Court Opinion

ID: 9763983
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:05:57.669596+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:52.064255
License: Public Domain

*67Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice O’Brien:
I cannot- subscribe to the conclusion reached by the majority of this court that the amendment to the Act of 1939, June 24, P. L. 872 §699.4, 18 P.S. §4699.4, enacted by the General Assembly as the Act of 1961, September 27, P. L. 1695 §1, 18'P.S. §4699.15, is constitutional. In reaching my conclusion, I need only heed the admonition of the majority and apply “common sense in the construing of words according to rules of grammar and according to tlieir common and approved usage”.
Clearly, the mere fact that all of the judges of the highest appellate court of the Commonwealth are unable to agree on the meaning of the legislative enactment, even with the aid of the Statutory Construction Act and all their experience in the interpretation of statutes, does not indicate that the statute is unconstitutional for vagueness. The fact of this disagree*68ment does, however, indicate that the intendment of the statute is not so crystal-clear as the majority would have one believe. Even assuming, however, that the language of the statute admits of no interpretation other than that which the majority has reached, I conclude that the statute is void, since it is not based upon any reasonable or rational classification.
The statute involves attempts to do nothing other than prohibit the sale of fresh meats, produce and groceries on Sunday. At this point, there is nothing to be gained from any further discussion of the right of the Commonwealth to legislate in such fashion. The United States Supreme Court, as properly pointed out by the majority, in Two Guys v. McGinley, 366 U.S. 582 (1961), has foreclosed any such speculations. In that case, the Supreme Court of the United States held clearly that it is within the power of the state to conclude that retailers of certain items were particularly disrupting the intended atmosphere of the day because of the disturbances inherent in their operations. I would be remiss if I did not note in passing that this decision was based not upon any religious grounds, but wholly and solely upon the State’s right to legislate for the economic well-being of its citizenry. I therefore find it unnecessary to make any comments relative to the majority opinion’s preoccupation with the religious history of the Commonwealth and Nation. Such discussions are, in my view, irrelevant to the determination of the issues at hand.
The Act under attack says that: “Whoever engages in the business of selling or otherwise dealing at retail in fresh meats, produce and groceries on Sunday shall [be guilty of a violation and punished according to the Statute]. This section shall not apply to any retail establishment employing less than, ten persons or to any retail establishment where fresh meats, produce and groceries are offered or sold by the *69proprietor or members of his immediate family or employing less than ten persons nor shall it apply to any retail establishment where food is prepared on the premises for human consumption.” I can readily accept the conclusion of the majority that a reasonable distinction can be made between establishments employing nine people and those employing ten or more. As aptly stated by the majority, the line must be drawn somewhere, and it requires no stretching of the rationale of Two Guys to reach the conclusion that the type of disturbances sought to be avoided justifies the classification. It is even arguable that where the proprietor or a member of his immediate family is engaged in the operation, an exception may be made.
This would be on the sole basis of protection of small, family enterprises against the competition of huge, competing enterprises. There is, however, no reasonable justification for excepting a retail establishment where food is prepared on the premises for human consumption, nor is there any valid justification for permitting an establishment to operate with an unlimited number of employees if only the proprietor or a member of his immediate family is engaged in the sale of fresh meat, produce and groceries.
From what I have just said, it is apparent that I do not agree with what the majority has held the statute to mean. For example, although the statute is totally ambiguous as to whether the “less than ten” exception means less than ten employees any day of the week or only on Sunday, the majority is certain that it means the former. If one interpretation had to be chosen, I would think the latter to be more logical. Since the Act is specifically directed to Sunday, the number of persons employed at any retail store on any day of the week other than Sunday would seem irrelevant to an interpretation of the statute. The Sunday closing laws have always tried to secure a *70respite from work, a day of rest and recreation. If a store with 1,000 employees during the week employs only nine on Sunday, then a major purpose of the law has been fulfilled in securing that respite from work for 991 employees. Regardless of which interpretation is more logical, the point is that either is maintainable. This is a criminal statute which is being interpreted; to require those potentially affected to guess at its meaning violates fundamental notions of due process.
Nor can I agree with the majority’s interpretation of the second exception of the Act, namely, that “This section shall not apply to any retail establishment . . . where fresh meats, produce and groceries are offered or sold by the proprietor or members of his immediate family or employing less than ten persons. . . The majority has come to the amazing conclusion that such an enterprise may not, in any event, employ more than nine persons. It is impossible for me to reach this conclusion except by ignoring completely the rules of grammar and the common and approved usage of the English language. The Act says that it shall not apply to a retail establishment where the items covered are offered or sold by certain people or to establishments employing less than ten persons. The language of the Statute is set out at length above, and it can be seen by a simple examination that the General Assembly saw fit to except from the provisions of the Act two separate and distinct types of retail grocery operations: those which employ fewer than ten persons and those where the proprietor or members of his immediate family are engaged in selling. The Act does not say that an exception is made for an establishment where the proprietor or a member of his family engages in selling and fewer than ten members are employed by the establishment; the Act says that an exception is made for any retail establishment which employs fewer than ten people, and a wholly separate *71exception is made for any retail establishment where the proprietor or a member of his immediate family is engaged in selling. If these are not two separate and distinct classes of exceptions, there was no need for the Legislature to use the disjunctive “or” not once, but twice, to set off those establishments employing fewer than ten people.
The majority says that the fact that “or” is used twice to set off establishments employing fewer than ten people malíes the second “or . . .” blatantly redundant unless we perform judicial alchemy to transform “or” into “and”. The redundancy is undeniable; it merely emphasizes the defects in draftsmanship in this statute. Certainly the majority’s reading of “or” as “and” does not remove the redundancy. If, as the majority concludes, family operated retail groceries are restricted to nine employees, then there is no need for the second exception of the statute. The first exception allowing the operation of establishments employing fewer than ten people would cover the field, and all of the subsequent language of the statute is mere surplusage. The family run store could employ help, so long as fewer than ten persons were working, under the first exception. Thus, reading “or” as “and” not only is a perversion of the English language, but one which ascribes to the General Assembly inclusion in a statute of language which is completely unnecessary.1
The very best that can be said for the second exception is that it is ambiguous. The majority states, by the tortuous alchemy we have referred to above, that the exception forbids the employment of more than *72nine persons. It is just as reasonable to conclude that under this wording, an establishment could employ any number of employees, provided that the proprietor or members of his immediate family are engaged in selling, as it is to conclude that even where this condition exists, employees are limited to nine. It is just as reasonable to conclude that under this wording, an establishment could employ any number of persons, but only so long as they were the proprietor or members of his immediate family. It is not at all clear from the language of the Act which of the many interpretations advanced or advanceable was intended. What is clear is that the majority has seen fit to adopt the most restrictive of all the possible interpretations as the only one which the language of the Act permits.
Similarly, the majority takes a restrictive view as to what constitutes an “immediate family”, asserting it to be husband, wife, and children. Should parents, or grandchildren, or perhaps nieces and nephews living in the household of the proprietor be included? No Pennsylvania case has defined “immediate family”, but those from other states indicate that it has a broader meaning than that ascribed to it by the majority. One ease has held that it includes a mother-in-law and father-in-law, Grant-Morris Management Corp. v. Weaver, 7 Misc. 2d 449, 166 N.Y.S. 2d 610, while another has indicated that a daughter-in-law, not even living with her husband’s parents, may well be included within the term. Cincinnatti, N. & C. Ry. Co. v. Peluso, 293 S.W. 2d 556. That case cited Ballentine’s Law Dictionary, defining immediate family as “those members of the same household who are bound together by ties of relationship”. The questions raised by this vague term can only be answered by the legislature. The ambiguity should be fatal in a criminal statute.
*73In its interpretation of the third exception, “where food is prepared on the premises for human consumption”, the majority repeats its error of assuming that its interpretation is the only plausible one. Such is surely not the case. “For human consumption”, says the majority, clearly means “more or less, immediate human consumption”. Disregarding the ambiguity in the majority’s own use of “more or less”, I ask what possible judicial omniscience can supply the word “immediate”? The legislature knew how to use that word when they wanted; in fact, they did so in referring to “immediate family” in the second exception. Although appellant raises the question whether “on the premises” modifies “prepared” or “consumption”, I am inclined to agree with the majority that the placement of the modifier indicates the former. But I can by no means accept the majority’s assertion that “slicing, cutting, dressing, trimming, cleaning, and packaging ... is not preparation in the sense of the statute.”
Moreover, I cannot accept the majority’s interpretation that the food for sale must be prepared on the premises. The statute says that the section shall not apply “to any retail establishment where food is prepared on the premises for human consumption” (Emphasis added). Inasmuch as the statute by its title applies to grocery-type establishments—“Selling or otherwise dealing in fresh meats, produce and groceries on Sunday.” it would seem that a supermarket which barbecued chickens or operated a delicatessen counter could employ an unlimited number of persons while its counterpart without the added feature would be limited to nine. This is a classification which is supportable on no grounds that I can conceive. Yet it hardly is a proper answer to avoid the irrational classification by giving the statute an interpretation its words will not yield.
*74I conclude that the Act is void for vagueness and I would therefore reverse the decree of the court below.
In view of the approach taken in some of the other opinions in this ease indicating the result that would obtain if the exceptions, were held to be void for vagueness, I would like to comment on that matter. I agree with the majority that the elimination of the exceptions would invalidate the entire section. They are so inextricably tied to the remainder of the statute that the statute is incomplete without them. However, this does not necessarily mean that all supermarkets could remain open on Sunday. It means that the validity of their opening must be tested under the provisions of the general Sunday closing law of June 24, 1939, P. L. 872, §699.4, 18 P.S. §4699.4.
I dissent.

 In the cases cited by the majority where “or” was read “and”, the legislative intent was clear. The transformations did not result in the statutes remaining just as confused as before the change was made. Nor did they broaden the scope of a criminal statute.