Case Name: Isaiah D. Richards & others vs. William P. Woodward
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1873-10
Citations: 113 Mass. 285
Docket Number: 
Parties: Isaiah D. Richards & others vs. William P. Woodward.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 113
Pages: 285–286

Head Matter:
Isaiah D. Richards & others vs. William P. Woodward.
The St. of 1869, c. 415, § 27, permitting an importer to sell in the original package intoxicating liquor imported by him, legalizes such sale, although he knows that the purchaser intends to and will resell the liquor in violation of the statute.
Contract to recover the price of certain spirituous and intoxicating liquors sold by the plaintiffs to the defendant.
At the trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., it appeared that the defendant was a saloon keeper and a retail dealer in liquors in Taunton ; that the plaintiffs were importers of, and wholesale dealers in liquor in Boston; that the liquors sent to the defendant were imported by them and were at the time in the original casks and packages in which they were imported.
The defendant introduced evidence tending to show that the plaintiffs knew the defendant intended to resell the liquors contrary to law, and requested the court to instruct the jury, that: “ 1. If the plaintiffs sold the goods with actual knowledge that the defendant was to resell them here contrary to law, he cannot recover, though not participating in such resale in any other way than such knowledge naturally implies. 2. If the plaintiffs sold the goods with a knowledge that the defendant intended to resell them here contrary to law, and with a view to such resale by the defendant, he cannot recover. 3. If the plaintiffs sold the goods with actual knowledge that the defendant intended to resell them contrary to law, he cannot recover for the price.”
The court declined to give either of the instructions prayed for, and ruled that the plaintiffs were authorized by the statute to sell, if they were within the provisions of the section as to importers; and that if they sold under the circumstances stated in the prayer of the defendant, it would constitute no defence. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs, and the defendant excepted.
H. J. Fuller, for the defendant.
C. A. Reed, for the plaintiffs.

Opinion:
Endicott, J.
The St. of 1869, c. 415, concerning the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, gives authority in § 27 to the importer of liquor of foreign production to own, possess, keep and sell the same in the original casks or packages in which it was imported. The case finds that the liquor, sold by the plaintiffs, was sold in the casks and packages in which it was imported by them. This they had the right to do, the statute authorizing them, as importers, to sell in this manner. As they were thus authorized, the numerous cases cited by the defendant to support the position, that a sale is void when the seller knows that the article sold is to be used for an illegal purpose, have no application to this sale. The statute does not attempt to impose any restriction whatever upon the sale of liquor by an importer in the original packages, and it is not to be inferred from other provisions of the statute that a sale so authorized is illegal in any aspect. Sales by importers may be made as if no statute prohibiting or regulating sales existed in this state. The rulings of the presiding judge on this point were strictly correct.
Exceptions overruled.