Evansville Brewing Ass'n v. Excise Commission

Citations

• 225 F. 204
• 1915 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1239

Syllabus

<p>1. Injunction @=>105—Restraining Criminal Prosecutions—Invalidity of Statute—Invasion of Property Rights.</p> <p>The jurisdiction of a court of equity to enjoin the enforcement of a -void, statute is not affected by the fact that the statute is of a criminal or penal nature, if its enforcement will destroy property rights, to the irreparable injury of complainant.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Injunction, Cent. Dig. §§ 17S, 179; Dec. Dig. @=>105.]</p> <p>2. Injunction @=>85—Subjects of Protection—Constitutional Rights.</p> <p>That a state Legislature has vested a commission with discretionary power to do certain acts constitutes no defense to a suit to enjoin such acts, if they would be in violation of the rights of complainant under the Constitution of the United States.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Injunction, Cent. Dig. §§ 155, 156; Dec. Dig. @=>85.]</p> <p>3. Commerce @=>60—Constitutional Law @=>240—Intoxicating Liquors @=>15—State License Law.</p> <p>Act Ala. April 6, 1911, regulating the sale of liquors, and known as the “Smith Law” (Acts Ala. 1911, p. 249), by section 12, imposes a license tax of $1,500 on breweries, which also entitles them to sell their product at wholesale without additional license. It further provides that “each agency of a brewery of another state doing business in this state shall pay • an annual license tax of $1,500, and any person, whether retail dealer or not, selling the goods or product of any brewery of another state, shall be deemed and held an agent thereof, unless- such brewery shall have an established agency in this state.” Held that, under Wilson Act Aug. 8, 1890, c. 728, 26 Stat 313 (Comp. St. 1913, § 8738), subjecting liquors shipped in interstate commerce to the laws of the state after their delivery to the consignee, such act is not invalid as imposing a tax on, interstate commerce, nor is it unjustly discriminatory as against the foreign manufacturer, but as to him is a valid exercise of the poli