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Ex parte Felchlin

Ex parte M. FELCHLIN, on Habeas Corpus

Ex parte Felchlin, 31 P. 224 (Cal. 1892)
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Court
California Supreme Court · State Highest Courts
Decided
October 6, 1892
Docket
No. 20933
Judges
Beatty
Citations
31 P. 22496 Cal. 3601892 Cal. LEXIS 955
Headnotes
Constitutional Law—Regulation of Liquor Traffic—Employment of Females — High License — Municipal Ordinance. — A city ordinance which fixes the license for the carrying on of a saloon where females are employed and where intoxicating liquors are sold in less quantities than one quart at a higher rate than a license for the carrying on of a saloon where females are not employed is a valid exercise of the police power and is constitutional.
Summary
Application to the Supreme Court for a discharge from imprisonment upon a writ of habeas corpus. The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

Syllabus and headnotes are prepared by the reporter or publisher, not the court, and are not part of the opinion.

Opinion of the Court — Beatty

Text extracted by OCR from a scanned original; check the original for exact wording.

Beatty, C. J.

— The petitioner was convicted of violating an ordinance of the city of Stockton and sentenced to pay a fine, or in default of payment, to be imprisoned in satisfaction thereof.

He claims that his imprisonment is unlawful because the part of the ordinance which he is accused of violating is unreasonable, partial, unjust, and oppressive, and because it is in violation of section 18 of article XX. of the constitution, which reads as follows: “No person shall, on account of sex, be disqualified from entering upon or pursuing any lawful business, vocation, or profession.”

The clauses of the ordinance in question are the following: —■

“ Sec. 7. License is required, and a rate of license is fixed and charged, for conducting, maintaining, engaging in, or carrying on any business, trade, calling, or profession, game, entertainment, or show, in this section hereinafter mentioned or specified, as follows: ....

“Subd. 15. For each saloon, bar, bar-room, dram-shop, tippling-house, or other place (except as in subdivision 16 of this section mentioned) where intoxicating liquors, wines, ales, or beer are bought or sold, or sold in less quantities than one quart, or to be served, distributed, given away, drank, or used on the premises where sold, the sum of thirty dollars per quarter.

“ Subd. 16. For each saloon, bar, bar-room, dram-shop, tippling-house, or place where intoxicating liquors, wines, ale, or beer are bought or sold in less quantities than one quart, or to be served, distributed, given away, drank, or used on the premises where sold, in which any female acts in the capacity of a bar-tender, waiter, actress, dancer, singer, solicitor of custom, or servant, or plays upon any musical instrument, or is employed in any capacity whatever, either with or without compensation, the sum of $150' per month.”

The offense charged against the petitioner, and of which he was convicted, was the employing of females in a saloon where intoxicating liquors were sold in less quantities than one quart without the necessary license, *362 There is nothing unfair, unreasonable, or arbitrary in the provisions of this ordinance. It is not open to any of the objections stated by Mr. Justice McKinstry to a similar ordinance of the city of San Francisco, in his opinion in the case of Ex parte Maguire, 57 Cal. 610 . If it is invalid for any reason, it is because the constitution means what it was held to mean in the opinion of Mr. Justice Thornton in the same case. The petitioner’s argument, indeed, is substantially taken from that opinion, and the answer on the part of the city is in substance the same as the view expressed by Justice McKinstry as to the power remaining in the legislature to regulate the employment of women.

We are of the opinion that this view is a sound one, and that it subserves a wholesome public policy. The ordinance is a valid exercise of the police power vested in the municipal authorities.

The prisoner is remanded.

De Haven, J., Garoutte, J., Sharpstein, J., and Paterson, J., concurred.

How later courts describe this case

No later court has written an explanatory parenthetical about this case yet.

1896: 11948: 11968: 118962026peak 1896 · 1

Relies on it most ⓘ

  1. Anderson v. City of St. Paul32 N.W.2d 538 (Minn. 1948)
  2. Hargens v. Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board263 Cal. App. 2d 601 (1968)
  3. Ex parte Haskell44 P. 725 (Cal. 1896)

Most recent

  1. Hargens v. Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board263 Cal. App. 2d 601 (1968)
  2. Anderson v. City of St. Paul32 N.W.2d 538 (Minn. 1948)
  3. Ex parte Haskell44 P. 725 (Cal. 1896)

Citing references are not a citator: they show that a later opinion cites this case, not whether it followed, distinguished, or overruled it. Check negative history before relying on this case.

Authorities cited 0

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