Commonwealth v. Kevin

Citations

• 202 Pa. 23
• 4 Just. 140
• 51 A. 594
• 1902 Pa. LEXIS 457

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Adulteration of food — Act of June 26, 1895, P. L. 317.</p> <p>The Act of Judo 26, 1895, P. L. 317, entitled “ An act to provide against tiie adulteration of food and providing for the enforcement thereof,” as properly construed, prohibits the addition to a food product of any foreign substance poisonous or injurious to health, regardless of the quantity used, or whether or not the quantity of the substance used was sufficient to make the adulterated article poisonous or injurious to health. It is not the quantity, but the nature of substance added which the act prohibits.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for the sale of a pint of raspberry syrup alleged to contain salicylic acid which was charged and proven to be poisonous or injurious to health, the court excluded testimony offered by the defendant to prove the quantity of acid present, and to prove that in fact the quantity used was entirely harmless and not poisonous or injurious to health, and charged that the jury might convict if they found salicylic acid present in any quantity. The jury returned a verdict of guilty. Held, that the conviction should be sustained.</p> <p>Gonstituiional law — Police power — Pure food law — Act of June 26, 1895, P. L. 317.</p> <p>Section 7 of the Act of June 26, 1895, P. L. 317, known as the pure food law does not offend against any provision of the constitution of Pennsylvania, and is a proper exercise of the police power of the state.</p> <p>It is within the province of the general assembly to determine whether the addition of a poisonous or injurious substance to a food article endangers the health of the citizens of the state who use the compound, and if it does, then it is clearly within the police power of the state to prohibit the manufacture and sale of the adulterated article as well as to protect the public from imposition or fraud in the sale of it. The exercise of such authority by the legislative department of the government does not transcend