Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-06
SUNDAY BASEBALL
Continued from page /

'~Thc weight and prepondcrance ot the
authorities beyond question obligc me
TO give the Sunday law of this State what
Is called the liberal construction. And IN
SO doing | follow the ruling ot Chiei
Justice Lore IN the eases quoted, Tor IN
those cases he adopted that construction,
and in so doing, necessarily did So under
the Sunday statute OF this State. LOT
there is no other law of this state under
which he could otherwise have acted.
Upon the question of the intent ot the
law, as to what is 'wor dly employment
| again quote Chief Justice. Booth IN
Hall v Supra (slpral, when he states
The answer is. no other than such as
openly profanes the sanctlty oi the oay'
and violates public order and dccorum.
The law intended TO compel the external
observance of the day, by preventing
the open show, hustle and tumuIt OF
business.
And what is meant by this liberal
constructions To attain the purpose Tor
which the law was passed. What are the
objects of Sunday laws?
SUNDAY FOR REST AND WORSHIP
The objects are that the Lords
dav shall remain holy. for rest and wor-
shin. and it's deSecratIon prevented Tor
the prescrvatIn Of the public peace and
the good order OF civilized society; that
the outward respect and observance may
protect the religion of the country from
contempt: that the liberty of quiet wor-
ship may remain lnylolatc and also the
public morals improved. Our statute
rs enacted Is entitled: An act more
efTcctrallv to prevent the PROCLAMATION
OF the Lords day, commonly called
SUNDAY,
..ykbat - S,,ndavp
The photographer IN p Am. Eng
Enc of Law y. 3S1 saws
SUNDAY y a religious institution
Sunday IS the first day Of the week the
Christian Sabbath, the Lord ; day. IL
Is a olsv observed by the Christian world
rs holy and set apart for the purpose OF
rest ard worship. and Is established
In conmcmoratIun Of the resurrection
of Christ Citing Century Dict.
Appleton : Am I.ncvc.
such being the objects OF the law, and
such beng our statute and lis objects.
ball game played ON sunday. under th"
facts stated Is clearly within the intent
and spirit at he law, foTblddlug games,
plays and dances.
I'm eases quoted relying upon the
rlIl, that a PENAL act must hc strictly
construed The courts 80 held because as
thcv said. The facts were not clearly
within tho obvious meaning oi the
statf . In tins case thc~c can be no
question on tha' score 1t Is too appar-
cnt for an argument
"G,ur : G>WRLING.
at is urged that the word game in
the statute mu-t he construed as mean
ing gambling and Wharf Grim. Law,
SEC t6I i j. quoted reading
Game may embrace any sport,
recreation or amusement hi> lS not
its usual meaning when cmplovcd ~
statute which constitutes i an Indlctahlc
offcnSc In such a case il Is usually un-
dcrstood 10 imply some species 81 game
bling Wharf Crlm Law Sec 1863 b.
Perhaps the word Is usually under
stood - mpjv gambling and doubtless
docs IN indictahlc oflcn>eS which are
uum,rai- IN atute books ~Iii We are
nct concluded ana L may bc possible
ftr the Legislature 10 intend a mere
game theut i stake. and particularly
- far ar .tfrI = rs, iulictahlc - ~ tins
e:.,c II thcl maS intend ho'h game loT
~. ascmgit ard game with sta Ar
vl.5ch a"atr eortaln circumsf al,ct>. may
:Irouit ~ "an llrr
II rro5er .Jl.,.ec Cr rs '> Gj~tucHrr
If P,,I!c NG.i,f ID A#, 1l4
: : 5udc,, ~.E- Isc v,ra Lanu i N,r>
q. II preicI sIlc at,i en.i r.a,9 svtrl e,r-
5varcc sr a>.tfidlon who'll haS t,rIt>
lot to fs.rt IA >pcrr recreation. ,T
t.~emcIf I.C 2 stake he !ald l.Nor
eharccS q 1hc game ard We h:,o
ninc The word game has ro 'cohri-
/. meaning Il his hcen sand II cn-
/ race every Co0trlvarcC or institution
vlach has fcr u onJcc, - furnish >pur;
recreation, or amusement.
game Is trial o1 skill or of CHARGE
or Of skill ard chance between two or
moro cou1cndnG par .cs according to
some rlIlc bv which each ono may fail Ct
succeed in he trial of skill CT chance, &c
StearnS ". State 2l. Texas to-
w chster saws under Game"
4 contest physical or mental. &C
cording 10 certain rules for amusement.
recreation or for winning q stake and
quoting Cowper VIZ. Bur wars game
which were their subjects wise kings
would not play Al
CONSTITUTING STATUTES.
Our statute. under the title Construc-
ton OF Statutes, Code Chap. /, Sec. /.
reads
The following rules shall he observed
in the construction Of statutes. unless
such construction would be inconsistent
with the manifest intent OF the Legisla-
ture. or rcpugnart to The context Of the
same statute All words and phrases shall
be construed according 70 the common
and approved usage oi or language: but
technical words and phrases and such
otherS as have acquired peculiar and
appropriate meaning in law shall be con
s1rued and understood according 10 such
peculiar meaning
The word game has no technical
meaning The word must therefore bc
construed according 10 the common
and approved usage Of our language
There Is 10 question n my mind bur
that such usage oDlgate> me TO ConSfruc
the word game as including both q
game for amusement. recreation or IN
winning a stake and therefore IN the
statute i includes both unless there can
be fairly gathered rom the statute.
taken a 4 whole. an intent to mean one
and not the other
our statute mas very carefully gr0UDed