Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-11
HOTELS NOT AFFECTED.
A Legal Opinion to the Sixteenth Section
of the New Iiouor Law.

A Legal Opinion as to the Sixteenth Section
of the New Liquor Law.
The assistant attorney for the District, Mr..
s. I. Thomas. holds IN an opinion to the Com
missioners today that the provisions of the 10th
section Of the act Of Congress Of March g..
1898, regulating the sale of liquors does not ap-
ply to hotels.
This opinion, which, it is thought, will re-
ceive the approval of the Commissioners, sets
at rest the contention of the hotel men, who
have been very much exercised over the Sec
ton referred to. The section reads:
Sec l6 That license for any Of the purposes sIee:
such business within 400 feet ' q pubic schooi
house private school or house Of religious worship
Private E r hS1'f s Of a
lumbia, measured between the nearest entrance to
place Of business and the school house private school
or house OF religious worship.
Had a strict construction been placed upon
this section a number of the most prominent
hotels in the city would have been compelled
to close their bar rooms.
THE OPINION.
The text Of Attorney Thomas opinion is as
follows:
The first section of said act provides: THAT
no person shall sell, offer for SALE or keep for
sale or traffic in, barter or exchange for goods
In the District of Columbia any intoxicating
liquor except as hereinafter provided
Whether the sixteenth section applies to
hotels depends upon the Interpretation to be
given the proviso. THAT any established hotel
or tavern having twenty chambers for lodging
guests shall always have the right to obtain for
itself a license for bar room on complying
with the provisions of this act." found in the
fifth section of the act.
1t Is general rule in the Interpretation of
statutes that a proviso, or saving clause.
carves special exceptions out of the body of the
act, where from the peculiar circumstances Of
the case there would be some hardship if they
were not excepted. For example, in MINIS
the United States (15 Pet. 423), Mr.. Justice
Story, speaking for the Supreme Court, said:
1.-The office of proviso, generally, is either to
except something from the enacting clause. or
to qualify OF restrain it generally, or to exclude
some possible ground of misinterpretatiou of
1t. as extending to cases not intended by the
legislature to be brought within the purview."
Hotels and taverns being for the entertainment
and accommodation of the travelling pubic, it
Is not unreasonable to presume that Congress
intended to except them from the more
stringent prrvisions Of the act.'
Such a purpose on the part of Congress, it
seems to me, was not inconsistent with the
avov- object and purposes of the law, which
Is Il u -rilment apd regulation Of the liquor
trail.e. Hotels are for the accommodation of
travellers. they furnish wines and liquors in
conjunction with meals or food. whereas the
ordinary bar room is not intended for the
comnodation Of travellers and furnishes wines
and liquors not in connection with meals.
lunches or food, but is rather for the accom-
mediation of people in its immediate locality.
II such was rot the purpose Of Con-
gress, then it was idle to say ''that
any established hotel or tavern
shall always have the right to obtain for itself
a license for a bar room on complying with the
provisions of this act" The language of the
proviso, unless such was the intention. is mean
ingless and unintellIgible 1 admit my firstim-
preston was that the proyiso was designed to
limit the provisions of the fifth section of the
statute, but on examining the point in the Light
of adjudged cases 1 am satisfied il applies to
the whole act and is not confined IN its opera
ton to the particular section or preceding sec
tions.
Thus in the United States vs. Rabbit q
Black 55), where the first section of act of
Congress gave to the registers and receivers of
the land Office the right to charge certain fees
for certain services, the next section gave the
right to registers and receivers in or out of
Office to be compensated by the United States
for similar past services at the same rate, and
at the end of this section came a proviso. that
no register or receiver should receive for his
services during every year greater compensa-
ton than the maximum then allowed by law,
it was held by the Supreme Court that the pro-
viso apphed to the whole act, and
limited the compensation for future
services as well past. The pro-
viso in the fifth section Of the act Of Congress
of March 8. 1893, regulating the sale Of liquor,
''that any established hotel or tavern
shall always have the right to bar room
license, &C., limits the law as to hotels, and it
is to be treated as il it constituted a separate
section of Itself. So far the 400-feet rule is
concerned the provlso is to be construed as
though it was added to the sixteenth section Of
the act Of Congress approved March 8, 1898.
1 am Of opinion. therefore, the sixteenth section
of the act Of March 8, 1898. regulating the sale
Of liquor, does not apply to hotels"