Commonwealth v. Harmel

Citations

• 166 Pa. 89
• 30 A. 1036
• 1895 Pa. LEXIS 1160

Syllabus

<p>Hawking and peddling—Sale—Bailment—Act of Feb. 6, 1830.</p> <p>A person went from house to house delivering clocks under a written agreement which stated that a clock was rented for the term of thirteen months at the rate of twenty-five cents per week, or thirteen dollars for the term, and the lessee might at any time during the term purchase the clock for the price of thirteen dollars, and be allowed all rents as a credit on such purchase. Defendant admitted that he sold clocks. A witness testified that defendant offered to sell a clock to her, that she took it, and that the paper relied on as a lease was produced, executed and left with her as a receipt for the money paid. Held, that a judgment against defendant for peddling clocks without a license in violation of the act of Feb. 6, 1830, P. L. 39, was properly entered.</p> <p>Constitution—Act of Feb. 6, 1830—Selling clocks—Interstate commerce.</p> <p>The act of Feb. 6, 1830, P. L. 39, forbidding the peddling of clocks without a license, does not interfere with interstate commerce, and is not in violation of the Constitution of the United States.</p> <p>Clocks may be sent into this state in manufacturers’ packages, and may be sold in the same packages, under the authority of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution; but, once in this state and the package opened by the consignee, the disposition of the separate articles at retail is infra-state traffic and subject to the police regulations that experience may show to be necessary for .the protection of citizens in the comfort of their homes and the enjoyment of their property. By Mr. Justice Williams.</p>