38 Ind. App. 80 | Ind. Ct. App. | 1906
Appellee was charged with the unlawful sale of intoxicating liquor, and on his motion the affidavit upon which the prosecution was predicated was quashed. The State appeals, and relies for reversal upon the action of the court in sustaining the motion to quash. The affidavit is as follows: “Charles L. Tindall, being duly sworn, upon his oath says that at the county of Hancock, State of Indiana, on September 4, 1905, one Curtis Shelton did then and there unlawfully sell to one Charles Piper, at and for the price of five cents, one pint of malt liquor, to wit, beer, to be drunk as a beverage, said September 4 then and there being the first Monday of September, and a legal holiday in the State of Indiana, commonly called and designated ‘Labor day,’ and a day on which the sale of intoxicating liquors was prohibited by law, contrary to the form of the statute made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana.”
The point of contention between the learned Attorney-General and counsel for appellee is that the former affirms and the latter deny that Labor day is a legal holiday. To maintain their respective contentions they both rely upon the act of March 4, 1905 (Acts 1905, p. 196, §7531 et seq. Burns 1905). The title of that act is as follows: “An act concerning legal holidays, the maturity of negotiable instruments, creating a Saturday half-holiday for banking institutions in certain cities, repealing all laws in conflict herewith, and declaring an emergency.”
Section two of the act authorizes banks, trust companies and safety deposit institutions in all cities of more than thirty-five thousand’ inhabitants to close their doors for business at 12 o’clock, noon, on each and every Saturday, and that every Saturday in the year after 12 o’clock noon “shall, in addition to the legal holidays mentioned in section one of this act, be a legal half-holiday for such banks, trust companies and safe deposit institutions and the business thereof.”
Section three of the act provides that promissory notes, etc., shall be payable at the time fixed therein, without grace, and that when the day of maturity falls upon Sunday or a legal holiday the instrument shall be payable on the next succeeding business day. Also that negotiable instruments falling due on Saturday shall be presented for payment on the next succeeding business day, except that instruments payable on demand may, at the option of the holder, be presented for payment before 12 o’clock noon on Saturday when that entire day is not a holiday.
We have given the substance of sections two and three, because of appellee’s contention that the days specified in section one are holidays only for the presentment and payment of commercial paper and that the “presumption is that it was not intended that such days be made legal holidays for any other purpose,” and hence that Labor day, upon which appellee is charged with having sold intoxicating liquors, is not a day upon which the sale of such liquors is prohibited by §579 of the act approved March 10, 1905 (Acts 1905, pp. 584, 721, §2226 Burns 1905).
The title of the act just cited is: “An act concerning public offenses.” It will be observed that the two acts to which we have referred were passed at the same session of the legislature and, in point of time, in the order mentioned. Section 579, supra, is as follows: “Whoever shall sell, barter or give away, to be drunk as a beverage, any spirituous, vinous, malt, or other intoxicating liquors, upon Sunday, the Fourth of July, the first day of January, the twenty-fifth day of December, * * * Thanksgiving day, * * * or any legal holiday, or upon the day of any state * * ■ * election, * * * or between the hours of 11 o’clock p. m. and 5 o’clock a. m., shall, on conviction, be fined,” etc.
In 1875 the legislature designated certain days as holidays for certain purposes. 1 R. S. 1876, p. 637, Acts 1875, p. 66. The title of that act is as follows: “An act in relation to promissory notes, bank checks, and bills of exchange, and to designate the holidays to be observed in the presentment, acceptance, and payment of the same, and declaring an emergency.” That act specifically names Sunday, New Tear’s day, Christmas, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving day, and provides that they “shall be holidays within the State of Indiana for all purposes of presenting for payment or acceptance for the maturity and protest * * * of bills of exchange * * * and all notes * * * falling due or maturing on either of said holidays, shall be deemed as having matured on the day previous.” The intention of the legislature is clearly expressed both in the title of the act and in its body, and that was that the days specified should be holidays for commercial purposes and no other.
In Ruge v. State (1878), 62 Ind. 388, appellant was indicted for selling intoxicating liquors on the Fourth of July, and it was charged that the Fourth of July was a legal holiday. It was held that he was not liable because the statute to which we have just referred did not make it a legal holiday for any purpose, except for the presentation, payment, etc., of commercial paper.
Again in 1891 (Acts 1891, p. 394, §7531 Burns 1901), the legislature amended the act of 1889. The title of the amendatory act of 1891 is as follows: “An act to amend an act entitled ‘An act in relation to promissory notes, bank checks and bills of exchange, and to designate the holidays to be observed in the presentment, acceptance and payment of the same, approved March 16, 1875, and declaring an emergency, and amended March 5, 1889, the same being §5517 of the revised statutes of 1881, and declaring an emergency.’ ” The only amendment in 1891 was by adding the first Monday in September, commonly known as Labor day.
We have given a resume of all the legislation designating what days shall be deemed to be holidays.
Until the act of 1905, supra, the holidays specified by the previous acts were all associated with the maturity and payment of commercial paper.
Counsel for appellee rely largely upon the case of State v. Atkinson (1894), 139 Ind. 426, to support their conten
The titles to the several acts to /which we have referred, as well as the provisions of the acts, make it so plain that the days specified therein had relation to the maturity, presentment, etc., of commercial paper, that it will not admit of legitimate debate.
The case of State v. Atkinson, supra, upon which appellee relies, arose and was decided upon a statute, radically different from the act of 1905. There the title of the act under which the prosecution was waged limited the act to specific and certain purposes, and by the decision it was simply held, in harmony with the general rule of statutory construction, that the act could go no farther than the scope of the title. That case is clearly distinguishable from the one under consideration, and hence is not authority here. The rule is that where the title of the act limits its efEect to certain things, the act itself cannot extend beyond such limitation. Dixon v. Poe (1902), 159 Ind. 492, 60 L. R. A. 308.
Since 1116, we as a people, have recognized each recurring Eourth of July as the Nation’s natal day, and in some appropriate manner have celebrated that great event in history, which gave to us our national independence, and marked the birth of a new republic on the western hemisphere.
Yet none of these days to which we have referred were holidays until made so by statute. We recognize in this country the value and importance of labor. It forms the basis of our wealth, progress and prosperity. We look to it, as the fountainhead of our strength and stability. In designating the first Monday in September, “commonly called Labor day,” as a “legal holiday,” the legislature paid a just compliment and conferred upon labor a merited honor.
This in an age of progress. The public conscience is quickened. We are tending to a higher civilizátion. The lines are tightening about those who in any manner would corrupt private and public morals. When any day is set apart for public rejoicing, harmless festivities, and celebrations, and the people congregate for such purposes, they are entitled to every protection that the law can throw about them, to the end that they may devote themselves to the purposes of, the day, uninfluenced by any thing that may tend to deprive them of their rights, or inflame their passions. So - when the representatives of labor meet annually to celebrate Labor day, they are entitled to the same protection of the law, as that which is extended to all citizens who congregate on any day set apart by statute as a legal holiday, for the purpose of commemorating any great event. The legislature doubtless had this in mind when it made Labor day a legal holiday, and made it unlawful to sell intoxicating liquors on any legal holiday. There is
Judgment reversed, and the trial court directed to overrule the motion to quash the affidavit, and for further proceedings in harmony with this opinion.