163 Mass. 470 | Mass. | 1895
The petitioner does not contend that, if the board had power to revoke his license, there was any irregularity in their proceedings. He insists that, under the statute creating it, the board had not the power of revocation, but that that remains with the mayor and aldermen. So much of the statute establishing the board as is now material is as follows : “ Said board shall also act as license commissioners for sa,id city, and shall have and exercise all the powers and perform all the duties conferred and imposed by the statutes of the Commonwealth upon the mayor and aldermen and city clerk of said city relative to the granting and signing of licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors, and relative to the granting and signing of licenses to persons to be innholders or common victuallers, in" said city.” St. 1894, c. 351, § 2. It is apparent that the board is to act upon liquor licenses, and licenses to innholders and common victuallers, and not in regard to licenses generally; and the powers that are conferred upon it, whatever they may be, are those of the mayor, and of the aldermen, and of the city clerk, and not those of the mayor and aldermen as one body, and of the city clerk. We think that this is the more natural construction, and that if the Legislature had meant the joint body of the mayor and aldermen, it would have used, as it easily could have done, language more clearly expressing its purpose. It may be observed that the punctuation of so much of the printed statute as we have quoted agrees with that of the act as finally engrossed.
The question then is, whether the board is restricted to the granting and signing of licenses, or whether it has generally, in regard to the licenses which it is authorized to grant, the powers which had previously been vested in the mayor and aider-men, and the city clerk. We think that the latter is the true construction. No satisfactory reason can be given why the power to issue licenses should have been given to the board, and the power to revoke them left with the mayor and aider-men. The licenses are not contracts, but are in the nature of permissions to carry on a business which the Legislature has deemed it wise to surround with restrictions. Calder v. Kurby, 5 Gray, 597. Naturally, it would seem that the responsibility for the continuance of his license to an individual who has violated any of those restrictions, or who for any reason should not
In view of these considerations, we think that the Legislature used the words “the granting and signing of licenses” not in a restricted sense, but as words of general description, and as including the whole matter of licenses, and that the respondents had therefore the power to revoke the license in question.
We have assumed, without deciding or considering it, that certiorari would lie in case it appeared that the respondents had exceeded their jurisdiction.
Since the hearing in this case the Legislature, by St. 1895, c. 343, has removed any ambiguity which previously existed under St. 1894, c. 351. But so far as the present question is concerned, we regard the statute of 1895 as declaratory of what was intended by the former statute, and as not affecting the construction which we have adopted.
Petition dismissed.