Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1891-04-16
The GRADED LICENSE ACT,
Official Construction OF the Now Liquor
Law Which Takes Effect on
May 1.

Law Which Takes Effect ON
May 1.
Since the new graded liquor license law
goes into effect in few days, there is
great public interest felt as to how it shall
best be put into operation. The follow
ing opinion by the solicitor general touch
es this subject:
Hon. R. F. Twitchell, District Attorney, Santa
Fe, n NJ.
SANTA FE, N. NJ, April Is, 1S9l.-Dear
Sir: Your favor of the 14th inst, enclos-
ing your opinion to the sheriff of Rio Ar
riba county as to the construction of the
late law, entitled Gan Act licensing the
sale of intoxicating liquors and regulating
the same" approved February 2, 1891,
and commonly known as the "High Lii
cense Law" in which you practically
decide that the amount OF the license tax
to be charged must be governed by the
total number of inhabitants in each pre-
cinct regardless of smaller subdivisions as
"plazas," settlements or hamlets, that is;
that any precinct having not more than
500 inhabitants comes within the 500
limit; precincts having more than 500 and
less than 1000 inhabitants, within the
5000 limit, and precincts having 900 or
more inhabitants within the $500 limit,
and requesting my official opinion upon
the same, has been received and had my
earnest attention, to which subject l had
previously given much thought from
which | have arrived at the same con-
clusion as yourself and concur in your in
depreciation of the law. While the act Is
loosely worded in its second section, yet
upon careful reading of whole text it is
apparent that the precincts i. 9. the
subdivisions of the counties established
by law for voting purposes and within
which the various precinct officers, JUS
tees of the peace, constables, etc., are to
| be elected, were intended to be the basis
on whose population the amount of the
license tax should depend, as distin-
gushed from incorporated towns or cities;
this is further indicated by section II of
the act which provides, that the U. S.
census of 1890 shall govern as to popula-
ton, until such time as the county com
missioners, mayor, town or city council,
or town or city trustees, may have new
census taken for precincts, towns, villages
or cities and that this act shall apply to
subdivisions as they now exist and no
division of precinct shall entitle the in
habitants thereof to lower rate OF license
after such division. Had it been the in
tention of the legislature to allow licenses
in plazas, settlements, hamlets or COM
munities as distinct from the present pre-
cinct limits in which they are located it
could easily have said 80, but it has done
in this act quite the reverse, and IN order
| to make the provisions in regard to the
precinct population more clear and bind
| ing, and to secure the greatest possible
revenue from this source to the school
fund of the territory, it has provided
in section II, that whenever the
place of business of said liquor dealer
| is to be situated within l 200 yards OF the
line or lines of any other adjoining pre-
cnct or precincts, then the total popula-
ton OF the adjoining precinct or precincts
is to be added to the population OF the
precinct in which said business is to be
prosecuted for the purpose OF grading the
license as provided for in section 3, and
the said license shall be issued upon such
total population of such said precincts.
The "precinct" is the smallest political
subdivision known to our law except in
corporated cities, towns or villages, each
of which latter must be included in one
or more precincts, that is city, town or
village may be a precinct of itself or it
lmay be a portion of two or more pre-
cincts, and while the precincts of this ter
ritory are many of them geographically
very large, some being in area, equal to
counties in the states, yet their popula-
ton is sparse in many instances, frequent
ly not amounting to the lowest limit of
population provided for in this act.
The law in question is an entirely new
one on the subject; it repeats all acts or
parts of acts in conflict with it, provides
new and exclusive penalties for it's viola
ton and new disposition for the pro-
ceeds of the tax it does not 60 into effect
until the first Monday of May next, and
was passed evidently with as much ref
erence to regulating the liquor traffic I'M
der the general police power of the terri
tory as for raising revenue to 60 into the
school fund. The amount of tax required
and the regulations as to time OF issue
and duration of the license, being such as
to mitigate, if it does not destroy, the evils
attendant upon the indiscriminate sale of
Intoxicating liquors in small plazas, re-
mote from police control or the survell-
lance of civil officers; evils 80 notorious
that it must be considered the legislature
was aware OF them and took this method
of correcting the same. Very respectfully,
EDWARD L. BARTLETT,
Solicitor General of New Mexico.