Town of Houma v. Houma Lighting & Ice Mfg. Co.

Citations

• 121 La. 21
• 46 So. 42
• 1908 La. LEXIS 624

Syllabus

<p>1.Intoxicating Liquors — Licenses—Power of Municipalities to Impose.</p> <p>Under article 229 of the Constitution the General Assembly may authorize a municipal corporation to impose upon dealers in distilled, alcoholic, or malt liquors a license tax in excess •of that imposed for state purposes; but whether such corporation can legally impose a license tax upon the liquor business, or upon any other business, and, if so, upon what conditions, depends upon its authority as derived from the General Assembly.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 29, Intoxicating Liquors, §§ 7-14.]</p> <p>2. Same — State Regulation.</p> <p>Act No. 136, p. 224, of 1898, Act No. 17, p. 24, of 1902, and Act No. 142, p. 313, of 1904, are general statutes, applying to municipal corporations; but Act No. 171, p. 387, of 1898, is a statute whereby the state undertakes to make special provision with regard to the levying and collecting of licenses, not only for its own account, but by and for account of the municipal and parochial corporations throughout the state, and its provisions control those of the other statutes with respect to the particular subject legislated on.</p> <p>3. Same — Wholesale and Retail Business.</p> <p>Under Act No. 171, p. 387, of 1898, whoiesale_ and retail businesses are dealt with as distinct from each other, and are required to be licensed separately, and the provisions of the act upon that subject are as applicable to the liquor business as to any other and as applicable to municipal corporations as to the state. Hence a municipal ordinance imposing one license upon the liquor business, wholesale and retail, is unauthorized and illegal.</p> <p>■ [Ed. Note. — For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 29, Intoxicating Liquors, §§ 7-14.]</p> <p>4. Same — Grading of Licenses.</p> <p>The provisions of Act No. 171, p. 387, of 1898, requiring the grading of licenses, applies as well to municipal as to state licenses.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For cases