Case Name: Independent Order of Sons of Italy Club Liquor License Case
Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Decision Date: 1947-11-12
Citations: 161 Pa. Super. 448
Docket Number: Appeal, No. 48
Parties: Independent Order of Sons of Italy Club Liquor License Case.
Judges: Before Rhodes, P. J., ITirt, Dithrioi-i, Ross, Arnold and Fine, JJ. (Reno, J., absent. )
Reporter: Pennsylvania Superior Court Reports
Volume: 161
Pages: 448–451

Head Matter:
Independent Order of Sons of Italy Club Liquor License Case.
Argued October 16,1947.
Before Rhodes, P. J., ITirt, Dithrioi-i, Ross, Arnold and Fine, JJ. (Reno, J., absent. )
Anthony G avale ante, for appellant.
Horace A. Segalbaum, Deputy Attorney General, with him Andrew G. Uncapher, Special Deputy Attorney General, and T. McKeen Ghidsey, Attorney General, for appellee.
Thomas H. Hudson, Jr., with him Hudson & Hudson, for intervenor.
November 12, 1947:

Opinion:
Per Curiam,
Appellant, an incorporated society, applied to the Liquor Control Board for a transfer of its club liquor license to its new premises at Gallatin and Lincoln Streets, in the City of Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The board refused the transfer on the ground the premises were located within three hundred feet of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church. See section 403 of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Act of November 29, 1933, P. L. 15, as reenacted and amended, 47 PS §744-403. On appeal to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Fayette County, the matter was heard in the first instance by one of the judges of that court, who reversed the board on the ground that the premises in question were in fact over three hundred feet from the church, hence there was no basis for any exercise of discretion by the board and it had no authority to refuse the transfer.
Exceptions to the order were filed by representatives of the church. The court in banc found the distance from the church to appellant's building to be two hundred and four feet, and sustained the refusal of the board to transfer the license.
On appeal to this Court, appellant has presented a number of contentions; they do not reveal any lack of jurisdiction on the part of the court of quarter sessions or any irregularity in the proceedings.
We have no alternative but to dismiss tbe appeal. Tbe applicable principles are well settled. Section 408 of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Act of November 29, 1933, P. L. 15, as reenacted and amended, 47 PS §744-408, provides that tbe action of the court of quarter sessions on appeals from tbe order of tbe board refusing tbe transfer of a license shall be final. We have held repeatedly that on appeals involving refusal by tbe board to grant, renew, or transfer a license our review is in tbe nature of a narrow certiorari and is limited to tbe question of jurisdiction and regularity of tbe proceedings. McGettigan's Liquor License Case, 131 Pa. Superior Ct. 280, 285, 200 A. 213; Spankard's Liquor License Case, 138 Pa. Superior Ct. 251, 256, 10 A. 2d 899; Kimmell Liquor License Case, 157 Pa. Superior Ct. 59, 62, 41 A. 2d 436; Blair Liquor License Case, 158 Pa. Superior Ct. 365, 45 A. 2d 421; O'Donnell v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 158 Pa. Superior Ct. 533, 534, 45 A. 2d 369.
We do not review the evidence in order to determine whether tbe court below or tbe board was guilty of abuse of discretion. It is clear that tbe court of quarter sessions bad jurisdiction, it being expressly conferred by statute, and that tbe proceedings were regular. Kimmell Liquor License Case, supra, 157 Pa. Superior Ct. 59, 62, 41 A. 2d 436; Heffernan's Appeal, 121 Pa. Superior Ct. 544, 547, 184 A. 286; Masefield v. Masefield, 159 Pa. Superior Ct. 6, 8, 46 A. 2d 329.
We may add that where, as here, there are several judges constituting tbe court of quarter sessions, tbe opinion of tbe majority is the ruling of tbe court. Myers v. Consumers' Coal Co., 212 Pa. 193, 200, 61 A. 825; In re McCormick's Contested Election, 281 Pa. 281, 285, 126 A. 568. Cf. Thomas et al. v. Waters et al., 342 Pa. 125, 18 A. 2d 872. Tbe representatives of tbe church bad a right to appear and to be beard in tbe court below. Tbe action of that court gave protestants no higher status than that to which they Avere entitled. Weinstein and Murman's Liquor License Case, 145 Pa. Superior Ct. 476, 480, 21 A. 2d 431; Seitz Liquor License Case, 157 Pa. Superior Ct. 553, 555, 43 A. 2d 547. Appellant's assignments of error are without merit.
Appeal is dismissed.