Court Opinion

ID: 9809348
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 21:09:21.150429+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:26:58.150467
License: Public Domain

Clark, O. J.,
dissenting: The statute provides that it “shall be unlawful for any person, etc., to transport, carry, or deliver in any manner, or by any means whatsoever, for hire or otherwise, ... at any one time from a point within or without this State to any person, etc., in this State any spirituous or vinous liquor, etc., in a quantity greater than one quart.”
*808Tbe indictment charges that the defendant “purchased four quarts of whiskey in Florence, S. 0., one quart for himself and one quart for each of the following persons (naming them); that he got upon the train at Florence, S. 0., and came to Wadesboro, N. C., with the whiskey, intending to use one quart for himself and to deliver one quart to each of the three persons above named, who resided in Anson County.” “Intending to deliver” to them means transporting or carrying for delivery to them.
Upon the charge and the facts found, the judge properly held the defendant guilty, for he transported at one time from a point without the State, for persons in this State, spirituous liquors in a quantity greater than one quart. It is found that he reached Wadesboro with said liquor for the purpose of delivering the same. The fact that he was arrested before the liquor was delivered in no wise condones the offense, prescribed in the statute, of transporting, carrying, or delivering the whiskey for any person or persons in this State in the forbidden quantity. ■
The fact that the defendant intended to divide it after he reached here (if it was in one package) into four several parcels does not affect the fact that he brought in more than a quart at one time, for the purpose of delivery.
It is not found as a fact, and there is no presumption, that the defendant brought the whiskey in four several packages, nor would it matter if it had been so found, for the act provides that it shall be unlawful if spirituous liquors shall be brought in “at any one time” in “quantity greater than a quart.” It is the fact of bringing in such quantity at any one time, for a person or persons, that is unlawful, and it is immaterial whether at “any one time” such quantity was in separate packages or in one package.
It is none the less in furtherance of the mischief intended to be remedied that intoxicating liquors shall be brought in in one barrel to be drawn out in quantities of a quart or less for each person, or whether it shall be brought in in 150 bottles, like champagne, for instance, packed in straw or sawdust, with the purpose of delivering a bottle to each of 150 persons. The intent of the law is plain, and an evasion in whatever method is a violation of the purpose and the letter of the law. The law is made to be obeyed. Every purpose and intent thereof is defied by the acts of the defendant herein charged and found as facts.
When a common carrier brings in a number of quart bottles addressed each to a separate consignee, it brings in but one quart at one time'to each consignee; but here the defendant is the purchaser of four quarts, which he brings in with merely the “intent” to hand to three other persons, and this is bringing in four quarts at one time, whether they are in one package or in four.