Commonwealth v. Smith

Citations

• 2 Pa. Super. 474
• 1896 Pa. Super. LEXIS 74

Syllabus

<p>Liquor law— Club .sales.</p> <p>An unlicensed sale of liquor, under guise of club distribution, would be clearly unlawful and the law will look through all disguises and so pronounce it.</p> <p>Where however a bona fide organization with a selected membership made up of reputable persons, really owning its property in common, and formed and carried on for purposes to which the furnishing of liquor to its members without profit was merely incidental, and where such club is not a scheme to evade the license law, the fact that the club members are able to procure and pay for liquor on the premises does not constitute an illegal sale thereof.</p> <p>The purpose of the club system is to distribute the advantages, comforts and luxuries of the club among members so there shall not be unequal contributions to the treasury which purchases them. Members are all owners of the property when purchased in equal shares and if a division were then made, each would then be entitled to an equal share of the liquor, but one consumes his share and that of the others who do not drink liquor and he puts back into the common treasury the value of the others’ shares; therefore, although by consumption the division is not equal, yet it is made equal by the contribution to the treasury, that has neither lost nor gained, consequently the distribution is equitable. Such contribution does not constitute a sale. There is no element of bargain, only a method of distribution of the common property.</p> <p>Practice, Superior Ct. — -Assignments of error — Rule XVII.</p> <p>Where an assignment of error relating to the admission or rejection of testimony is so drawn that it does not show the testimony adduced or proposed to be adduced under the offer admitted or rejected, but merely discloses a question propounded and objected to and admitted or refused, it is not in conformity with rule XYn. and will be disregarded.</p> <p>Practice, Superior Gt. — Assignments of error — Unanswered question.</p> <p