Klein v. Livingston Club

Citations

• 177 Pa. 224
• 35 A. 606
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 968

Syllabus

<p>Equity — Injunction to restrain commission of crime.</p> <p>A bill in equity having for its sole purpose an injunction against crime or misdemeanor does not lie; but equity will interfere if the alleged criminal acts go further and operate to the destruction, or diminution of value, of property.</p> <p>Clubs — Member of club — Equity—Corporation—Injunction.</p> <p>A member of an incorporated club has a standing in equity for an injunction to restrain the club from carrying out its declared purpose of committing an act.which, if found to be criminal, will imperil the charter of the club.</p> <p>Liquor laws — Act of May 13, 1887 — Strict construction.</p> <p>The act of May 13, 1887, P. L. 108, entitled “An act to restrain and regulate the sale of vinous and spirituous, malt or brewed liquors or any admixture thereof,” being penal in character, must be strictly construed, and cannot be extended beyond its letter.</p> <p>Incorporated clubs — Sale of liquor incidental — Act of May 13, 1887.</p> <p>If an incorporated club is organized and conducted in good faith with a limited and selected membership really owning its property in common, and formed for social, literary or other purposes to which the furnishing of liquors to its members would be merely incidental, the furnishing of liquors to members is not a sale within the liquor license act of May 13, 1887.</p> <p>Clubs — Organized to supply drinks — Buying tickets or chips — Legislative intent — Act of May 13, 1887.</p> <p>If the object of an organized club is merely to provide members with a convenient method of obtaining a drink whenever they desire, or if the form of membership is no more than a pretense so that any person without discrimination can procure liquor by signing his name in a book, or buying a ticket or a chip, thus enabling the buyer to conduct an illicit traffic, such an organization falls within the terms of the liquor license act.</p> <p>In view of the fact that at the time the liquor license act