Court Opinion

ID: 9709149
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:41:24.925388+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:45.613790
License: Public Domain

NIX, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the Sunday Trading laws presently in force run afoul of Article Three, Section 32 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. These laws, 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 7361-64 (1973), are so riddled with exceptions as to violate the equal protection of the laws as guaranteed by our state Constitution.
I write to emphasize that the instant holding does not question the power of the legislature to hereafter enact Sunday Trading laws which may be compatible with constitutional mandates. The United States Supreme Court as well as this Court have upheld Sunday Trading laws in the past. See McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 81 S.Ct. 1101, 6 L.Ed.2d 393 (1961); Two Guys From Harrison — Al*124lentown, Inc. v. McGinley, 366 U.S. 582, 81 S.Ct. 1135, 6 L.Ed.2d 551 (1961); Bertera’s Hopewell Foodland, Inc. v. Masters, 428 Pa. 20, 236 A.2d 197 (1967); Bargain City U.S.A., Inc. v. Dilworth, 407 Pa. 129, 179 A.2d 439 (1962). The result in the cases presently (before us) differs only because these laws, as they have developed over the years, lack “a fair and substantial relation to the object of the legislation so that all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.” Moyer v. Phillips, 462 Pa. 395, 400-01, 341 A.2d 441, 443 (1973). It is still within the constitutional exercise of its power for the legislature to rewrite these laws so that their defects are cured.
The principle that working people should have one day a week set aside for rest, recreation, and contemplation has “become as much a part of the public policy of the nation as the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence.” Bertera’s Hopewell Foodland, Inc. v. Masters, supra, 428 Pa. at 31, 236 A.2d at 203. “[T]he working people of America . . . have struggled long and arduously to achieve a just measure of recompense for their labors and an appropriate period of time for rest and recuperation and for intimate companionship with their families.” Id. As early as 1848 this Court stated the need for such a day:
“All agree that to the well-being of society, periods of rest are absolutely necessary. To be productive of the required advantage, these periods must recur at stated intervals, so that the mass of which the community is composed, may enjoy a respite from labour at the same time. They may be established by common consent, or, as is conceded, the legislative power of the state may, without impropriety, interfere to fix the time of their stated return and enforce obedience to the direction.”
Specht v. Commonwealth, 8 Pa. 312, 323 (1848). The majority’s action today has not overturned our long history of approval for the principles underlying Sunday Trading laws.