Court Opinion

ID: 9766490
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:51:17.154318+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:23.283258
License: Public Domain

CROW, Presiding Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the principal opinion, but find it necessary to comment on a troublesome aspect of this case that was not addressed by respondents, either at trial or on appeal. The parties agree, in their briefs, that the City of Salem, by ordinance, authorizes one license to sell intoxicating liquor at retail for each 750 inhabitants, as established by the last United States census. The briefs make it clear that when relator applied for a license on September 10,1983, one license was available. The briefs further reveal that at time of trial on February 1,1984, no license was available. We infer from this that the license that had been available on September 10, 1983, was issued to another applicant sometime between October 17, 1983 (the date the Board of Aldermen voted to deny relator’s application), and February 1, 1984.
Relator filed this suit January 12, 1984. We cannot ascertain from the record whether the license that had been available when relator applied was issued before or after relator filed suit. It is possible, obviously, that such license was issued during the 86-day interval between the Board’s denial of relator’s application and the filing of suit. It is just as possible, of course, that it was issued while relator’s suit was pending.
Be that as it may, it appears that unless a license is presently available, the effect of our holding will be to compel respondents to issue a liquor license in excess of the number authorized by ordinance.
Respondents, however, did not assert that as a defense in their answer or at trial, *779nor do they do so on appeal. Consequently, it is unnecessary to decide whether the limit on the number of licenses established by ordinance can be overridden by a court decree in circumstances such as those here, and my concurrence should not be construed as suggesting that a court has such authority. Resolution of that issue must await a case in which it is properly raised.