Court Opinion

ID: 9885012
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:27:47.215361+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:42.911250
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Hershey, dissenting: The slot machines manufactured by plaintiff are, in my opinion, contraband under Illinois law and are not within the protection afforded by a court of equity. The majority reaches a contrary result by lifting a single phrase from our opinion in People v. One Device, 410 Ill. 318, and giving that phrase a strained and unwarranted construction which erodes, if it does not undermine, the public policy of Illinois as declared by its legislature and subordinates our public policy to that of a sister State having a different policy. The act of June 21, 1895 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1957, chap. 38, par. 342) specifically and without qualification declares a slot machine to be a gambling device and subject to seizure and confiscation. Such devices are not the subject of property rights which the law protects. People v. One Device, 410 Ill. 318; Frost v. People, 193 Ill. 635; Bobel v. People, 173 Ill 19. In People v. One Device, 410 Ill. 318, 321-22, we summarized earlier decisions dealing with the 1895 Act by saying that these cases “lay down the principles that devices which are manufactured, made, or kept for gambling purposes and have no potential for lawful use, are gambling devices per se and are not lawful subjects of property which the law protects, but have ceased to be regarded or treated as property, and are liable to seizure, forfeiture and destruction without violating any constitutional provisions.” Seizing upon the words “and have no potential for lawful use,” the majority concludes that, since slot machine's are not illegal in Nevada, the machines in question have a potential for lawful use and are outside the proscription of the 1895 act. Since it is hard to imagine any device which is not lawful somewhere, this interpretation, if carried to its logical conclusion, would effectively emasculate the 1895 act. If, in People v. One Device, we had intended the phrase “and have no potential for lawful use” in the sense now attributed to it by the majority, the sentence in which that phrase was used would be a logical and linguistic absurdity. That sentence dealt with devices that are gambling devices per se. But, under the construction adopted by the majority opinion, there is no such thing as a gambling device per se. The natural interpretation of the language, taken in its context, is that the legislature has designated certain devices, among them slot machines, and has determined that such devices are gambling devices per se and have no potential for lawful use. The true distinction between devices which are gambling devices per se and other articles which have a potential for lawful use was drawn in the Frost case, where certain of the items were found to be gaming implements which had no value for use for any other purpose, while other items, e.g., a long table, three packs of cards, an office chair and four stools, were found not in actual use for gaming purposes and were of value for other purposes. I know of no case in this State, until the present one, holding that a slot machine is anything other than a gambling device per se. I believe that the 1895 act must be read to outlaw the manufacture of any device which has no potential for lawful use as measured by the policy of Illinois. A slot machine is clearly such a device. The emphasis placed in the opinion upon the fact that the slot machines manufactured by plaintiff “are shipped in strict compliance with the Johnson Act” seems to suggest that Congress has thrown around plaintiff’s machines a cloak of immunity from State regulation that they would not enjoy in the absence of Federal legislation. An examination of the text and the legislative history of the Johnson Act reveals the fallacy of this notion. The Johnson Act first prohibits the transportation of gambling devices in interstate commerce, but provides that this prohibition shall not apply to the transportation of any gambling device to a place in any State which has enacted a law providing for the exemption of such State from this prohibition. (15 U.S.C.A., par. 1172.) The act then provides for registration and reports by manufacturers of gambling devices. The reports of the committees in both houses of Congress on the bill which became the Johnson Act indicate clearly that the purpose of the legislation was to support the policy of the States which outlaw slot machines and similar gambling devices by prohibiting the use of the channels of interstate and foreign commerce for the shipment of such devices into such States. (Senate Report No. 1482, pp. 1-2, 81st Congress — 2nd Session; House Report No. 2769, p. 2, 81st Congress — 2nd Session.) There is no evidence of any intention on the part of Congress to deprive any State of any regulatory powers over gambling devices within its borders which it would possess in the absence of Federal regulation. The effect of compliance with the Johnson Act by a manufacturer is to remove him from the penalties of that act to which he would otherwise be subject. It does not immunize him from State regulation. With respect to their status under Illinois law, plaintiff’s machines have exactly the same standing, no better and no worse, as if there were no Federal legislation. One other matter should be mentioned. As the majority opinion now stands, it is difficult to tell whether the decision is based on State or Federal grounds; that is, whether the same result would have been reached solely on the basis of the Illinois statutes without regard to the Johnson Act and the commerce clause of the Federal constitution, or whether the majority felt that its conclusion was compelled by the Johnson Act and the commerce clause. If the former is the case, then this litigation has reached the end of the road, and the decision of this court is the final word on the subject. If the latter, then our decision is subject to review by the Supreme Court of the United States. A decent respect for the litigants and for the United States Supreme Court would indicate that this matter should be clarified. Otherwise we may find this case tossed back in our laps by the United States Supreme Court for a more definite indication of whether our decision is based on State or Federal grounds. Schaefer, C.J., and Solfisburg, J., join in this dissent.