Commonwealth v. Curry

Citations

• 4 Pa. Super. 356
• 1897 Pa. Super. LEXIS 126

Syllabus

<p>Statutes — Construction of — Constitutional inhibition.</p> <p>Acts of assembly are to be construed liberally in respect to constitutional inhibitions rather than to embarrass by a construction of a strictness unnecessary to the accomplishment of the beneficial purposes for which such inhibition is imposed.</p> <p>Constitutional law — Title of act of June 26, 1895, sufficient.</p> <p>The Act of June 26, 1895, P. L. 817, known as the Pure Food Act is constitutional. The title to this act fairly gives notice of the provisions of the act so as reasonably to lead to an inquiry into the bill; it invites examination by the very words used.</p> <p>Statutes — The legislature may define terms raised by it.</p> <p>A construction put upon an act of the legislature itself, by means of a provision embodied in the same, that it shall or shall not be construed in a certain designated manner, is binding upon the courts although the latter without such a direction would have understood the language to mean something different.</p> <p>Criminal law — Adulteration of food — Act of 1895.</p> <p>The selling of “ cotton seed oil” in packages labeled and marked “olive oil” is adulteration within the meaning of the Act of June 26, 1895, P. L. 317, as defined by clause 4, of section 3 of said act.</p>