greatly improved sanitary condition of the product; (d) the preservation of its freshness, wholesomeness,, and bright appearance, which qualities are largely lost by exposure to-the atmosphere; and (e) the greater convenience to the merchant in that it is already weighed and put up, and to the housewife in that it. is delivered in a suitable receptacle for keeping the product, which receptacle may be afterwards used for other purposes.
*217 “From the beginning of the industry lard in pails has always been sold in gross weight packages. Manufacturers have always filled the packages to the full gross weight. There has been no disposition to give short weights.
“From the beginning the price has always been based upon the price of the same grade of bulk lard, to which has been added only the cost of the labor and material required to make this convenient and sanitary package.”
Attention is called to the fact that for a great many years all products sold by weight in package form have been sold on the basis of gross weight, and that this is well understood by dealers, as well as by the public generally, and has been recognized as a legitimate business method, and counsel for appellant argue that the effect of the law in question strikes a blow at this long-established standard or method in the business world, and arbitrarily substitutes one heretofore unknown in the industry.
The evidence discloses that the appellant maintains packing establishments at numerous large centers throughout the country, at each of which points lard is prepared by it for the market. That defendant manufactures its own pails of tin of a specified weight and size, and that in such manufacture it has installed complicated machinery at great expense, and that the pails used by it at the time this prosecution was instituted consisted of twenty different styles and sizes, requiring an equipment of special material, machinery, and appliances at each of its plants for the different styles and sizes of such pails, and it offered expert testimony to show the expense which it would be put to in complying with the act in question in order to supply its North Dakota trade. It is, of course, perfectly apparent to anyone, and it needs no testimony to show, that to comply with this law the various lard manufacturers would be put to an enormous expense, which ultimately would have to be borne by the consumers of lard in this state. Such fact, however, is not a controlling consideration, but merely a sidelight tending for what it is worth to shed light upon the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the act in question. If the legislature in the enactment of such statute did not transcend the due exercise of its police powers, and if the act in no way infringes the mandates of the Federal or state Constitutions, then it is clearly our duty to uphold the same,
One of the crucial questions for determination is whether the provisions of the act requiring the pails to contain .“one (1), three (3), or five (5) pounds net weight, or some whole multiple of these numbers, and not any fractions thereof,” is a reasonable, and not a purely arbitrary and capricious, requirement. Appellant does not question the power of the legislature to require the net weight of the article to be stated upon the outside of the wrapper or container, and whether appellant has complied with chapter 195, Session Laws of 1907, thus prescribing, as well as the other requirements of that law, in regard to the matters to be stated upon such wrapper, is not here in question. I do not think it can be successfully contended that the method thus universally in vogue in the lard industry at the time this law was enacted in any way tended to deceive or mislead the purchaser as to the weight and contents of the pails. It would seem clear, therefore, that there was and is no necessity or justification for that portion of the 1911 enactment here challenged. Will a package or pail of lard containing an even number of pounds (net weight) with a necessary gross weight somewhat larger, tend in any respect to protect the purchasers from fraud or deception to any greater degree than packages containing a net weight in pounds and ounces, when such net weight is plainly noted on the outside wrapper ? Is it, in other words, within the proper exercise of the police power to prescribe that lard in pails cannot be sold except in certain designated quantities?
Again, is it within the legitimate exercise of legislative power to prescribe, as is attempted to be done in § 2 of the act, a different classification as to the lard industry from that prescribed for all other industries in §§ 1 and 3 thereof, the former relating generally to all articles of food and beverages, and the latter specifically relating to bread? By §§ 1 and 3 no restrictions whatever are placed upon the size of the packages. All food products, except lard, may be sold in any quantity, provided that the net weight of the contents of such packages, excluding the wrapper, is “stated in terms of pounds, ounces, and grains avoirdupois weight,” or in case of articles sold by measure, is stated in “terms of gallons of 231 cubic inches or fractions thereof, as quarts,
As we have seen, the so-called police power of a state does not confer upon the legislature an absolutely free hand in prescribing rules and regulations of the character in question. Legitimate business transactions cannot be hampered or restricted or otherwise interfered with by the legislature, except to the extent reasonably required for the proper protection of the public interests or the public welfare. If the attempted police regulation clearly extends beyond the supposed threatened evil, and is manifestly capricious and wholly arbitrary, it, to that extent, constitutes an unwarranted interference with the rights of the citizens to contract, and it becomes the plain duty of the courts to interfere by adjudging such attempted regulation void.
The act in question deals confessedly with a legitimate trade industry, and the only possible justification for the attempted regulation is upon the ground that it is necessary to prevent fraud. But, as before
3Hy attention has been called to no statute elsewhere under which such an exercise of the police power has been attempted by any legislature. A statute in Tennessee which was upheld by the supreme court of that state in the case of State v. Co-operative Store Co. 123 Tenn. 399, 131 S. W. 867, Ann. Cas. 1912C, 248, is the nearest like the act in question of any I have discovered. The statute there in question made it unlawful for any person “to pack for sale, sell, or offer for sale in this state any corn meal except in bags or packages containing by standard weight 2 bushels or 1 bushel or -J bushel or ^ bushel or bushel respectively.” Such act also provided that “each bag or package of corn meal shall have plainly printed or marked . thereon, . . . the amount it contains in bushels or fraction of a bushel, and the weight in pounds: Provided, the provisions of this section shall not apply to the retailing of meal direct to consumers from bulk stock when priced and delivered by actual weight or measure.” A violation thereof was made a misdemeanor. In sustaining the law against an attack upon the ground that it attempts to abridge the right of persons to contract, and deprives them of their liberty and property without due process of law, the court, among other things, said: “The object of this statute, is the prevention of fraud in the sale of one of the most common articles of commerce and food. The fraudulent practice sought to be suppressed is the sale of packages of com meal, purporting, expressly or by implication, to contain certain weights and measures for which the purchaser is charged, when in fact they contain less quantities, whereby the public is deceived and defrauded to the extent of the deficiency in weight or measure of the -package purchased. The prevention of fraud in general has always been recognized as well within the police power. Statutes enacted for this purpose, and which have a fair, just, and reasonable
I have no quarrel with the reasoning or conclusion of that able court in the light of the facts of that case, but the statute in the case at bar is plainly distinguishable from the Tennessee act in at least one important particular. At the time of the passage of the Tennessee law there was a well-recognized evil to be remedied. The act conclusively shows this by the language therein, “that whereas the practice in this state of putting up and selling meal in shortweight packages is against the public welfare and the interest of legitimate trade.” The portion of the above-quoted opinion also expressly recognizes the existence of such fraudulent practice. It is to be noted, also, that the points that the act was an unnecessary and unreasonable exercise of the police power of the state, and that the same constituted an unwarranted discrimination and was class legislation, were not urged or raised by the defense. An entirely different situation is presented in the case at bar, as already ■observed. None of the numerous authorities cited and relied upon by the Tennessee court involved facts parallel with those in the case at bar, and I am satisfied that the North Dakota statute is, in the light of the undisputed facts, unique in the history of such legislation.
The contention that purchasers are or may be deceived in the quantity of lard purchased where the pails are not of the size prescribed in this act is, I think, not tenable; for, as above stated, the true net weight is required to be plainly stated on the outside wrapper of each pail. At least, this is all that in reason ought to be required in order to furnish such information, where, as appears here, no actual or attempted fraud or deception has- ever been practised by the manufacturers or vendors of lard in this form. It is difficult to comprehend how such deception can ■occur to any appreciable extent, but if it does, how is the purchaser injured thereby when he gets all the lard which he pays for ? The fact that he is, in addition, required to pay for the container and wrapper, •and the added expense of putting it up in this sanitary form, affords no just ground for complaint, nor does it justify the act in question. This is true as to any sized pail, and is according to a long and well-
In State v. Hanson, 118 Minn. 85, 40 L.R.A.(N.S.) 865, 136 N. W. 412, Ann. Cas. 1913E, 405, a statute providing in substance that no person, firm, or corporation shall manufacture or sell oleomargarine which shall be in imitation of butter of any shade or tint of yellow, unless-such oleomargarine shall be made and kept free from all coloration or ingredients causing it to look like butter of any shade or tint of yellow,, nor unless the same shall be kept and presented in a separate and distinct form, and in such manner as will advise the purchaser and consumer of its real character, was held unconstitutional for reasons therein stated. The decision is not particularly in point here, but I think certain reasoning in the opinion lends support to my views as above, stated. I quote: “We construe the law, therefore, as making criminal the sale or manufacture of oleomargarine purposely made of any shade or tint of yellow, whether the tint or shade be dark yellow, golden, or light yellow. Even as so construed, § 1 of the law might be sustained as a valid exercise of the police power, if it made proof of an intent to-deceive or defraud the purchaser or consumer essential to a conviction. And it would be immaterial that no artificial-coloring was used, or that the product was entirely wholesome, was exactly like butter in taste, or was in fact butter. The purchaser is entitled to know what he is buying; and any law enacted to prevent fraud or deceit, and having any fair tendency in that direction, would be valid. But this law does not make the intent to deceive or defraud essential to a conviction of a violation of § 1. Intentionally making oleomargarine of a shade or tint of yellow is made criminal, without proof of an intent to deceive. This being so, the law cannot be sustained, unless there is a reasonable probability that the purchaser or consumer will be deceived by the yellow shade or tint into buying or eating oleomargarine, mistaking it for butter. . . . The power of the legislature to regulate its manufacture and sale rests, not upon the right to legislate in the interest of the public health, but upon the undoubted right to enact laws to protect the public against fraud and deception, to suppress false pretenses, and promote fair dealing in an article of food. But we are quite unable to perceive how there is any but a remote possibility of deceiving the purchaser or consumer by making oleomargarine imitate butter in color, whether
The court then refers to the provisions of law relating to placards upon the tubs or packages in which it is exposed for sale, to the wrappers, stamped with the word “oleomargarine,” in which the retail dealer is required to deliver it to the purchaser, and other like provisions and says: “It may be suggested that the guests of a private housekeeper have not this protection, or that store, hotel, or restaurant proprietors may not obey the law as to placards, or that a purchaser who cannot read may be deceived. But, granting that there may be a few instances where, by mistake, the consumer may take into his system oleomargarine, when he thinks he is eating hutter, does this furnish a ground upon which the legislature can prohibit the manufacture and sale of a perfectly wholesome and healthful article of food? On the record before us, such a deception would be wholly without damage. In its last analysis, it is a mere matter of sentiment.”
In a prior portion of the opinion it is also said: “There can be, however, no intent to deceive the purchaser or consumer, as the provisions of the law concerning labels on packages and wrappers are fully complied with. It is utterly impossible for the purchaser to be deceived.”
The majority opinion cites certain decisions upholding the validity of ordinances prescribing the weight of loaves of bread. People v. Wagner, 86 Mich. 594, 13 L.R.A. 286, 24 Am. St. Rep. 141, 49 N. W. 609, is one of the cases cited, but I find in the opinion the following language, which serves to differentiate this case from the case at bar. I quote: “Sales are invariably made in loaves of the size of 1, 2, or 4 pound packages, and the ordinance simply takes the usual and ordinary
In the case at bar the undisputed proof shows a well-established custom in the lard industry to put lard up in pails of the size of 3, 5, 10, and 20 pounds gross weight, but containing a label showing their net weight. The legislature, therefore, by § 2 of the act in question, has not attempted to standardize these packages in accord with such general established custom, but it seeks to force a radical departure therefrom, without the least resulting benefit to anyone. It is to be observed that by § 1 the legislature has, on the contrary, recognized the existing general trade custom as to all other food products as to weight, measure, and numerical count.
I have examined the opinions in the other so-called bread cases relied oh, and I think practically all, if not all,, of them may be differentiated in like manner from the case at bar.
In this connection see Buffalo v. Collins Baking Co. 39 App. Div. 432, 57 N. Y. Supp. 347, where the court upheld the lower court’s decision reported in 24 Misc. 745, 53 N. Y. Supp. 968, holding an ordinance fixing the weight of loaves of bread at not less than impounds each, and prohibiting sales thereof in any other size, to be unconstitutional and void, under facts quite analogous to those in the case at bar, as an unreasonable exercise of the police power, and an unwarranted interference with the rights of persons engaged in a legitimate business. I think the reasoning and conclusion of the court are sound, both on principle and authority.
I think that the portion of the act here in question is unconstitutional, and that it is our plain duty to so decide.
In what I have above stated I do not wish to be understood as holding that this whole act is unconstitutional, but merely that portion of § 2 prescribing the sizes of the pails or packages. The objectionable feature may be eliminated without affecting the balance of the Act.
I think the judgment should be reversed.
Rehearing
Appellant has filed a petition for rehearing, in which he complains that this court has not passed upon the sufficiency of the information. The court had received the impression that this was a friendly suit to determine the constitutionality of the 1911 law, and that no ruling was desired upon minor questions. However, we are and always have been satisfied that the amended information states an offense, and the demurrer was properly overruled.
The petition for rehearing also complains because the case of McDermott v. Wisconsin, 228 U. S. 115, 57 L. ed. 754, 47 L.R.A.(N.S.) 984, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 431, was not discussed. This court believes that such decision is not in point. The gist of its ruling is that a state may not exercise its police power in intrastate matters in such a way that it in effect interferes with interstate commerce. The Illinois manufacturer wished to ship an article from Illinois to Wisconsin, and was obliged to use the United States label in order to cross the state line. The minute that he crossed the state line, the Wisconsin law required him to remove the United States label and substitute another. Thus the Wisconsin law, though pretending to regulate local commerce, in effect prohibited commerce from Illinois to Wisconsin. In the case at bar the only hardship imposed upon the foreign shipper is an increase in cost, according to its own evidence, of 1-J cents per pound, upon its lard in pails. This additional expense likewise falls upon a local manufacturer, so that there is no descrimination against the shipper from another state.
We might also state that Professor Ladd knew the exact amount of lard that he was buying, and that he was not deceived in any manner by appellant. On the contrary all the evidence points to the conclusion that the sale, arrest, and nominal fine were pursuant to an understanding between the pure food commissioner and the defendant, in order that the law might be tested in the courts.
The petition for rehearing is denied.