United States v. Yuginovich

Citations

• 256 U.S. 450
• 41 S. Ct. 551
• 65 L. Ed. 1043
• 1921 U.S. LEXIS 1575

Syllabus

<p>1. Congress, under the taxing power, may tax intoxicating liquors, notwithstanding their production is prohibited; and the fact that it does so for a moral end as well as to raise revenue is not a constitutional objection. P. 462.</p> <p>2. Section 3257 of the Revised Statutes, which, for the purpose of protecting the revenues, made it an offense for a distiller to defraud, or attempt to defraud, the United States of a tax on the spirits distilled by him, and penalized the offense by forfeiture of the distillery, etc., and heavy fine and imprisonment, was superseded as respects persons manufacturing spirits for beverage purposes, by § 35, Title II, of the National Prohibition Law, which imposes a double tax and an additional penalty of $500 or $1,000 only, thus covering practically the same acts and inflicting a lighter penalty. P. 463.</p> <p>3. The repealing effect of this section of the later act is determined in full recognition of its declaration that the act shall not “relieve any person from any liability, civil or criminal, heretofore or hereafter incurred under existing laws,” but in the light also of settled principles governing the construction of penal statutes, the Eighteenth Amendment, and the provisions of the act itself making unlawful the possession of intoxicating liquors, or property designed for the manufacture thereof, and providing for their destruction. P. 463. .</p> <p>4. Section 3279 of the Revised Statutes, requiring distillers of spirits to exhibit a sign “Registered Distillery” and punishing violations by fine, § 3281, making it an offense, punishable by fine and imprisonment, to carry on the business of a distiller without giving bond, and § 3282, punishing in like manner the making of mash in any building other than a distillery authorized by law, were also superseded by the National Prohibition Law, in so far as concerns the production of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes. P. 464.</p> <p>266 Fed. Rep. 746, affirmed.</p>