The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1885-03-18
Judge NeaIe on License.

court been a question of considerable in
terest in our county, the following decis-
ion upon the subject by Judge James b.
Neale, of Armstrong county, on the APP
plications recently brought before him,
may be of some interest to our readers:
The courts throughout this Common
wealth have uniformly held that the duty
of granting or Withholding license is be-
yond the mere inclination of the Judge.
1t has been so held by every Judge who
has presided over the courts of this conn
ty, and has at all times been a source OF
much embarrassment. The advocates OF
temperance and the applicants for license
have always entertained the most antago-
nistic positions-theSe relations, under the
impetus oflecent temperance movements,
are becoming more and more hostile.
Men and women throughout the land are
constantly becoming more in earnest and
alive to the greatest interests which per-
tain to their social, personal and family
relations as citizens of the State and as
members of society. They have right
to be heard, not only in the halls of the
Legislature, but also in the courts of JUS
tice. The grievances they complain of
connot be too highly colored. The deliv-
erance they pray for they cannot too ear
nestly demand.
In this court we have at all times been
willing to entertain remonstrances COM
ing from ANY party. But under the con-
struction given from time almost inime-
mortal by my predecessors, and under the
decision of the supreme court, which un-
til reversed, must be the chart for our
guidance, licenses may only be refused in
the exercise of sound legal discretion or
for cause.
In the case of Schlaudecker VS.. Mar
shall, % P. f. Smith, page 206, Justice
Agnew delivering the opinion of the
court says: whether any or all licenses
should he granted is legislative not iu-
dicial question. Courts sit to administer
the law fairly as it is given to them, and
not to make or repeal it. The law of the
exist, and has imposed upon the court the
proper instances in which the license
shall be granted, and therefore has given
it to the Court to decide upon each case as
it arises in due course of law. The act of
deciding is judicial aud not arbitrary or
willful. The discretion vested in the
Court is, therefore, sound judicial dis
erection, and to be a rightful Judgment it
must be exercised in the PAT ticular case
and upon the facts and circumstances be-
fore the Court after they have been heard
and duly considered, in other words to be
exercised upon the merits of each case ac-
cording to the rule given by the act 0f
Assembly. To say that 1 Will grant no
license to any one, or that will grant it
to every one is not to decide judicially
upon the merits of the case, but to deter
mine beforehand without a hearing, or
else to disregard what has been heard"
1t is clear from this enunciation of the
law that the powers of the court are cir
cumscribed. 1t is true as well that the
supreme court has said that the exercise
of the power by the court below is not the
q hi anf of 1.,.A
which the right of review is denied.
Toole's appeal, q Norris, $40, recognizes
the principle of the Schlaudecker case
that the refusal of the license twas not ar
bltrary and without some good cause"
judicial functions are simply declara-
tory, they extend in no case to the max
ing of law even the rules which each
court may establish for its own guidance,
must in every instance be consistent
with the law, and although certain dis
cretionary powers may he lodged with the
Judge, still it must always be understood
that ne exercises them, not arbitrarily or
according to mere caprice or inclination,
but according to law and a sound judg-
ment. If it were otherwise, the Vindici-
tveness on the one hand and the weak
ness on the other of the Judge, would
subject the course of justice 10 gravest re.
proach. In some cases judgment would
never be tempered with mercy, and in
others mercy would always be exercised
without Judgment; the circumstances of
each particular case never considered in
shaping the decision, and hence no man
could feel assured of safety.
Under The present penal code the pun
lshment OF nearly every crime is pre-.
scribed for by maximum and minimum
penalties, II every conviction for a partic-
ular offense were to be folio we'd liy the
maximum punishment it would be lust
as erroneous as # invariably the mint
mum penalty of the law would be applied.
Hence the law makers, the representa-
tVes of the .eople, felt that certain dis.
cretiOnarY powers might safely be con-
fided to judicial tribunals. The people
themselves have acquiesced in this, in the
confidence that the Judges of their own
selection will observe faithfully the trust
reposed in them, and be Influenced in no
instance by favor or dislike by sympa-
thy or prejudice, and give ear at no time
to the voice of merely public sentiment,
however just it may appear, if it involves
the violation of law or duty. The maxim
is an old one 'that it is better that a bad
law be strictly administered than the mere
viii OF the Judge be substituted for the
law"
Therefore in the present cases if this
court, now so fOrcibly reminded that its
DEGREES cannot be reversed, were to yield
" tho eiOquehl ahu persuasive addresses
that have been so touchingly uttered, or
To its own convictions on the mere moral
aspects of the questions, and determine
that 1t would refuse all licenses merely
because 1t had the power, and its action
could not be reversed or so much as re-
viewed. Would even those who have
now demanded such compliance, in
their refiecting moments feel assured that
the same court in other cases involving
their rights and liberties might not swerve
from the strict line OF duty prescribed for
its observance by the unwritten as we'll as
the written law of the land2 Hence in
this view of the solemn obligations i'm
posed upon this couit, we are compelled
TO disallow the requests of the remon-
.trants, 50 far as they apply for a general
denial of the applications for licenses.
We are next confronted with the duty
OF refusing such licenses as are objected