State v. Dycer

Bryan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Thomas Dycer was indicted in the Circuit Court for Cecil County on a charge of gambling, making books and pools in violation of the Act of 1894, chapter 232. We will inquire into the meaning and effect of the statute before considering the structure of the indictment. Without repeating the somewhat elaborate language of the enactment it may be stated that it forbids acts of two descriptions.

It declares that it shall' be unlawful for any person to gamble or to make books or pools on the result of a race of any kind; secondly, to use or knowingly suffer to be used any place for the purpose of making or selling therein any book or pool, or otherwise betting therein upon the result of a race of any kind. There is, however, a proviso in the Act which exempts certain cases from its operation. As this clause is in some degree involved in its arrangement and not clearly expressed, we think it better to quote it in full. It is as follows: “Provided nothing in this section shall render it unlawful for any person to make a pool, or a book, or to bet within the grounds of any agricultural sssociation, or upon any horse race which shall be held within the same grounds, race course or driving park, upon which said person shall so make a pool, or a book, or shall so bet upon the same day on which said race shall be so held, on not more than thirty days in any one calendar year.” The races to which the Act does not apply are those held within the grounds of any agricultural association ; and those held on a race course or driving park ; and upon these the pool, or book, or bet must be made on the day on which the race is run, and the races on which the ²⁵⁰ pools, books or bets may be made are not permitted to continue more than thirty days in any one year.

The Act of 1894 was an amendment of the Act of 1890, chapter 206. By this last mentioned Act this species of gambling was permitted on horse races on the grounds of agricultural associations on the days when their fairs were actually held, and upon any race course or driving park in the State. It seems sufficiently evident that the purpose of the Legislature in the particular mentioned was merely to restrict the gambling to the day on which the race was run, and to change the period of time allowed to races on which gambling was permitted. The meaning is not distinctly expressed, but we cannot discover on the face of the statute any other purpose which the Legislature could have had.

An agricultural association and an owner of a race course or a driving park are granted special privileges by this Act. But the privileges conferred are not indefinite and unlimited. It could not be supposed that an agricultural, association would insist that it had the right to use two or more distinct and separate tracts or parcels of land for the purpose of holding races under the exemption conferred by the Act. And by the same reason the owner of a race course or driving park ought not to insist that he had the right to use two or more race courses or driving parks under the same exemption.

The comprehensive, absolute and unqualified expressions used by the Legislature show that they regarded this species of gambling as a serious evil,