Keller v. State

Tuck, J., delivered the opinion of this court. These cases were argued and will be decided together, as they all depend on the same condition of facts and law. In view of their importance, as affecting the public interest, we have considered them upon the merits, and having concluded that the parties were properly indicted and convicted, it is immaterial to them whether we affirm or dismiss the appeals. The latter point wo have not examined.

These appellants were indicted, each in eight several counts, for violating the license laws, from which they claim exemption, because they “are manufacturers of lager-beer, which they retail in small quantities less than a pint, in lager-beer saloons without license.” And, first, it is contended, that the title of the act of 1856, ch. 353, is not sufficiently descriptive within the seventeenth section of the third article of the constitution, which declares, that “every law enacted by the Legislature shall embrace but one subject, and that shall be described in the title.” In the case of Davis vs. The State, 7 Md. Rep., 151 , a construction was placed on this clause of the constitution, which we think maintains the validity of this act of Assembly, against the objection now under consideration. This law relates to licenses to ordinary keepers and traders, as the subject of legislation. The purpose is declared to be the raising of additional revenue, to pay the debts of the State by increasing the rates of license. The subject of the act would have been sufficiently indicated by the title, if this purpose had not been declared.

The act does not dispose of the fund raised from these licenses, or in any manner treat of the revenue or debts of the State. It might, with as much reason, be said, that because a person violating the act may be punished by indictment, three subjects are embraced, to wit; revenue, licenses and crimes. The evils designed to be prevented by this clause of the constitu ⁵³² tion, are well stated in Davis vs. State, and we do not perceive that this act is multifarious in the sense of that instrument, or calculated to contravene its purposes. Jt is also contended, that the act is unconstitutional, because it lays a tar, by way of license, on manufacturers of lager-beer, which, it is said, compels them to pay more than then' fair proportion towards the support of government; that it is a revenue measure, and not an exercise of legislative power, under the last clause of the 13th article of the bill of rights, «with a political view, and for the good government and benefit of the community.” We might dispose of this objection by referring to the case of Burton, et al., vs. The State, 3 Gill, 1 , in which several questions were decided, and points ruled, upon the act of 1844, ch, 280, entitled «An act imposing duties on promissory notes, bills of exchange, specialties and other instruments of writing, to aid in paying the debts of the State,” and which act, as to some of the instruments then before the court, was declared to be valid.

The title plainly showed, as does the title of the act of 1856, that the proceeds of the duties imposed, were to be applied in payment of the public debt, yet it does not appear to have been urged by-counsel, or to have occurred to the court, that the act was void, because persons who might use stamped paper would be contributing to the support of government, on a basis other than «his actual worth, in real orpersonal property; ”and we think that, considering the large amount raised by that source of revenue, and the opposition to the law in some sections of the State, the question would have been decided, if the court had thought that act violated the old bill of rights, which was the same as the present, as far as it relates to this question. But the system of legislation to which this act belongs, may be vindicated upon the plainest grounds of public policy, acknowledged and acted upon in most, if not all, the States of the Union, to wit: the right to regulate their internal police, and every thing that relates to the morals and health of the community, besides having received the sanction of the highest tribunal known to our institutions. In the case of Brown vs. The State of Maryland, 12 Wheat., 419 , it was decided, that ⁵³³ a State Legislature could not require the importer of foreign articles to take out a license from the State before selling a bale or package so imported, because such legislation would be repugnant to two provisions of the constitution of the United States, that which deiares, that “no State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or duties, on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws;” and that declaring, that Congress shall have power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes;” but it was conceded, that this prohibition continues only so long as the article remains the property of the importer, in the original form or package in which it is imported, and that when the importer has so acted upon the thing imported, that it has become incorporated and mixed up with the mass of property-in the country, it loses its distinctive character as an import, and becomes subject to the taxing power of the State, whether in the form of licenses to those who may deal in quantities less than the original package, or through sales by licensed auctioneers, or by regulations for the safety and health of its citizens. In the License cases, 5 Howard, 504, Ch.

J. Taney, refers to Brown vs. The State of Maryland, as “drawing the line between foreign commerce, which is subject to the regulation of Congress, and internal or domestic commerce, which belongs to the States, and over which Congress can exercise no control,” and all the judges who heard the cases concurred in affirming the validity of State laws, regulating the sale of ardent spirits, by requiring licenses to sell by retail. These were fully argued, and most of the judges delivered separate opinions, in view of the importance of the questions involved, and there was a difference among them on some of the points, but there was no dissent as to this power of the State. Ch. J. Taney says, “but although a State is bound to receive, and to permit