47 A. 545 | R.I. | 1900
The defendant, who has been convicted of keeping and maintaining a common nuisance in the town of Coventry, now petitions for a new trial on the ground of certain alleged erroneous rulings of the justice who presided at the trial, and also on the ground that the verdict is against the evidence. The indictment charges the keeping of a liquor nuisance. At the trial of the case it was agreed that the defendant had a license for the sale of intoxicating liquors in said town during all of the time covered by the testimony introduced by the State. In view of this fact, and of the *273 further fact that a complaint was pending against the defendant for the particular sale which was being inquired about, counsel for the defendant objected to the introduction of testimony of sales of liquor made by the defendant on Sundays, on the ground that the statute prescribes a specific punishment for such sales, and that to allow evidence of this sort to convict the defendant of keeping a nuisance would render him liable to be twice punished for the same offence. The court allowed the evidence to be offered, and the defendant duly excepted thereto. The ruling was correct.
Gen. Laws R.I. cap. 92, § 1, provides, amongst other things, that "all buildings, places, or tenements used for the illegal sale or keeping of intoxicating liquors" are common nuisances. Evidence of illegal sales of intoxicating liquor in the building kept by the defendant, therefore, was pertinent as directly tending to prove the charge made in the indictment. Indeed, the main object of the statute evidently is to prevent the illegal sale of liquor by making it a common nuisance and punishable as such; and the mere fact that each separate sale made on Sunday is a distinct offence and punishable under another statute in no way interferes with the right to use such evidence on an indictment for keeping a nuisance. A liquor nuisance under said chapter 92 is a clearly-defined and well-known statutory offence, for the commission of which the lowest penalty which can be imposed is thirty days imprisonment and $100 fine. Selling intoxicating liquor on Sunday in violation of section 25 of chapter 102 is a different and lesser offence, for the commission of which a lesser punishment is inflicted. And it is well settled that one may be a common seller contrary to a statute, and that in carrying on this business he may also be found guilty of specific sales under another statute, making each particular sale an offence. Thus in State v. Coombs,
In State v. Maher,
The uniform practice in this State has always been in full accord with the authorities cited.
It is clear, therefore, that even though the defendant had previously been convicted of illegally making the sales in question, which he had not, the testimony offered would have been admissible.
Evidence was introduced on the part of the prosecution, against the defendant's objection, that the defendant sold lager-beer on Sunday. The ground of the objection was that the statute does not forbid the sale of lager-beer unless it contains upwards of two per centum of alcohol; and as it was not shown that the lager-beer which defendant sold contained *275 upwards of said amount of alcohol, it was not shown that he sold intoxicating liquors.
The sale of malt liquors without a license is prohibited by statute (see cap. 102, § 1), and lager-beer is a malt liquor.State v. Goyette,
As to the general defence interposed by the defendant, namely, that he had a license, it was clearly of no avail. A license to sell intoxicating liquors does not include a license to keep a nuisance. A licensed dealer has no more right to sell liquor on Sundays to be drunk on the premises than has an unlicensed dealer. The license simply authorizes him to sell in accordance with law, and to conduct his business in a decent and respectable manner. If, therefore, he sells in violation of law, or permits his place to become the resort of intemperate, idle, dissolute, noisy, or disorderly persons, it is as clearly a nuisance under the statute as though it were kept by a person not having a license. See State v. Barnes,
The exceptions are therefore overruled, and, it appearing that the verdict is fully sustained by the evidence, the petition for a new trial is denied and the case remanded for sentence.