Board of License Commissioners v. R. N. & W. Corp.

Gilbert, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The Board of License Commissioners for Prince George’s County, Maryland (Board) promulgated, after a public hearing, its Rule No. 28, effective July 1, 1973. The Rule provides: “No licensee, his agent or employee shall sell any alcoholic beverage from a Drive-In Window from 10:00 P.M. each day until 6:00 A.M. the day following.” R. N. & W. Corporation, one of the appellees, and the holder of a Class B license, together with the other appellee, Mel’s Liquors, Inc., a Class A licensee, filed a bill in equity to enjoin the Board’s enforcement of the Rule. Both licensees ²⁸⁰ provide, for the convenience of their customers, drive-in windows through which alcoholic and non-alcoholic items are sold during regular business hours.

These hours have been established by the legislature. Md. Ann. Code art. 2B, § 103(a) provides in pertinent part that in Prince George’s County: “.. . No holder of a Class A, beer, wine and liquor license or any agent, servant or employee of a holder of a Class A, beer, wine and liquor license shall be permitted to make any sale between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. or on Sunday after 2:00 a.m.” The hours for sale by the holder of a Class B license are set forth in § 103(e). There it is said: “In Prince George’s County . .. the holder of a beer, wine and liquor license, Class B, his agents, servants or employees shall not sell any alcoholic beverages for . consumption off the licensed premises between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. or on Sunday after 2:00 a.m. from any separate store established on the licensed premises as an ‘off-sale store’ or to keep said ‘off-sale store’ open for business during said hour. ...” Judge Ralph W. Powers, of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, following a hearing, issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the Board’s enforcement of Rule 28 and declaring the Rule to be “null and void.” Discontented with the injunction and the thwarting of what it believed to be a “reasonable rule,” the Board has appealed.

Initially the appeal was filed in the Court of Appeals on August 14, 1973, but was transferred to this Court pursuant to Laws of 1973, ch. 56 and Md. Rule 814. The appellees have moved to dismiss the appeal under the provisions of Md. Rule 1035 b (1), i.e. “The appeal is not allowed by law...” As we see it the case of Liquor License Board v. Leone, 249 Md. 263 , 239 A. 2d 82 (1968) mandates that the appellee’s ²⁸¹ motion to dismiss the appeal must be granted. In Leone the Board of Liquor License Commissioners of Baltimore City adopted a rule that stated: “No licensee, except the holder of a Class ‘C’ (Club) license, shall, directly or indirectly, refuse, withdraw from, or deny to any persons the services, accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges offered on said licensee’s premises on the grounds of race, color, creed or national origin.” Leone et al. filed a petition for a declaratory judgment in the Baltimore City Court in which they asserted that the rule was invalid because the Board had not complied with the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, Md. Ann. Code art. 41, § 244-256. The trial judge found that the Board had failed to comply with the Act and declared the rule to be invalid.

The Board then appealed to the Court of Appeals of Maryland. Judge Singley, writing for the Court, said at 268-269: “Nowhere [in Md. Ann. Code art. 2B, § 175 (Appeals)] is there an intimation that an appeal by the Board to this Court will lie, and this conclusion is strengthened by the grant of authority in subsection (e) (2) authorizing the Board to be represented in the hearing in the lower court. Had the legislature intended to permit the Board to appeal from a reversal of its own decision, we are convinced it would have said so.” We observe that the legislature has met at least annually (Maryland Constitution, Art.