DANOVITZ, SURVIVING PARTNER OF FEITLER BOTTLE COMPANY,
v.
UNITED STATES
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In this forfeiture case under the National Prohibition Act, the Supreme Court upheld the seizure of empty bottles, containers, corks, labels, and other packaging materials allegedly held for unlawful liquor manufacturing. The Court held that "manufacture" in the statute should be interpreted broadly to encompass the entire process of preparing liquor for sale, rather than narrowly to mean only the production process itself, and that materials designed to facilitate any stage of that broader process could be forfeited. The decision reflected the Court's commitment to liberally construing Prohibition legislation to suppress the entire traffic in contraband liquor.
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Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is a libel for the forfeiture of alleged contraband liquors, property and material designed for the manufacture of contraband liquors, specifically described, and alleged to have been unlawfully held in violation of Section 25, Title. II, of the National Prohibition Act. The District Court found that the allegations of fact contained in the libel were sustained and ordered a decree of forfeiture. The decree was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, 34 F. (2d) 30. A writ of certiorari was granted by this Court but confined to the single question whether the property seized is forfeitable under Sec. 25, Title II, of the National Prohibition Act. 280 U. S. 548.
The property in question was containers, barrels, bottles, corks, labels, cartons, &c. By the statute it is “ unlawful to have or possess any liquor or property designed for the manufacture of liquor intended for use in violating this chapter or which has been so used, and no property rights shall exist in any such liquor or property.” A search warrant may issue “ and such liquor, the containers thereof, and such property so seized shall be subject to such disposition as the court may make thereof. If it is found that such liquor or property was so unlawfully held or possessed, or had been so unlawfully used, the liquor, and all property designed for the unlawful manufacture of liquor, shall be destroyed, unless the court shall otherwise order.” Act of October 28, 1919, c. 85, Title II, § 25, 41 Stat. 305, 315.
U. S. Code, Title 27, § 39. The argument for the petitioner, so far as it does not go beyond the lifnits set in granting the writ of certiorari, is that empty containers, bottles and the other apparatus described, cannot be used in or designed for the manufacture of liquor, because the manufacture is completed before that apparatus comes into play. There is a further argument that the containers were not designed in fact for the manufacture of liquor even if they could be, but the objection to this is that if the terms in which the writ was granted do not exclude it, the case having been tried without written waiver of jury, the sufficiency and effect of evidence are not open. Commissioner of Road District No. 2 v. St. Louis Southwestern Ry. Co., 257 U. S. 547, 562.
The argument for the petitioner cannot be helped by amplification. It is obviously correct if the word “ manufacture ” be taken in the strictest and most exact sense. But the word may be used in a -looser way to express the whole process by which an article is made ready for sale on the open market.
P. Lorrilard Co. v. Boss, 183 Ky. 217, 223. As the purpose of the Prohibition Act was to “ suppress the entire traffic ” condemned by the Act, United States v. Katz, 271 U. S. 354, 357, Donnelley v. United States, 276 U. S. 505, 513, it should be liberally construed to the end of this suppression, and so directs. Title II, § 3, of the Act. Code, Title 27, § 12. The decisions under the revenue acts have little weight as against legislation under the afflatus of the Eighteenth Amendment. We are of opinion that the word was used in this looser way, and that if the empty containers and the other objects seized were offered for sale in such a mode as purposely to attract purchasers who wanted them for the unlawful manufacture, as we interpret the word, they were designed for that manufacture and could be seized.
Decree affirmed.
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Young v. United States, 48 F.2d 26 (5th Cir. 1931)…ransportation of intoxicating liq.uor Tboge things may have been rendered unlawful by the plan or concerted purpose in pursuance of which they were done. They were capable of being designed or done for an unlawful purpose. Danovitz v. United States, 281 U. S. 389, 50 S. Ct. 344, 74 L. Ed. 923. An act, harmless when done by one, may become a public wrong when done by many, acting in concert for an unlawful purpose. Grenada Lumber Co. v. Mississippi, 217 U. S. 433, 30 S. Ct. 535, 54 L. Ed. 826; Bedford, etc.,…1 / 2
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Heller v. United States, 57 F.2d 627 (7th Cir. 1932)…s stated, contained whisky labels and fictitious sti’ip stamps. On the hearing of the motion to suppress, Heller himself testified he was there running a cutting plant. This is “manufacturing” in contravention of the law. Danovitz v. United States, 281 U. S. 389, 396, 50 S. Ct. 344, 74 L. Ed. 923. It seems plain enough that what the agents saw through the basement window before they entered the building, in conjunction with the odor coming to them at the same time from the basement, was all-sufficient indi…1 / 2
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Stinnett v. Commonwealth of Va., 55 F.2d 644 (4th Cir. 1932)…er was merely one of the processes. The law reaches every part of the process of manufacture; and the mere fact that men who engage in manufacturing in violation of law do not complete the process does not absolve them from guilt. Danovitz v. U. S., 281 U. S. 389, 396, 397, 59 S. Ct. 344, 345, 74 L. Ed. 923 ; United States v. G. Wilkenfeld & Co. (D. C.) 46 F.(2d) 462, affirmed (C. C. A. 2d) 46 F.(2d) 464. In the Danovitz Case, supra, the' argument was -made that the manufacture of intoxicating liquor was co…1 / 2
Previewing 3 of 22 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- United States v. Katz, 271 U.S. 354 (U.S. 1926)
- Comm'rs OF Rd. Improvement Dist. NO. 2 OF Lafayette Cnty. v. ST. Louis Sw. Ry. Co., 257 U.S. 547 (U.S. 1922)
- Donnelley v. United States, 276 U.S. 505 (U.S. 1928)
- Feitler v. United States, 34 F.2d 30 (3d Cir. 1929)
- Danovitz v. United States, 280 U.S. 548 (U.S. 1929)
- Tyler v. United States, 280 U.S. 548 (U.S. 1929)