Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-01-31
LAM As 10 OIL DEALERS,
Continental Oil Company Not a Refnsf and
Not Taxable As Such,

by Associate Justice Parker chief JUS
tice Mills and Associate Justice McFie
concurring:
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.
A territorial statute which imposes a
license fee as a condition upon which
coal oil may be sold in the territory is
unconstitutional and void in so far as
it applies to sales in original packages
by the importer Of coal oil produced and
refined without the territory.
Section 2 of the act of the territorial
legislature, approved March Is, 1899
(Session Laws of 1899, page 1917, con-
strued to apply to sales of coal oil in the
territory in original packages by the
importer, and held to be to that extent
unconstitutional and void.
STATEMENT OF FACTS.
BY act approved March Is, 1899, the
territorial Legislature attempted to tax
the sale of coal oil and it's products, the
pertinent provisions of said act being
as follows:
Sec. 2. No corporation, either for
eign or domestic, engaged in the bust
ness of producing or refining petroleum
or coal oil, or the products thereof for
illuminating purposes. shall have the
right to sell said commodities within the
territory Of New Mexico. until a license
has been issued by said territorial COM
merce commission Crowded for in Sec
ton / of the act), authorizing such cor
poration to engage in the business of
selling and disposing of such products.
No such license shall be issued in case
of any foreign corporation until it shall
have complied with the laws Of the ter
ritory of New Mexico, authorizing it to
do business in the territory, and her
only upon written application therefor.
For such license every such corporation
shall pay the sum of $500. =
If any such corporation shall attempt
to do business in this territory without
having obtained such license, or, if hav-
ing obtained the same, shall attempt to
do business after revocation thereof, 1t
and its agents shall be deemed guilty of
a ~misdemeanor, and upon conviction
thereof shall be fined in any sum not
exceeding 5000, or, in case of a natural
person. imprisoned for a period not to
exceed Two years in the territorial PEN
itenitiary, or by both such fine and i'm
prisonment.
Sec. S. All corporations, co-partner-
ships or persons who purchase Ind sell
more than $4,000 in value of such com
modities per annum, estimated at the
market price thereof, shall be deemed
wholesale dealers, and all others shall
be deemed retail dealers. Said commits
sion shall charge for a wholesale license
the sum of $25, and for retail license the
sum of 81. The corporations mentioned
in sections 2 and 3 of this act shall be
deemed producers and r~efiners, and any
corporation, whether actually engaged
in producing and refining said commod-
tiles, or engaged in the distribution of
said commodities as he agent under
any contract or arrangement with the
actual producer and refiner thereof,
shall nevertheless be deemed such pro-
Queer or refiner.'
Thereafter the petitioner charged with
a violation of said section 2, and by the
judge of the second judicial district
committed to answer said charge.
Whereupon petitioner sued out a writ
of habeas corpus in this court, and the
cause was heard pom the following
agreed statement of facts:
q. That the Continental OIL Com
pany is a corporation created, organ
lied and existing under the laws of the
state Of Iowa, and doing business in the
territory of New Mexico.
2. That the Continental Oil Company
does not actually produce or refine pc
troleum or its products, but IS engaged
in distributing the same. Said company
buys said commodities from the actual
producers and %refiners, and brings a
portion thereof into the territory of New
Mexico and sells and disposes of the
same to all persons desiring to purchase
from it.
3. That portions of the coal oil SO
brought into the territory of New Mex
leo by the Continental Oil Company is
shipped into said territory on orders re-
ceived by it without said territory, from
in the original packages in which the
same is put up by said Continental OIL
Company for sale, and Is delivered by
said company to the purchaser in such
original packages.
4. That other portions of the coal oil
so brought into the territory of New
Mexico by the Continental Oil Company
Is shipped to the various points within
the territory where the said company
has established distributing agencies,
and is there stored in the tanks or 9TH
erwise and delivered to purchasers In
such quantities as may be desired, ex- |
cept that no delivery Is made Of less
than five gallons.
5. That the petitioner, B. G.. Wilson, |
is the AGENT Of the said Continental Oil
Company, and tranEsacts the business Of
said company Within the territory OF
New Mexico aa Its agent. The said B.
G. Wilson is a citizen of the United
States, and resides in the territory Of /
New Mexico.
6. That the defendant has, since the |
10Th day Of March, 1899, continuously, |
as agent of the said Continental Oil
Company, engaged i'm the business Of
selling within the county of Bernalillo, /
and territory Of New Mexico, coal oil
produced and refined and bought with
out the territory Of New Mexico, az set
forth in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this
sued to or applied for by the said Con-
tinental OH Company or the said B. g.
Wilson, Nor has the said Continental
Oh Company or the said B. G.. Wilson |
s.aIi 4la e&a aE eson ka> s,.aa lisA~~- |