Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-09
Q, 1856.
The Local-Opt.on Law.

ne l<OCAl-C pam 49, "
We are apprehens,ve that our Les's.
lature has left the people OF Virginia in
a state of dubl,ty" as to the mean
ing OF certain sections Of the local-op'
ton law, and as to what is to be done
in regard to licenses. Read the law.
Ii says:
4. Where the election is he,d IN the who.e
comfy. n IL appear from the abstracts ano
returns OF such election that Is majority oi
the votes cast In the election under ms p.'
have been cast against iCehsc' lh-l no
VceDse shalI bc granted tOauy person there
in for The sale of such liquors; or u ID NJ
uear nom the abstracts anu returns pI SUI"
election that majority of votes As hipIr,
sad have not been ctt agahNt iiv - ~
tufONfCatipg LIQUORS iu said county but thh'
a majority Of votes have been cast IN
any mag istetial district IN s9d county
against license for the sale OF lHtpNI'h.
ting hiuors therein. then no hceh>' nuhu
be granted 10 any person IN sUch mag 'eI't.
district for the sale 81 such liquors. iui "
such district vote ia faVoro license. then u
shall be lawful 10 sell with license oplah'd
under existing laws: and any person VINO
shall sell ans Intoxicating liquors Wllhlu
the limits ofany magisieriai district Npin-
against license shall incur all the prhaIt'e'
and he punished as present. bed 10y me gene
raj law Tor sc ,iin2 wine. ardent Np-r.t> my
NuuOrs Orauy mixture Of them. without
license therefor.
The first thing that attracts attention
in the above section is that it provides
that if a district vote for license it shall
be lawful to sell liquor with license OBJ
tanned under existing laws, but makes
no such provision as to counties. If
the rule of law that eTpreSs'o minus er-
clusio cst oHeriuS obtains in this case,
it would seem that liquors cannot be
sold in the counties whether these vote
one way or the other on the question Of
license. However, the courts will
hardly give so rigid a construction to
the law.
A more serious matter is that the
law makes no provision as to what Is to
be done if county or city votes
against license after the liluor-sellers
have obtained their licenses for year.
The law says that in case of negative
vote "no license shall be granted. ="
whichis exactly the same thing as say
ing "no license shall thereafter be
granted -; but it says never word as
TO whether licenses already obtained
are to hold good for year, nor as
to whether, if the licenses b. revoked,
the license-tax is to be returned
to the seller. There is no way to avoid
this latter difficulty this year. The
election must take place after thirty
days notice and also thirty days from
any regular election. The proceedings,
therefore. will require at least sixty
days; whereas from to-day until the
LIST OF May, the time licenses begin to
run, there will be only fifty-three days.
The same sort of trouble will arise
under the following section
g. This act shall be- construed To prohibit
distillers OF alcoholic liquors or manufac
tuierS of wines or malt liquors from selling
any such liquors or wine IN any county,
nagtsierial district or corporation voting
as aforesaid against the sale OF Intoxicating
liquors therein.
Will this section take effect at once
or at the end Of the year for which Ii
censes are issued:
There is a troublous future just
ahead of US, it would seem. What
with labor troubles, local option, and
ambiguous laws, the times promise to
be lively. II would seem that our mu-
nicipal elections may possibly occur in
the hottest part of the campaign for
and against local option.