Evening star., 1950-07-11
.CourtUpho|ds
Restaurant in
Barring Negroes
Judge Myers Declares
1872 Laws Repealed
By Implication

Municipal Court Judge Frank H.
Myers today ruled that a Four
,eenth street restaurant violated
no District law when it refused
10 serve three Negroes last Febru-
ary.
In the first court test of the
so-called "lost" anti-segregation
laws passed by short-lived Legis-
lative Assembly in 1872, Judge
Myers ruled that the acts have
been repealed by implication"
The long-awaited decision set
tied test case brought last Feb
ruary %, when Mrs. Mary Church
Terrell, widow of a former Munich
pal Court judge, and two other
Negroes sought service at a
Thompson's Restaurant at 725
Fourteenth street NV.
Old Laws Cited.
On the complaint of the Ne
groes. Assistant Corporation Coun-
sci Clark F. King filed an informa-
ton against the Thompson COM
pany charging the restaurants
refusal to serve "well-behaved, or
derly persons of the Negro race"
violated old Legislative Assembly
laws which had never been
repealed.
Judge Myers, in a 12-page de-
cision, said that the Legislative
Assembly had the right to enact
the anti-segregation legislation,
and added that "the acts in their
objective light were not unreason-
able"
However, Judge Myers ruled,
the later Organic Act of 1878,
which first established a complete
and permanent form of govern
ment for the District, provided
for legislative substitution for all
previous legislation.
Declares Acts Repealed.
1T seems inescapable that, If
this premise be correct, then the
acts of 1872 and 1873 as such.
although not directly repealed.
have both been repealed by i'm
plication," he said.
1T is true that repeal by i'm.
plication is not favored, but it is
well settled law that this mode
OF repeal is just as effective as ex-
press repeal" Judge Myers con.
tinued.
Judge Myers conceded that it
is a real problem in the District
for Negroes to find adequate and
satisfactory places in many sec
tions of the city where they may
be served food and drink.
However, the solution of this
particular problem does not lie in
an attempted revival and enforce
ment of parts Of old municipal
regulations which the court has
found as matter of law to have
been superseded by the Organic
Act of 1875" Judge Myers con-
tinued.
Rejects Defense Contentious,
In his opinion, Judge Myers
ruled it was not necessary to pass
on all issues in the case in order
to determine the main question.
In citing the question of whether
the acts had been repealed as the
point of contention.
Judge Myers refused to consider
defense arguments that the acts
were Cd unconstitutional and in
valid; ca obsolete and unforce-
able; Cd that both acts had been
repealed by the Alcoholic Bever-
age Control Act.
Judge Myers noted that no action
had ever been taken by the Dis
trict to enforce other basic parts
Of the controversial laws. These
provision that every
restaurant file with the District
assessor yearly copies of prices Of
items it kept for sale.
Judge Myers cited two Supreme
Court decisions, in 1890 and 1891.
which he said dealt directly with
the Organic Act of 1878. Those
rulings, he explained, upheld lower
court decisions that plaintiffs
could not get back pay under
earlier acts because those statutes
(See SEGREGATION, Page A-l2.l