Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-03-05
A Thesis on the License Laws OF
Pennsylvania.
BY CHARLES A. SULLIVAN, A. T'Y-AT-LAw

No truth is more clearly visible, to
the mind of the student ofiurisprudence,
than that mutability is written upon
every human statute book. 1t may be
assumably said, that from the inception
of many acts, passed by the General
Assembly of this Commonwealth, no
system or class of laws has undergone
greater variableness caused more un-
told disturbances, and formed multi
plicity of judicial and eztrajudicial
! opirions, then the acts of assembly,
relative to the license system, in the
licensing of hotels, taverns, inns, eating
houses, for the accommodation and en-
tertalnment of guests, bOarders, lodgers,
strangers, visitors and the travelling
public.
The license question, in the State,
for a series Of years, has been Q subject
of transcendent importance. The great
public and private interests, pro and
con, have been fraught with vexations
and replete with difficulties. Even
| Judges and advocates have been har
! rassed and hectorcised, ad infiuitum, in
their efforts to construe and determine
the Intentions, cherished in the breast
of legislators, in the discretionary
power of granting or refusing license.
And most truly, may it be observed,
that Senators and Assemblymen in
this commOn wealth, for the past de-
cades, have been censured and adulated
and ostracised, by one class of the pop
ulace, in failing to pass statutory acts
tavoring license system, then by the
other class for acceding to the behests
of antagonists.
The changes and Quotations, indeed,
have been grievous, marvellous and per.
picking. The fair-minded and impair
tial student, upon full aud caustic in
quiry, is lead to the irresistible con-
clusion, that as party tendencies have
prevailed, as reform movements have
ascended, then was shaped with abso-
lutte inevitsbility the legislation of the
State, relative to license or it's abroga-
tion. When the temperance move.
ment rose to its f1ood-tide, and the
liquor interests receded, then license
acts were repealed in almost prohibi'
tory terms, and uice uersa, when the in.
terests of liquor leagues. and license
acts were brought into activity, when
successful with the electoral franchise
The fact can not be cOntroverted, that
these interests have, with unappeased
hatred, Numerically opposed each other
They have grappled most desperately;
one contending fer absolute prohihitory
acts of legislation and the other with a
burning zeal that nothing could lessen
or abate for their enactment and pass
age. And herein consists the marvel
Gus peculiarities, the pro and con, Of
the prohibitory and the license systems
A perusal of the pamphlet laws will
inform the student that the act of 1884
remained a stable and almost al undi-
visive law for a period of twenty-one
years, and it's supplemental changes
were slight and immaterial. 1t may
be affirmed that during the continuity
of this act OF assembly, harmony and
tranquility prevailed, while courts and
yeomnnry were allowed to pursue "the
even tenor of their way" In 1855,
upon the heels of tle great temperance
reform movement. that swept like a
besom of destruction, from the
statute book, followed the repeal of the
act of 1884, III terms nearly prohibtory.
The Senate and House of Represents
tives were compelled, Internationally,
to obey the mandates of al ardent con
stituency in almost restraining the
passage of liquor acts, granting a
license The new act went into effect,
with great eclat and glittering promis-
es, and it seemed that d new dawn of
civilization and refinement was shower
ed upon the commonwealth, but dole
fully was it to be recorded, that 'ere a
fortnight elapsed, the law that was
looked upon with brilliancy of success,
was obnoxious and mvst vigorously
derided and saterized contemptously,
as the "templars'- '-lttle-orownjug law"
And it. was demonstrated that the man
ufactures of liquors, etc, were reaping
their harvest and gathering in the
skekels, and entailing greater misery,
distress and humiliation, than under
lawfully authorized license system.
The consequences followed, that the
"little- brown,jug-law" was of brief
duration and was over-thrown most re-
morselessly, by the act of March, 1856,
passed through the indefatigable activi-
ty at the polls, over the entire State, by
an organization known as the Liquor
League" The license act of '56 was
subjected, however, to many changes
and notifications, and not until 1872
was the State again stirred from centre
to circumference, " from pit to dome and
pillar to cornerstone, with the fury and
agitation of the people, pro and con,
over the license question. The Senate
and House trembling like aspens, fear
ing an infuriated constituency gave
partial relief in the passage of an act,
styled the Local Option" The all-im
portant question for license or against
license was then submitted triennially
to q popular vote. Yet the Local
Option" act contained a proviso, that
could not be construed to repeal or
affect any special law prohibiting the
sale of intoxicating liquors or to restrain
the granting of license The act tri-
umphed with small majorities in some
counties, indeed, very few, if any cities,
and remained in force for three years.
This Act sprung upon the Judiciary
the question Of constitutionalty. In
many judicial districts in the State,
eminent jurists, distinguished in the
the profession, seriously questioned the
constitutionality and the uncoustitu-
tionality of the act Here and there
were found Judges, who held inexora-
bly, that "local option" was fragrant
violation Of organic rights and of IN
unconstitutional character, inasmuch.
as it delegated the legislative power of