Court Opinion

ID: 9545299
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:09:46.153344+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:14:29.994505
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting.
The Act authorizing the retail sale of liquor by the drink became the law of Idaho *766in 1947. What is now I.C. § 23-903 then provided that the Commissioner of Law Enforcement was empowered, authorized, and directed to issue licenses to qualified applicants. In 1959, I.C. § 23-903 was amended to make it thereafter the law that “no license shall be issued” except as provided in the Act. The provision applicable to the present case states that “not more than two licenses may be issued for each incorporated city or village with a population of 1,500 or less.” (Emphasis added.) The legislature, having expressed its will as to licenses thereafter to be issued, properly dealt with the well-known fact that there were already many such licenses outstanding in all of the various municipalities. It gave such licenses recognition and created the distinct concept of renewals, speaking thusly,
“. . provided, however, that any license heretofore issued may be renewed from year to year without regard to the population of the city or village for which such license is issued.” (Emphasis added.) I.C. § 23-903.
The renewal concept of licenses was undoubtedly welcome, both to the many by-the-drink retailers in Idaho and to the Department. Prior thereto, it is remembered that every year, year after year, the game was played of filling out applications for licenses and outlining all of the requisite information which the Department had been given in previous years. The renewal concept was carried over into an amendment to I.C. § 23-904:
“In the event a licensee who was previously issued a license on a prorated basis under the provisions hereof desires to have such license renewed for the same period for the next succeeding year, he shall file his intention to so apply for such license with the commissioner of law enforcement of the State of Idaho, accompanied by the fee required for the issuance of such license on or before December 31st of the year preceding.” Ch. 118, § 2, 1959 Idaho Sess.Laws 256.
In 1967, the legislature amended I.C. § 23-908 by adding to the sentence “All licenses shall expire at 1:00 o’clock A.M. on January 1st of the following year,” “subject to the renewal provisions of section 23-904.”
It is altogether clear what the legislature did in 1959. It respected existing licenses, declaring that such could be renewed from year to year regardless of population. Additionally, it provided for the issuance of two licenses for each incorporated city or village with a population of 1,500 or less. It would have been a simple matter indeed for the legislature to have used this type of language:
“Licenses heretofore issued may be renewed from year to year without regard to population. Where the number of licenses heretofore issued equals or exceeds the number which would otherwise be issuable, the Commission shall not issue any new licenses.”
Appellant has correctly read the statute, which, in the language of Senator Sam Ervin, is in “the Queen’s English.” An unambiguous statute requires no construction, nor should the courts of this State sit to declare statutory law to be that which they think the legislature may have intended. Ware v. Idaho State Tax Commission, 98 Idaho 477, 567 P.2d 423 (1977).
The Director should be directed to issue the license applied for.