Court Opinion

ID: 9608005
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:04:39.922408+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:42.563690
License: Public Domain

MacIntyre, P. J.,
concurring specially. Under the Alcohol Control Act there are only three kinds of licenses issued by the State and each limits the authority of the holder thereof and in the absence of one of these licenses a person cannot sell a prohibited liquor even in a wet county. The three kinds of licenses are: (1) a manufacturer or distiller is authorized to sell to another manufacturer or distiller only in bulk and he can sell to a licensed wholesaler in sealed containers (Code, Ann. Supp., § 58-1024); (2) the holder of a wholesale license is authorized to sell to another licensed wholesaler and to a licensed retailer for purposes of resale (Code, Ann. Supp., § 58-1025); (3) the holder of a retail license is authorized to sell to consumers in certain amounts in unbroken packages (Code, Ann. Supp., § 58-1026). The distinction between the indictment in the *457present case and the indictment in the case of Capitol Distributing Co. v. State, 83 Ga. App. 303 (63 S. E. 2d, 451), is that here the indictment alleged a specific violation of Code (Ann. Supp.J § 58-1025, but in the Capitol Distributing Company case the indictment alleged that the defendant was not the holder of a retail license and that the purchaser was not the holder of a wholesale or retail license. It did not charge that the defendant had no license of any kind, but simply charged that the defendant had a retail license, leaving it an open question whether he had a manufacturer’s or a wholesaler’s license. It then charged that the purchaser was not the holder of a wholesaler’s or retailer’s license, leaving it an open question whether he had a manufacturer’s license. Thus in the Capitol Distributing Company case, the indictment undertook specifically to negative the fact that the accused had any of the three kinds of licenses provided by law as stated above, in the absence of which the defendant could not legally sell the prohibited liquor in question; and, having failed to negative the fact that the defendant had a manufacturer’s license and that the purchaser had a manufacturer’s license, the indictment was defective as being ambiguous, for a person with a manufacturer’s license would legally sell to another person with a manufacturer’s license.
Just a word as to one of the ways in which the pleadings may be drawn so as to present the issues to the jury in a clear and easily understood way in the case of a violation of our general prohibition law: The general prohibition law as contained in Code §§ 58-101, 58-202, et seq., generally known as the “bone dry” law, is of force and effect in every county of this State, except to the extent that the prohibited liquors have been legalized under the limitations and restrictions of statutes or of statutes and elections held in conformity with them in the individual counties. Under the bone dry law, prior to the Act of 1937-38 (Ga. L., Ex. Sess., 1937-38, p. 103), an indictment which alleged that the accused sold one of the prohibited liquors on a named date in a named county in Georgia was a good indictment and not subject to demurrer, but the Act of 1937-38, which act itself specifically states that it is amending the bone dry law, further states in Section 1 that “this act shall be known as the Revenue Tax Act to legalize and control alcoholic beverages *458and liquors.” In what counties is such amendatory act to legalize and control such beverages and liquors? I think in all counties of this State, both wet and dry and not in wet counties alone, for it legalizes and controls certain of such liquors in dry counties under certain restrictions and limitations; otherwise, one quart of such prohibited liquors could not be legally possessed in a dry county, even under the limitations and restrictions provided in such act. The passage of the act of Í937-38 amended the bone dry law and when it was thus amended it became one general law with many exceptions, and none of the exceptions come within the enacting clause of the general prohibition law as it existed prior to such amendment, but all such exceptions are placed in subsequent sections or subsequent statutes, separate from that of the enacting clause and need not be included in an accusatory pleading. When a person comes within an exception, it is a matter of defense. For “it is a long-established and well-settled rule that where the exception is placed in a section or statute separate from that of the enacting clause, it is a matter of defense and need not be noticed in the accusatory pleading.” 153 A. L. R. 1292. In this annotation just cited, the annotator cites many of the cases from the Supreme Court of this State and from this court in support of the rule quoted, among which is Williams v. State, 89 Ga. 483 (15 S. E. 552), which is strikingly in support of this rule. See concurring opinion of this writer in Capitol Distributing Co. v. State, supra, and Colbert v. State, 80 Ga. App. 641 (56 S. E. 2d, 830); and particularly Bienert v. State, 82 Ga. App. 179 (60 S. E. 2d, 575). Therefore, in the present case if the indictment had alleged after the formal parts thereof that the said Frank Bienert on a date named in a named county in Georgia did sell a named prohibited liquor, it would not be subject to demurrer. Such an accustory pleading (indictment), coupled with a plea of not guilty, would have been sufficient pleading upon which to try such a case. If the defendant did not sell the prohibited liquors, he could prove it and the case would be disposed of. If he did sell such liquors, he could say he sold them but that he sold them under an exception to the bone dry law that allowed him so to do and on proof that he came within such exception, the case would be disposed of. If this is a legal way to dispose of such a case, and I am firmly *459convinced it is, much excess and superfluity of pleading would be dispensed with, and the jury would more easily and clearly understand the issues involved.