In re Doylestown Distilling Co.

Citations

• 6 Pa. Super. 87
• 1897 Pa. Super. LEXIS 317

Syllabus

<p>Liquor law — Petition for a license is to the discretion of the court.</p> <p>A petition for a license is addressed to the judicial discretion of the-license court, a discretion resting on reasons to be found in the line, of’ inquiry marked out by the statute from which it is derived.</p> <p>■ Liquor law — Judicial discretion not reviewable, arbitrary discretion is.</p> <p>The appellate court can inquire into nothing but the regularity of the-proceedings and the character of the discretion exercised by the license--’ court. The findings of fact and conclusions of judgment by which the discretion of the license judge is to be regulated, when within the field- of , investigation assigned to him by law, are not subject to review.</p> <p>When, however, the judge passes beyond this field he quits the sphere’ of judicial discretion. The law having fixed the standard by which'the ‘ right of a petitioner for a distiller’s license is to be judged a discretion not ■ regulated by this standard but determined by tests unknown to the law, is not judicial, but an arbitrary abuse of discretion which the appellate court should review.</p> <p>Liquor law — Abuse of discretion — Review by appellate court.</p> <p>The Act 'of June 9, 1891, P. L. 257, excludes the determination of the 'question of the necessity ot' a brewer’s or distiller’s license from the requirements to entitle a license, and where the license court assigns the absence of necessity for a distiller’s license as a reason for refusing the license, he not only goes beyond the requirements of the statute in quest of a reason for refusal, but rests his decision on a reason which the statute expressly excludes from consideration. Such a ruling therefore is a marked instance of the exercise of an arbitrary discretion, and presents such abuse of discretion as requires correction by the appellate court.</p>