Fentz v. Meadows

Citations

• 72 Ill. 540

Syllabus

<p>1. Intoxicating liquors—statute in relation to sale of, should he strictly construed. The act in force July 1, 1872, entitled “An act to provide against the evils resulting from the sale of intoxicating liquors in the State of Illinois,” is of a character highly penal, providing a right of action unknown to the common law, in which the party prosecuting has a decided advantage, and. the act should receive a strict construction.</p> <p>2. Same—exemplary damages. A party, suing under the statute to provide against the evils resulting from the sale of intoxicating liquors, can not recover exemplary damages, without first proving, to the satisfaction of the jury, that she has sustained actual damages.</p> <p>3. Same — the fact that sale was made hy servant, in violation of master's orders, may he considered in mitigation of exemplary damages. In a suit by a wife against one for selling intoxicating liquors to her husband, if the defendant, in good faith, had forbidden his bar-tender to sell or give liquors to the husband of plaintiff, and the bar-tender wilfully disobeyed him without the defendant’s connivance, such fact would be proper to be considered in mitigation, not of the actual damages which may have been caused, but of exemplary damages claimed.</p> <p>4. Same — the wife's right of action, to what it extends. The statute in relation to the sale of intoxicating liquors gives the wife a right of action only in cases where, by the selling of liquors to a drunken husband, she has been injured in person or property or means of support; and where no injury in either of these respects is proved, no recovery can be had.</p>