The semi-weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1890-1891, 1890-05-03
THAT IOWA DECISION.


The Prohibition Law is an Interference
with Interstate Commerce.
WASHINGTON, April 30--The United
States supreme court has rendered an
opinion adverse to the constitutionality
of state laws in prohibition states, pro-
viding for the seizure oe G1uor brought
from other states. Such laws, it is held
are interference with interstate COM
merce. The case in which the decision
was made was that of Leisy against
Hardin, brought here on appeal from
the supreme court of Iowa. Leisy, u
beer manufacturer Of Peoria, Ills,
shipped beer to Keokuk, Iowa, which
was seized in the original packages by
Hardin, a state official, as having been
sent there in violation of the Iowa law
The supreme court of Iowa held that the
law under which this official acted was
valid, but the supreme court has reversed
that decision. Justices Gray, Harlan
and Brewer dissented from the opinion
of the majority Of the court. The opin-
ioh IluCNA " Ii Vi CdStS DShl1lLR
interstate commerce, among others 1.-THE
license cases." where laws passed by
Massachusetts, New Hampshire and
Rhode Island in reference to the sale of
spirituous liquors came under review in
the court and were sustained, although
the members of the court who partici-
pated in the decisions did not concur in
any common ground upon which to rest
them, in which Chief Justice Taney is
quoted as holding that spirits and dis
titled liquors are universally admitted
to be subjects of ownership and prop
erty and therefore subjects of ex-
change, barter and traffic, like
any other commodity in which
right Of property exists: that congress.
under it's general power to regulate COM
merce with foreign nations, may pre-
scribe what merchandise shall be ad-
mitted and what excluded. But, mas
much as the laws of congress authorized
the importation of ardent spirits, no
state has the right to prohibit their in
PRODUCTION.
After referring to these and other de-
cisions bearing on state license laws, the
court, in it's opinion, says:
"Thse decisions rest upon the un-
uOuDtCA A1SAV VI U1O blttUCS VI ULlr OIlIO
to control their purely internal affairs,
in doing which they exercise powers not
surrendered to the national government;
but whenever the law Of the state
amounts essentially to regulation of
commerce with foreign nations, OF
among the states, as it does when it in
hibits, directly or indirectly, the re-
ceipt Of an imported commodity, or its
disposition before it has ceased to be-
come an article Of trade between one
state and another, or another country
and this, it comes in conflict with
power which, in this particular, has
been exclusively vested in the general
government, and is therefore void.
"The plaintiffs, citizens of Illinois, had
the right to import their beer into Iowa
and had right to sell it, by which act
alone it became mingled with the COM
mon mass of property within the state.
Up to that point Of time, in the absence
of congressional permission to do so,
the state had no power to interfere by
seizure, or any other action in prohibi-
ton Of importation and sale by the non
resident importer. Articles which con-
gress recognizes as subjects Of interstate
commerce, may be controlled by state
laws amounting to regulations, while
Unoy Ietdlu CuhU CLHTdCU6T; DuC 10 COL
cede to a state the power to exclude such
articles without congressional permission
is to concede to majority Of the people
of a state represented in the state legis-
lature, the power to regulate CONNER
cial intercourse between the states"
The court also decided the case OF
Henry Lying against the people of the
state of Michigan, involving the validity
of the Michigan law taxing beer in the
original packages, manufactured in Wis
consin and sold in Michigan. The court
denies the power Of state to exclude,
directly OF indirectly the subjects of in
terstate commerce by the imposition of
burdens thereon, or regulate such COM
merce without congressional permission.
The same rule, it is held, which applies
to the suga, of Louisiana, the cotton of
South Carolina, the wines Of California
and the tobacco of Maryland and Con-
necticut applies to all commodities in
which right of traffic exists, recog-
nized by the laws Of congress, the decis-
ions of courts and the usages of the COM
mercial world should apply in this case
The decision of the state court of Mich
igan, deciding that Lying was liable to
tax is in this case reversed. Justices
Gray, Harlan and Brewer dissented
from the opinion of the court on the
same grounds stated in the Leisy-Hardin
| case.