Citation Numbers: 91 S.E. 706, 173 N.C. 753
Judges: BROWN, J.
Filed Date: 3/14/1917
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/13/2023
The substance of the special verdict is that the (754) defendant delivered to Matthew Hargrove one quart of whiskey on 25 November, 1915, shipped from Lynchburg, Va., and intended for the personal consumption of said Hargrove, and that the delivery was made within the corporate limits of the town of Trinity.
The prosecution is based on a local statute, chapter 267 of the Public-Local Laws of the Extra Session of 1913, the first section of which declares: "That the manufacture, sale, delivery, or transportation for the purpose of delivery of any intoxicating beverage in the corporate limits of the town of Trinity, Randolph County, shall be unlawful, except as herein provided."
It is admitted that the delivery is not within the proviso of the statute. This statute, operating as it does upon a carrier engaged in interstate commerce, is a direct burden upon such commerce, and conflicted with the power of Congress. The statute, therefore, could not be used to prevent interstate shipments from Virginia into North Carolina. This proposition has not been open to question since the decision in Leisy v.Hardin,
It is contended that the decision of the Supreme Court in AdamsExpress Co. v. Kentucky,
(755) The statute under which this indictment is brought differs very materially from the High Point statute, construed in Express Co.v. High Point,
We were referring to the High Point act and the general law of this State, and not to any merely local act. As we constructed the High Point act, it did not forbid the delivery of liquor for personal consumption. That the Trinity act forbids the delivery of liquor for personal consumption is manifest. It is not confined to deliveries for purposes of sale. The delivery "of any intoxicating beverage" is prohibited, whether for sale or personal use.
The word "beverage" means "liquid for drink; drink; usually applied to drink artificially prepared and of an agreeable flavor; as, an intoxicating *Page 813 beverage. Specifically, a name applied to various kinds of drink." Webster's International Dictionary.
"Drink of any kind; liquor for drink; as, water is the common beverage; intoxicating beverages." the Century Dictionary.
The words in the above statute, "intoxicating beverage," should be understood as a general term including all the different kinds of liquors named in the general prohibition law, namely, "spirituous, vinous, fermented or malt liquors or intoxicating bitters." Public Laws, Extra Session 1908, ch. 71, sec. 1.
The word "beverage" is to be understood as indicating the use of such liquors as distinguished from their use as a medicine. See People v.Hichman,
We are of opinion that the defendant is guilty under the facts found in the special verdict. The cause is remanded with direction to proceed to judgment.
Reversed.