Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1873-03-13
The Maine Liquor Law.
ALearned Opinion.
ro. thn Fayetteville Observer.

would of replied sooner to your
enquiries concerning my opin-
ion of the constitutiOnality of
the Maine Liquor law, but we
have been too much engaged
before a single justice to an
swer sooner: and as time will
not permit him to dis curse the
whole bill at length, | shall at
present confne ourself princi-
pally to the purpose for which
liquor may lawfully be sOld,-
the quality or proof of the liq-
uor, and the search and seizure
clauses.
First, as to the purpose for
which it may be sold. 1t is pro-
vided that any person of good
moral character not engaged in
any boat or ,Cater craft, Gntend-
ing doubtless to exclude those
near large bodies of water, who
might so handily reduce the liq-
uor so that it would not intoxi-
cate may sell Intoxicating liq-
uor for mechanical, Kimical or
medicinal purposes. | find no
authority for them to sell any
liquor but such as will actually
intoxicate. The agent must
give sworn account of sales,
but as a beverage, need not of
course be mentioned. | state
the substance Of the provision,
but have not copied it SIN hack
rer5y' Qatin,) This liquor, if
at the intoxicating standard,
and not otherwise, may accer-
ding to the act, in my legal
opinion, be sold for such me
chanical purposes as raising
buildings, striking in black
smiths shop, casting at iron
foundries, running locomotives,
scalding hogs, washing sheep,
and the like, but not for millin-
ers, tailors, printers or shoe
makers, &c, as it is a prohititory
statute, and the line must be
drawn somewhere for stopping
place. (See Adams on Boun-
ldaries, p. g. The Kimical pur-
poses intended to be embraced
were the boiling of sorghum, ma
king soap, manufacturing rum,
brandy, and gin out of whiskey,
treating jurors and witnesses,
&C, and other employments re-
: quiring the application of heat,
but not for raising bread, ma
king turnpike yeast, beeswax
or skim-miIk cheese. The med
icinal purposes for which it may
be sold, admit of a more liberal
construction, so far as those Of
twenty-one years and upwards
. are concerned. Those below
that age do not, it seems, require
statutory remedies, but at com
mon law may doubtless take
any quantity Of catnip, mother
wort or bonesct, without any
infraction of the act under con-
sideration. 1t was insisted by
the opponents of the law that
the statute was penal and was
> to be therefore construed strict
ly; while its friends always
claimed from the beginning
that it was remedial and to be
iconsirTT1i;oa EhArnIio' in which last
view my legal opinion concurs.
Now upon the plainest princi-
pies Of statutory construction,
(See People vs.. Drinker, Sth
Pa. Reports, page 49, a rene
dial statute is designed to fur
nish q remedy, and in all medi-
cal cases a remedy is what is
most needed. (Sec Hoiioway's
Treatise on Pills; &C. We are
aware that the Code provides
that "reme0ieS are not merged"
and that this clause has been
seized upon by some who con-
tend for a different construction,
to force the conclusion that liq-
nor, as remedy, could not be
merged in the system; but, it is
obvious from the language en-
iployed and the practice of
members of the Legislature
themselves, while enacting the
law, that they meant remedies
for the i7,nards, or medical, and
not legal remedies; and the Code
should not be allowed to con-
fiict with the humane doctrine
of merger of remedies in cases
under the liquor law. There is
no law unless it is British law,
not recognized before a single
Justice, requiring any one to
employ a doctor, either steam,
homeopathy, foreign-pathy, wa
ter-pathy or all-pathy, and it
has been decided by some of
the earlier cases that ererY man
rs his OaUn physician, or q fool