Bisbee daily review., 1915-05-06


 alcohol. and to be intoxicating. if they 1 had in fact intended that the test in all cases should be whether or not ] the drink is such as will produce in | toxication There would have been : no reason for or object in enumerating these various liquors distilled, vinous malt and fermented. if the legislature had intended in all cases the test should be whether or not the drink 1 is in fact such as will produce intoNi- cation. The legislature in the enact ment of this law, evidently had in mind a two-fold object: First. that ! of discouraging and as far as possible preventing intoNication and intemper- apce in the use of intoXicants; second and equally important. that of protect ing and preventing the boys and young men of the state from acquir- ing a taste for intoXicants and the habit of indulging i'm drinks and bev. Ierages that contain the intoxicantine elements The legislature likewise. recognized the fact that vinous. malt, land fermented liquors all contain. Go some extent. the element of alcohol although it may not be to such a de- gree as will produce intoXication. They must also have had in mind the difficulty that would arise in the en- forcemCnt of such law as they were enactinE. if they left it to be proven in every case of the sale of a vinous, malt. or fermented liquor. whether or not the same was in fact such as would produce intoxication Under that view of the statute, near beer might have been sold in one prohibit ton district with safety. and in anoth- CT the sale prove Co be a violation of the statute" Quotations might bg multiplied to a considerable extent but the two above given illustrate the different lines of reasoning It will thus be seen that either interpreta- ton of our statutes is supported by very responsible authorities. and the court can only decide this ease on what seems Co be the hest line of req soninr as applied to the peculiar Ian guage Of our own law. If the view of tbe defendant is upheld, it is necess- ary for the court to read into the law the word intoxicating in front of tho word beer If the contention of the state is upheld, nothing need be add ed. While it is more or less danger ous 10 guess at the purpose Of the leg islature in using certain words in the law. it occurs to the ordinary man that if the people had meant merely to prohibit the use of liquors which intoxicated, there was no need what ever of using the word ardent spirits ale beer or wine and that the rener- al phrase, intoxicating liquor Of any kind would be amply sufficient to cover the situation. It is not Co be presumed that these words were plac- ed in the law for no purpose. The fact that certain substances, followed by a general term, are specified. would raise the presumption that they must mean something. which was not necessarily included in the general term
 "Both lines of reasoning referred to above consider that the purpose to be accomplished by prohibitory laws in general is the prohibition of the use of intoxicating liquor as a beverage. They differ as to the remedy One says that the mere prohibition of the sale Of any intoxicating liquor will accomplish the purpose The other that it is equally essential to prohibit the acquiring by the youth of the land of a taste for such liquors and the evasion Of the law under the guise of temperance drinks It will certainly be agreed by all reasonable men that the latter construction is more apt to carry out the real purpose of the law than the first Taking into considera- uon, therefore, the plain and unam- biguous language of our statute, the more eifectual manner in which the unprecedented intent of the people will be carried out by the last named con struction, and the necessity for inter polating an additional word in the law to hold with the first contention. the court holds that the prohibitory amendment to the Constitution of Ar izona should be construed to mean ex- actly what it says, and that in this case, since the substance sold was beer, and the language of the Consti tuition prohibits the sale of beer, the defendant is guilty as charged.
 Dated this 5th day of May, 1915.
 A. C. LOCKWOOD