165 P. 1177 | Or. | 1917
Opinion by
“Beer may well be said to be manufactured from malt and other ingredients, whiskey from corn, or*42 cider from apples. The fact that the identity of the original article or articles is lost, and that a new form of a new character is assumed, is not material in determining whether, within the popular idea, as embodied in the customs acts, the article in question is a manufacture from its original elements.”
It is claimed that because the defendant did no affirmative act to produce fermentation, but simply put the grape juice into a vat and “let nature take its course, ’ ’ he did not manufacture the wine; but this
If, therefore, a state deems the absolute prohibition of the manufacture and sale, within her limits, of intoxicating liquors for other than medical, scientific, and manufacturing purposes, to be necessary to the peace and security of society, the courts cannot, without usurping legislative functions, override the will of the people as thus expressed by their chosen representatives. They have nothing to do with the mere policy of legislation. Indeed, it is a fundamental principle in our institutions, indispensable to the*44 preservation of public liberty, that one of the separate departments of government shall not usurp powers committed by the constitution to another department. And so, if, in the judgment of the legislature, the manufacture of intoxicating liquors for the maker’s own use, as a beverage, would tend to cripple, if it did not defeat, the effort to guard the community against the evils attending the excessive use of such liquors, it is not for the courts upon their views as to what is best and safest for the community, to disregard the legislative determination of that question. So far from such a regulation having no relation to the general end sought to be accomplished, the entire scheme of prohibition, as embodied in the constitution and laws of Kansas, might fail, if the right of each citizen to manufacture intoxicating liquors .for his own use as a beverage were recognized. Such a right does not inhere in citizenship. Nor can it be said that government interferes with or impairs any one’s constitutional rights of liberty or of property, when it determines that the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks, for general or individual use, as a beverage, are, or may become, hurtful to society, and constitute, therefore, a business in which no one may lawfully engage. Those rights are best secured, in our government, by the observance, upon the part of all, of such regulations as are established by competent authority to promote the common good. No one may rightfully do that which the law-making power, upon reasonable grounds, declares to be prejudicial to the general welfare.”
No doubt, to many of our citizens accustomed to the use of wine as a table beverage to the same extent that others have used tea or coffee or milk, such extreme legislation may seem drastic and harsh. It certainly seems so to the writer, but whatever may be our individual opinions they must yield to the mandates of the law.