Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-03-05

file its character, legally. is prima facie,
and is q public record, and as such is
subject to open attacks and the aggres-
sion Of any person, upon legal tech
nicality as well as upon singing de-
merit. Many who oppose the grant
ing of license by the Court of Quarter
Session, fippantly have said: why
can't petition be granted by the court
TO keep hotel or eating-house, aud
exclude the sale OF liquors, etc ANY
person in the State may throw oper
his house to entertain and accOmmo-
date guests, boarders, strangers, travel
lers and discriminate who the inmates
may or may not be, for entertainment
and accommodation, and the law has
no power to interfere directly or indi
rectly. But the acts of assembly |
passed by Senate and House, incor-
porated the power to vend liquors,
wines, ale, beer, etc, spirtous and
malt, as an incident thereto; and no
court of any judicial district in the
State, ran exercise power that would
be arbitrary and extra judicial A de-
clsive measure or opinion, by a court
of judication suppressing an act, would
never be tolerated and would be
malfeasance of Office
Now IL rests imperatively upon the
people To see to 1t that the spirit and
he reason of the acts of assembly. rela-
tive to the granting or refusal of lice nse,
is taken care oil and faithfully perform
ed. The great object, the sole purpose
and the ultimate result of all law,
nestles in the reason and spirit of it,
Go back TO the misty regions of the
past and you i'll be taught by points re-
noWned ineradItion and legal lore as well
as the poets and men of profouud learn
ing, that law is the perfection OF rea-
son." and in this day and age of intel
ligence, refinement and christian civili-
cation the DIcTA is just as inexorablv
true; that where reason fails to exist,
| then law is abandoned, sunk, gone for
ever
1t is the spirit and reason Of the acts
of assembly that must be carefully
weighed and vigorously pursued. The
perso1 10 the possession of license, who
vends aud sells liquors, wine, ale or beer,
;ndiscriminately to his neighbor, or a
minor, or a man of known Incorporate
habits, or lunatic, or one who has
been declared judcialy an habitual
drunkard-the frail bull grinding on
the bottom, moving and crawling like
loathsOme creature, none on the earth
or beneath its sur. ace, so repulsive or
more pitiable such creature-a
drunkard, was never born, but is the
creation of man-or If person of low
vile depraved nature, neglects to pro-
vide wife and children with the COM
| forts and necessaries of life, and pays
over the last dime to satiate a morbid
| appetite and quicken habitated brain,
with drink, then common justice, the
rights ofhumanity seasonedwith the rea-
son and spirit ofthe law, steps in, ,revokes
the license, inflicts the penalty and
renders the viulator powerless to do
evil in the community. Courts have
! always construed the acts strictly, and
when the facts and evidence were ad.
duced showing just cause. licenses were
Immediately revoked and the penalty
imposed upon the offending violator by
| the court.
The acts of assembly have also pro-
vided and prescribed certain additional
prerequisites controlling the license
system in this common wealth. That
after the applicant has filed his petition
praying for license under the acts Of
assembly, a prerOgative is granted to
any person, an invitation as broad and
boundless as the waters of nature her
self TO any person, to prepare petition
in the nature and character of remon-
STRANGE, supported by facts and evi-
dence to the satisfaction of the court to
reject the applications, petition and per-
emptorilv refuse a license. The law
requires a clear and indisputable proof
to overcome the prima facie case of the
petition and the twelve persons who
have certified TO the due forms and pre-
requisites of the acts Of assembly. If
the evidence tends substantially to
show what has already been descanted
upon and predicared, then no court,
with sound discretion, would violate
the interests of the law-making power
The discretionary power vested in the
court, Is truly a serious, as well as a
delicate one. No branch of legal
science or Jurisprudence has been so
eIaborately and eloquently discussed for
years, as the granting or refusing of
license under Pennsylvania acts of as
semblv The abilities OF jurists, divines,
temperance advocates, platform lectur-
ers and an honest and conscientious
yeomanry, have been bafiied, pro and
con, with the all-prevaling question.
the license system in the State And
it is an incontrovertible fact that in
some judicial districts in this common
wealth, certain judges who are honest
in their convictions, bold the law To be
obligatory upon their conscience, and
in the exercise of their discretion TO
grant license to every applicant, who
brings an application within the due
forms of the acts of assembly. Then
in other districts, equally honest and
sincere judges learned in the profession,
hold most inexorably with an iron
hand that under the same acts, they !
are not bound to grant any license
whatever Clearly neither of the posi-
tions are, judicially, well taken, or just !
and reasonable and within the spirit of
the acts as found in the breast Of the |
legislator, "by signs the most natural
and probable" at the time of making
the law
The province of the Judges of the !
Court of Quarter Sessions is to exercise :
sound. broad discretion upan the (
merits of each particular case. They
are to patiently hear, investigate and
with discrimination all the facts and
evidence and weigh them judiciously +
4 / &