58 Pa. Super. 277 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1914
filed the following opinion:
The decisions of the various courts of quarter sessions and the differing administrations by them of existing license laws constitute an apparent medley that has been the subject of adverse comment and criticism. A statement compiled from data obtained from clerks of such courts in the various counties of the state a few years ago showed that the number of licenses granted in the different counties varied from one to every 173 of population to one for something over 4,000 of population, with one county at the time having no retail licenses. Since then in five or more counties of the state no licenses have been granted. Considering the counties separately in which licenses are granted the same lack of uniformity prevails. Large sections of them, having large populations, are without licenses, while in other sections, with less population, licenses are
Prior to 1867 the only discretion which the courts of quarter sessions had relating to the granting of such licenses was based upon the act of March 11, 1834, which provided first, that “no Court shall license any inn or tavern which shall not' be necessary to accommodate the public and entertain strangers and travelers” and second, “no Court shall license any person to keep an inn or tavern unless from the petition and certificate or from their own knowledge or upon evidence sought for and obtained they shall be satisfied of the fitness of the person applying and the sufficiency of the accommodations as aforesaid,” such as having a certain number of bed rooms and beds for the exclusive use and accommodation of strangers and travelers. If the house was a public necessity the license issued. By the act of March 22, 1867, these provisions were changed and it was provided that “it shall be lawful for said Court to hear petitions, in addition to that of the applicant, in favor of, and remonstrances against the application for such license, and, in all cases to refuse the same whenever, in the opinion of said court, having due regard to the number and character of the petitioners for and against such application such license is not necessary for the accommodation of the public and entertainment of strangers and travellers.” From this language it will be observed that the duty of the Court was shifted from an inquiry as to the necessity of the house for public accommodation to an inquiry as to the necessity of the license for such accommodation, and it was made lawful for the court, whenever in its opinion, having due regard to the number and character of the petitioners and remonstrants, such necessity did not exist, to refuse the application. As suggested by Galbreath, J., in 1913, the question of necessity for the license is lifted out of the realm of legal fiction into the domain of actual fact
1. These provisions it is well settled do not constitute a local option law. If so, and the granting of licenses depended upon the number of names of residents appearing upon the petitions and remonstrances, respectively, the court crier, as has been said, might declare the result as well as the court, and, as is said in Sparrow’s Petition, 138 Pa. 116-125, we would have local option without the sanction of law. Supplementing such petitions and remonstrances the court by the terms of the statute is required to hear the evidence of
2. The discretion conferred by the statutes is vested in the courts of quarter sessions of the several counties and not in any other court. This discretion relates chiefly to two things,
(a) The fitness of the applicant.
(b) The necessity for the license prayed for.
Neither the Supreme nor Superior Court has ever yet
assumed the right to either revise or review a judgment of a quartei sessions court properly based upon either of such points. On the contrary, they have repeatedly declined to do so. In Gross’s License, 161 Pa. 344-347, it is said by Judge Dean, speaking for the court, “The discretion must be exercised in a lawful manner. The applicant hath a right to be heard and so have objectors. A decree without a hearing or opportunity for hearing at a time fixed by rule or standing order as the law directs would be manifestly illegal and on certiorari would be set aside.” Then follows this plain statement: “If the court has in a lawful manner performed the duty imposed upon it, it is not our business to inquire whether it has made a mistake in its conclusions of fact. Whether the same facts induce in our minds the same belief as in that of the court below, as to the character of the applicant or other material averments, is wholly immaterial; it is the discretion of the court of quarter sessions, not ours, that the law requires.” “That responsibility they (the quarter sessions courts) cannot evade by throwing it upon the remonstrants, or upon this (the Supreme) Court:” Sparrow’s Petition, 138 Pa. 116-125. In Knarr’s Petition, 127 Pa. 554-556, it is said by Williams, J., in a case in which the Supreme Court was asked to compel by mandamus the granting of a license: “We have repeatedly said that the office of a mandamus is to require the performance of a judicial function, not to regulate the mental process of a
3. From the foregoing it appears that the legislature, unwilling apparently to assume the responsibility of declaring definitely that no licenses shall be granted, or in what cases they shall be granted and in what refused, or to adopt any plain or definite rule in reference thereto, has shifted the entire responsibility of so doing upon the several courts of quarter sessions of the commonwealth, giving to them a discretion unlimited, except, as ruled by the Supreme Court, that it is to be exercised in a judicial manner. Speaking of this discretion Agnew, J., in Schlaudecker v. Marshall, 72 Pa. 200-207, says: “This is a large discretion and it is to be exercised primarily for the public good and secondarily for the private interest.” In Mead’s License, 161 Pa. 375, in disposing of an application for a wholesale license the court below found that it was not necessary, considering in connection therewith “the best interests of the community and the county at large,” and in reference to this the Supreme Court said: “If this is not the exercise of a sound discretion, such as is contemplated by the act of 1891, and the decisions of this court, we are unable to say what is meant by the expression.” This is quoted as authority in Donoghue’s License, supra, by the Superior Court. But in no reported case has either of the appellate courts undertaken to determine or indicate in any definite way what may properly be taken into consideration, in the exercise of this
4. The question of necessity is a preliminary one which the court must pass upon before reaching that as to the particular licenses, if any, which shall be granted. In Raudenbusch’s Petition, supra, it is said that “an investigation of this question has no particular bearing upon the petitioner’s fitness to keep a saloon; it is a general one with which he has no more legal concern than any other citizen of the ward. The question is one of public concern; the petitioner is no party to it in the sense that persons are parties to private litigation.” Yet he is a party in the sense that if the necessity is not made to appear the license should be refused: Reznor Hotel Company’s License, supra.
While intended to meet a demand and supply a want regarded by the law as proper for accommodation there are, according to the common experiences of men, incidents inseparably connected with the exercise of the privilege conferred by the grant of license, which affect the public welfare and are regarded by many as grave. Being so connected and related they may properly be weighed in the balance as against the demand for a license, in determining whether or not a legal necessity for the license exists. To fail to do so is to fail to exercise the discretion which the court possesses relative to the grant of licenses primarily in the public interest. An institution licensed to vend intoxicating liquors in a community is to be viewed as it exists, having in view
5. In the investigation of the question of the necessity for the different licenses prayed for witnesses were called who based their opinions upon observations made from different standpoints. Some viewed the business from the inside standpoint, regarding sales as legitimate commercial transactions. This class includes^ those directly interested as licensees, dealers in liquors or owners or lessors of the licensed premises. Others having the patronage of the houses in their-varied forms and profiting thereby, viewed the traffic from their standpoint and held a sympathetic attitude towards it very similar to that of the inside man. Others were habitues of the licensed places, accustomed to resort there for a social glass and general social purposes. These with still others who patronize the bars by the purchase of
6. The claim that the hotel business cannot be profitably conducted without a license is not regarded as constituting a legal necessity therefor or legitimately entitled to a controlling weight in determining its necessity. Those who ride in chaises and desire Turkish rugs, private baths and expensive hotel accommodations should pay therefor what they are fairly worth, including a fair profit to the owner, and the owner should not charge therefor less than they are worth and make up his loss by giving to the man who pays him ten or fifteen cents for a drink of whisky less or worse whisky than he pays for. When this is done it simply indicates that such things have gotten out of their proper relations to each other and need readjusting on business principles. There are no better reasons for subsidizing the management of a hotel by the grant of a liquor license, than that of any other business of like public concern.
In noting the conclusions indicated in the foregoing we have not been careful to straightedge them with all the expressions contained in opinions heretofore rendered by this court on the general subject of liquor licenses. Such opinions were rendered upon the facts then before the court for consideration with the like integrity of purpose to follow the law which has inspired those now
The court is without jurisdiction under the law to pass upon the question as to the necessity for a brewer’s license, and to the pending applications for such licenses no objections have been made on the ground of unfitness of the applicants.
It will be observed that in the foregoing the opinions of the appellate courts, and not those of the various quarter sessions courts, have been almost exclusively noted and commented upon. Those of the latter courts are not in harmony and for this reason necessarily do not furnish a safe guide.
It will be further observed that the provisions of the statute are such as to render the number of licenses, if any, granted in any county or community dependent largely upon the attitude of the local court' and the people of such county or community on the subject, restrained and influenced but little by any adjudications of the appellate courts, thus bringing about the varied
The appellate court in order to adequately review the alleged abuse of the judicial discretion will look to the opinion in order to determine whether or not the court below has “proceeded according to law,” or whether the decision of the license court is based on grounds which the law does not recognize as valid: Donoghue’s License, 5 Pa. Superior Ct. 12; Nolan’s License, 47 Pa. Superior Ct. 551; Pollard’s Petition, 127 Pa. 507; Mead’s License, 161 Pa. 375; American Brewing Company’s Petition, 161 Pa. 378; Indian Brewing Co.’s License, 226 Pa. 56.
The opinion ignores the indubitable fact that the applicants enjoyed a large and lawful patronage, that such patronage during the last year had materially increased, and the fact that if these licenses were necessary when the same court granted them in March, 1913, they certainly were equally so in March, 1914, and the legal rule that “necessity” depends upon the extent and character of lawful demand for liquors at the places sought to be licensed: Mead’s License, 161 Pa. 375; Schlaudecker v. Marshall, 72 Pa. 200; Pollard’s Petition, 127 Pa. 507.
The “necessity” based upon the indicated lawful demand cannot be disregarded by a consideration of the moral or political predilections of that class for whose accommodation licenses are not grantable nor by a consideration of the effect of licenses lawfully supplying that demand, because that effect is the result of the law, and if that effect is detrimental in point of public morals or economics, the proper place to correct the evil is in the legislature and not by judicial repeal.
Error assigned was the order of the court.
The discretion of the court was properly exercised: Dowling’s License, 55 Pa. Superior Ct. 497; Gross’s License, 161 Pa. 344; Raudenbusch’s Petition, 120 Pa. 328.
Whether the appellant be a .fit person to have a license, whether a license is necessary at the place sought to be licensed, and whether the location of the place sought to be licensed is a safe or seemly place for a licensed house are matters' of which the court may exercise its discretion, under the facts and circumstances of each particular case: Re Butler Co. License, 60 P. L. J. 305; Reznor Hotel Co. License, 34 Pa. Superior Ct. 525; Raudenbusch’s Petition, 120 Pa. 328.
In the consideration of the larger question—the public good—the court is not limited to a consideration of the petitions for or remonstrances against the license; but should use its discretion under the evidence or facts of each case: Chester County License, 3 Pa. C. C. Rep. 304; Bowman’s License, 167 Pa. 644; Gross’s Appeal, 1 Pa. Superior Ct. 640; Quinn’s License, 11 Pa. Superior Ct. 554; Hilleman’s License, 11 Pa. Superior Ct. 567.
Opinion by
These separate appeals are from orders refusing the appellants’ respective applications for liquor licenses, some of which were for retail licenses and the others
First. The record proper in each case comprises the petition for a license, certificate of electors, and bond, all admittedly in due form of law and regularly filed. It also shows the filing of remonstrances and additional petitions. The final order is in these words: “April 2, 1914, after full hearing and due consideration the within application is refused.” It is to be legally presumed from this order, and is undisputed in fact, that the applicant and the persons objecting to the application were accorded such hearing as the statute .entitled them to have—that is, a hearing by evidence, petition, remonstrance, and counsel, at a time duly fixed by rule or standing order of the court. None of the records exhibits any irregularity in the proceedings leading up to the final order; nor is there any defect in that. True, the order does not set forth the court’s reasons for refusing the application; but no provision of the statute law or principle of the common law requires that they be set forth; therefore, the omission to state them in the order is not an irregularity or defect. Nor does it furnish any legitimate basis for witholding altogether, or denying full force to, the presumption that the court performed its duty to hear and decide according to law. ‘‘The act is an official one, performed by a public officer in the exercise of the functions of his office. The presumption in all such cases is that the officer performed his duty according to law; he is not bound to set out legal reasons for his action; he is only bound
Second. Preliminarily to discussion of the appeals in the light of the general opinion filed, it -will not be out of place to make some general observations regarding our revisory jurisdiction. Prior to the Act of May 9, 1889, P. L. 158, which declared that all appellate proceedings in the Supreme Court theretofore taken by writ of error, appeal, or certiorari should thereafter be taken in a proceeding to be called an appeal, the rule was, that, where a new jurisdiction was created by statute and the court or judge exercising it proceeded in a summary method or in a new course different from the common law, the only mode by which the appellate court could review its action was by the common-law writ of certiorari: Ruhlman v. Com., 5 Binney, 24. Proceedings such as those under consideration were within that rule. But the writ of certiorari was of limited scope. It brought up only the record proper, and this did not. include the evidence or rulings upon questions of evidence, because no bill of exceptions was allowed by statute whereby they could be brought on the record: Chase v. Miller, 41 Pa. 403. These limitations of the scope of the writ necessarily resulted in limiting the jurisdiction of the appellate court in administering it, to the inquiry whether the court below kept within the limits of its jurisdiction and proceeded with regularity according to law. It was always within the power of the legislature to enlarge the revisory jurisdiction of the appellate court over proceedings formerly reviewable only by certiorari, and in many instances this has been done. But no such enlargement of its jurisdiction in the review of the action of the quarter sessions upon applications for liquor licenses has been made; doubtless, because the legislature deemed it wise and expedient, all things considered, to commit the granting and refusing of' such applications to the sound ju
Their counsel state the question as follows: “Does a license judge abuse his judicial discretion where he refuses all applications on the sole ground of non-necessity, based ánd considered exclusively upon the conclusion that there is a growing sentiment against the liquor traffic generally and that the granting of liquor licenses in point of public economics, morals, law and order is detrimental to the communities affected?” If we could agree with the learned counsel that this is the question presented by the records or by the opinion, we should unhesitatingly agree with them that there was a misconception by that court of the nature and extent of its discretionary power and of the legal principles governing its exercise, and that the enforcement of that erroneous view, by its action, was not the exercise of a sound judicial discretion, but would be justly characterized, in the language of Agnew, J., in Schlaudecker v. Marshall, 72 Pa. 200, as a determination not according to law but outside of law and therefore not a legal judgment but the exercise of an arbitrary will. “A decree made arbitrarily, or in violation of law, it is our plain duty to set aside. For example, if a judge should refuse a license, because in his opinion the law authorizing licenses is a bad law, or if he should grant all licenses because he believed the law wrong as tend
Near the end of the opinion appears this clause: “The law has not recently been changed but new facts and a changed aspect of old ones with a changed «-trend of sentiment and thought on the subject, bearing upon the important question of necessity for the licenses, have been presented and for the first time in the history of the county the court has been called upon to broadly consider and pass upon such question as it relates to all retail and wholesale applications.” Even standing alone, this expression does not fairly warrant the conclusion that the court was moved to make the decisions it did by the growing sentiment against the liquor traffic generally; and any possible inference that it did so is wholly repelled by the next clause, which reads: “A consideration of such question in the light of the law as hereinbefore expressed, with due regard to the number and character of the petitioners for and remonstrances against such applications, the evidence and arguments of counsel presented on full hearing and the facts which are known to the court and common knowledge in the communities affected has led to the conclusion that in the exercise of the discretion vested in it by law the court should refuse all such applications and orders will accordingly be indorsed upon them, respec
The opinion does indeed show that the court deemed it its duty to consider, and did consider, those incidents inseparably connected with the exercise of the privilege conferred by the grant of license which affect the public welfare. But it does not show that the court entertained and acted upon the erroneous view that a license to conduct a business having such incidents never can be necessary in a legal sense. On the contrary, the clear import of. the opinion is, that, in determining the question of necessity for the particular license sought for, the court should consider these inseparable incidents of the business as well as the demands of persons to whom a licensed dealer may lawfully sell liquors. To fail to do so, said the court, and to regard as proper for consideration only its useful or unobjectionable functions is to do violence not only to the adjudged law of the state but to the common sense and instincts of men. This general view is not erroneous. It does not involve the proposition that the word “necessary” in the statute is synonymous with “indispensable,” or the equally indefensible proposition that the public accommodation which the law is intended to promote is to be ignored or treated as of little importance as compared with the objectionable features of the business; but only that both are to be given fair and impartial judicial consideration in connection with the other pertinent facts. Necessarily, it
Third. One other feature of the case is to be noticed. Attention is called by appellants’ counsel to the population of the county and of the two cities and the borough from which these applications came. These are facts of which this court may take judicial notice. It is argued, in effect, that the refusal of all licenses in these populous communities is itself evidence that the court proceeded upon an erroneous theory as to its
As there was a judicial hearing at which each petitioner had an opportunity to be heard by petition, evidence, and counsel, and as it appears that the reason assigned by the court for the refusal of the license was a legal reason, and as it does not satisfactorily appear that the court’s conclusion was reached by a consideration of matters which it had no right to, consider, or by a refusal to consider matters which it was its duty to consider, we are not at liberty to conclude that there was an abuse of discretion: Nolan’s License, 47 Pa. Superior Ct. 551. It is not our province to discuss or determine the correctness of the result reached. As has been declared repeatedly, it is the discretion of the court of quarter sessions, not ours, that the law requires.
The several orders are affirmed.