Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1905-01-05
PACIFIC Club DECISION
FULL TEXT OF DISTRICT
COURT JUDGES OPINION
PRESIDENT cLEGHoRN IN TEST
CASE FOUND GUILTY OF SELL.
ING LIQUOR WITHOUT
A LICENSE.

ed with selling liquor without license
and found guilty, Judge Whitney of
the District Court said.
The defendant is charged with hav.
ing at Honolulu, Island of Oahu, on
the 18th day Of December. 1904, violat.
ed the provisions of Section 444 OF the
Penal Laws OF the Territory of Ha.
wall. 1897, by selling spirituous liquors
without a license. The following ad.
missions are made by the defendant,
which admissions form the agreed
statement Of facts on which the briefs
submitted by both parties are predicat.
ed.
The contention Of the defendant is
that bona fide club, organized for
legitimate purposes, can dispense
liquors to its members without procur.
ing any license under the laws relat
ing to the sale of liquors, as expressed
in Chapter IL of the Penal Laws of
1897. To sustain this contention de-
PENDANT first calls this courts atten.
ton to long and weighty list of
names high in Office and large IN pow.
or in this Territory who have not until
now moved to bring the defendant to
the bar of justice, thereby warning this
court that Il we're bare presumption
to hold against the defendant In the
face of such an array. Citing then the
cases which to the mind of counsel
for defendant sustain the contention
that a bona fide club may freely dis.
pense liquors to its member without
a license, defendant closes with an.
other solemn warning to this court
that this court do not, In deciding
against the defendant violate his oath
OF Office
Referring to defendants first con.
tention. IL Is sufficient for this court
10 say that the only time that II ap.
pears that this matter was brought
to the attention of the Attorney Gen.
erals Department. Mr.. +. p. Dole. the
then Attorney General. used the follow.
ing language without expressing an
opinion that this is legal or illegal, |
think you are justified in warning the
Elks that the Attorney Generals De-
partment must take the position that
sales for profit and not at cost and as
q mere incident Of the festivities of
the lodge cannot be recognized as law.
full"
As to the cases. lengthy citation
thereof by this court would be as use
less as Il would be inappropriate
! Most of those cited by defendant as
I sustaining his contention are founded
on the early case of Graf VS.. Evans
S Exch. 22 Law Reg. 90 This case
though carefully considered and ex
ceedingly valuable. would not, we be
lieve, from careful reading hav,
ute. which is much broader and NOR,
| inclusive than the English License Ac,
of that date. That case was one of al
unincorporated club. The case, too
has been under consideration In man,
OF the highest state tribunals an,
been there expressly and emphaticall,
criticised, many courts refusing to fol
low II, holding the reasoning deficien
and the case too restricted to appl.
generally.
Many Of the cases 20 of on point
which are not In the case at bar, as
for instance, Commonwealth vs.. Ewig
las Mass. l21, and many others o
the same class, where the club wa
merely device to cheat the govern
ment out Of the prescribed license fee
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