Beall v. Southern Maryland Agricultural Ass'n

³⁰⁶ Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The Act of 1898, Chapter 285, expressly repealed Article 27, Section 124-A of the Code, as enacted by Chapter 237 of the Acts of 1894, and re-enacted the same with amendments,. and also added four new sections to Article 27 to be designated Sections 124-B, 124-0, 124-D‘ and 124-E. Section 124-A as thus amended, and the four new sections, are codified in Volume 3, Article 27 of the Code as Sections 217, 218, 219, 220 and 221, and Section 217 is as follows: “It shall not be lawful for any person or persons, or association of persons, or for any corporation within the State of Maryland, to bet, wage Or gamble in any manner, or by any means, or to make or sell a book or pool on the result of any trotting, pacing or running race of horses or other beasts, or race, contest or contingency of any kind, or to establish, keep, rent, use or occupy or knowingly suffer to be used, kept or rented or occupied, any house, building, vessel, grounds or place, or any portion of any house, building, vessel, grounds or place, on land or water, within the State of Maryland, for the purpose of betting, wagering or gambling in any manner, or by any means, or making, selling or buying books or pools therein or thereon upon the result of any race or contest or contingency, or by any means or devices whatsoever, to receive, become the depository of, record or register, or forward or purpose, or agree or pretend to forward any money, bet, wager, thing or consideration of value, to be bet, gambled or wagered in any manner, or by any means or device whatsoever, upon the result of any race, contest or contingency; and any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be subject to a fine of not less than two hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, one-half of said fine to go to the informer, and shall be subject to imprisonment in jail for not less than six months nor more than one year, or be both fined and imprisoned, in the discretion of the court.” ³⁰⁷ Section 218 provided: “Nothing in the next preceding section shall render it unlawful in any county of this State, other than Baltimore City, for any person or persons to make a pool or a book, or to bet within the ground of any agricultural association, race course or driving park, upon the result of any trotting, pacing or running race of horses which shall be held within the same grounds, race course or driving park upon which said person shall so make a pool or book, or shall so bet upon the same day on which said race shall be held; provided, the grounds of such agricultural association, race course or driving park be licensed in the manner set forth in the next succeeding section by the Circuit Court for the county within which such grounds or track may be located.” Sections 219 and 220 required the application for a license to be made to the Circuit Court for the county within which the grounds of such association, ote., were located, and specified what the application should contain, and Section 124-E ■of the Act, codified as Section 221, provided that the Court should not grant the license for more than thirty days in any one year, nor for more than fifteen days in any one month, in any county of the State, nor for any days during the months of December, January, February and March, except in Baltimore County, and further provided that the Act should not apply to Cecil, Washington or Anne Arundel Counties. In February, 1919, the Southern Maryland Agricultural Association of Prince George’s County applied to the judges of the Circuit Court for that county under the Act of 1898 “for a license to be granted it to make and permit betting, pool selling and bookmaking upon the result of running races of horses * * * on its ground for thirteen days, that is, for the period from April 1st, 1919, to April 15th, 1919, both days included, Sunday excepted.” A protest was. filed against the granting of anv license permitting betting, etc., on the ³⁰⁸ grounds of said association, but after a hearing two of the judges of the Court passed an order directing the clerk to issue the license applied for. On appeal from that order this Court held in an opinion filed June 25th, 1919 (Close, et al. v. Southern Maryland Agricultural Association, 131 Md. 629 ), that Sections 218 to 221, inclusive, of the Code, were illegal and void because they' imposed a non-judicial duty upon the Courts, but, following the case of Agri.

Soc. Montgomery Co. v. State, 130 Md. 474 , that Section 124-A of the Act, Section 217 of the Code, was not affected by the invalidity of the other sections and could stand. On the 12th of November, 1919, the appellee, the Southern Md. Agrie. Assn, of Prince George’s County filed its bill of complaint in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County against W. Wesley Beall, the Sheriff of that county, and S. Marvin Peach, the State’s Attorney for that county, in which, after alleging that it was a corporation, incorporated under the laws of this State for the purpose of conducting agricultural fairs and exhibitions, and that it had constructed on its grormds near Bowie, in said county, a modern race track where it had held race meetings in the fall and spring of each year ever since the fall of 1911, it averred that it had made preparations for holding .a race meeting on its grounds for fourteen days, beginning on the 11th of November and-ending on the 29th day of November, 1919, Sunday excluded, and had at large expense advertised the fact that said meeting would be held; that theretofore, and up> to and including its meeting in April, 1919, the association had held its meetings on its grounds and race course at Bowie under the provisions of the Act of 1898, Chapter 285, and would have applied to the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County for a license for its meeting in November, 1919, but that the Court of Appeals had decided, on June 25 th, 1919, that the provisions of the Act of 1898, which authorized the Circuit Court to grant a license, were null and void; that the plaintiff was advised that it had the lawful right to hold its meet ³⁰⁹ ing& on the days mentioned under and by virtue of the provisions of Chapter 386 of the Acts of 1892, a local law applicable to Prince George’s County and now codified as Section No. 512 of the Code of Public Local Laws of Prince George’s County, as legalized by Chapter 22 of the Acts of 1912, and that notwithstanding its lawful right to hold its race meeting-on its grounds under the provisions of the Act of 1892, W. Wesley Beall, the Sheriff of Prince George’s County, and his deputies, under instructions from S. Marvin Peach, the State’s Attorney for said county, intended and threatened to arrest and cause the arrest of any and all persons found betting on races run on its grounds, and to- use all means in their power to stop betting on such races.

The bill prayed for an injunction restraining the sheriff and State’s Attorney from interfering in any way with the plaintiff in the conduct of its proposed race meeting, and on the same day the injunction was granted as prayed, reserving to the defendants the right, upon filing their answer, to move for a dissolution of the injunction, etc. The defendants filed their answer and entered a motion to dissolve the injunction, but the Court below refused to grant the motion, and from its order to that effect, and the order granting the injunction, this appeal was taken. Chapter 386 of the Acts of 1892 was as follows: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That it shall be unlawful in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties for any person or persons, or association of persons, to bet, gamble or make books and pools on the result of any trotting race or running race of horses, or race of any kind, or cocking main or any baseball match, or contest of any kind, or to establish, keep, rent or use, or knowingly suffer to be used or occupied, any house, building or portion of a building, vessel or place on land or water for the purpose of making or selling therein any book or pool, or otherwise betting or gambling, or of permitting gambling or betting therein or thereon upon the result of any trotting race or running race of