Conemaugh Brewing Co. v. Bennett

Citations

• 60 Pa. Super. 543
• 1915 Pa. Super. LEXIS 239

Syllabus

<p>Contracts — Illegal contract — Sale of liquor — Liquor law.</p> <p>Courts will not enforce contracts which are contrary to. the policy of the law restraining and regulating the sale of liquor, or which are against public good, or which will encourage violations of the law. In civil actions involving directly the consideration of such agreements, the measure of proof necessary to establish the existence of such illegal act is not the same as it would be in a criminal action; and when, from plaintifE’s evidence, a contract is-shown to be founded on an illegal transaction, which is known as. such and participated in by the plaintiff, it is the duty of the court to withdraw from the jury any consideration of the contract and direct a compulsory nonsuit.</p> <p>Where a brewing company sells beer to an unlicensed dealer in an unlicensed community in another county and Consigns the beer not to the purchaser, but as a cover, to various persons designated by the latter, and the brewing company and its agents have full knowledge of the illegal use of the beer sold, and of the activity of the officers of the law in trying to suppress the purchaser’s illegal business, the company is partieeps criminis and cannot recover the price of the beer sold.</p>