Gross's License

Citations

• 161 Pa. 344
• 29 A. 25
• 1894 Pa. LEXIS 693

Syllabus

<p>Liquor laws — Wholesale license — Discretion of court — Act June 9, 1891.</p> <p>The discretion of the court of quarter sessions in granting or refusing a wholesale liquor license must be exercised in a lawful manner, and after a full hearing of all parties in interest. A decree without hearing or opportunity for hearing at a time fixed by a rule or standing order, is illegal, and on certiorari will be set aside.</p> <p>If the court of quarter sessions has in a lawful manner performed the duty imposed upon it, the Supreme Court will not inquire whether the lower court has made a mistake in its conclusions of fact.</p> <p>The court cannot refuse a license merely because, in the opinion of the court, the law authorizing licenses is a bad law ; nor can it grant all persons licenses because it believes the law wrong as tending to confer a privilege on a special few. If the record shows that the decree was made at a time fixed by a rule or standing order, the presumption is that the decree is judicial and not arbitrary, and this presumption is not rebutted by an argument from evidence that the court ought to have reached a different conclusion.</p>