The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1875-06-16
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WHAT THE COURT sAg. ky
The Following u the text ofsthe opinion Of
Judge vansyckel recently given ia the case
between Peter Robinson and the City Of LAIN
bertville on certiorari in the Supreme Court,
upon the pointa as to the powers Of the Coun-
Gil to control the sale Of liquor by the quart.
The Judge says - a vt bssamsxa
"The City charter flaws 1852. 957,sec. q, J
| gives the Common Council power to license
wholesale liquor dealers and prohibit the keep
ing OF the same,'' and subsequent section
| gives them power to license inns and tayerus.
st is argued on behalf Of the relator, that
a wholesale dealer is one who sells in large
packages, and that therefore the city cannot
exercise any restraint over those who sell by
the quart. The word wholesale Is used sg in con-
tradistinction to the word retail. The latter
word has been used with a fixed and definite
meaning in legislation upon this subject. In
the 18th the 24th and 39th sections of Che act
concerning inns and taverns, the retail of
spirituous liquors, is the sale by less quantity
than one quart, and it is nowhere used in the
act, In any other than this restricted sense
Giving il this meaning, it must be presumed
that the Legislature intended to include by
the word Wholesale = all sales which are not
by retail, that is by less quantity than. one
quart.
$50 interpreted it is not necessary to i'm
pute to the Legislature the absurd intention
of comforting upon the municipality author
| ity to control tile sale of ardent spirits by
measure less than one quart, and the sale in
large quantities, and at the same time to leave
wholly unrestrained the sale by the quart,
which would be productive of great mischief,
s Thespow granted to the corporation is
broad enough to embrace the entire subject,
and under it ordinances may be passed to
regulate the sale of Intoxicating drinks by the
quart.
| WHAT MAYOR SERGEANT SAID
when he vetoed the ordinance of the Com
non Council, providing for licensing and reg
ulating wholesale liquor dealers
| 1. The ordinance is repugnant to its title.
| Q. While the Common Conncil are by the
act to revive and amend the charter of the
town Of Lambertvile, approved April 18th,
| 1858, authorized and empowered to make or
dinances to license and regulate sch0tesale
| liquor dealers, they are not thereby Ter in any
other way) authorized and empowered 20 IL
cense or regulate or to prohibit retailers ojS
liquors other than such as sell by less measure
| than one quart - - s
| ! cannot give my approval to an ordinance
which Is without authorityyof law, and which
| if enacted would be a nullity, The power to
| pass ordinances is derived only from the char
ter and its supplements. ssf+
| The ordinance by its title purports to be
within the scope of the power and authority
vested in the Common Council, to wit to
license and regulate sohosssase liquor dealers"
while the first section provides among other
things that 1t shall not be lawful for any per-
son without licenseto sell any liquor by meas
ure of one quart and upwards, and the fourth
section provides, among other things, that
the Common Council may grant license to per-
sons to engage in the business of aoholesdle
| liquor dealer, which license shall authorize
the person obtaining the same to sell ardent
spirits of the measure of one quart and up
wards
1t is obvious that this ordinance attempts to
peryert the meaning of language and to define
and declare the sale OF one quart to be whole
sale dealing. 4pA t.a 94
It is not within the pewer Of the Common
Council to make an act unlawful by calling it
a wrong name. The words of the act of the
Legislature are to be taken and understood in
their usual, ost-known, plain, ordinary and
popular sense. s ,ss ss 81. s* a9r
The meaning Of the word wholesale is not
at all doubtful or ambiguous, and it would be
an insult to the common sense of our commu-
| nifty to enact by ordinance that selling by the
quart or gallon is wholesale dealing. s,sise
i The charter contains ample provision to
empower the Common COuncil by ordinance
| to prevent, license, regulate and restrain the
| qxarts as well as the provision relating to
wholesale dealers, but contains no section or
clause touching sale by the measure of one
quart and upwards until you reach Wholesale
dealers. r
After reading the decision of the Court in
the Robinson case; and then reading the veto
message of the Mayor on the power of the
Common Council to enact ordinances regu-
lating and controlling the sale Of liquor
by the quart the recent communication in the
laudatory of our worthy Mayor and attempt
ing to show. forth the wisdom ~ of that won
derful veto message seems rather ludicrous, to
say the least e y
II makes no difference whether the veto
message was written in Pennington or Lam
bertville, the opinion Of the Court is square
against it. y just what the Mayor said the
Council could not do, the Court say they tan
do. It might be that If the Court had seen
that grandiloquent sentence of the message
where it says, F" it would be an insult to the
common sense of our community to enact by
ordinance that selling by the quart or gallon
is wholesale dealing they would have said
don't insult the common sense Of that CON-
nIuhits but the Court failed to see it in
that ligats and tile result shows that the
Mayor was mistaken, and now. all that he
need do Is to proclaim that he g begs leave to
differ with the Court, " but for him or his
friends to proclaim and publish squibs to the
effect that he was right in his views and the
Council wreng In not attending to- them,
won't do.
THesQrdihAnde reilly hada technical defect
in the omission Of few. words, which If the
Mayor had seen and pointed out, no doubt
the Council would have rectifed, but that
would not have served the whiskey friends of
the Mayor h1issN aHssx
e. The veto message was wholly upon the
point that the word Wholesale, in the charter,
gave the. Council no authority to control the
traffic by the quart. Conclusions have been
tried-who were right the Mayor or the Com
mon Councila TT
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