Majority
Headnote
1. Sunday—Statutory Provisions—Amusements—Shows Not Specifically Mentioned.The plaintiff is the proprietor of the theater located in the city of Rochester known as the “Cook Opera House.” He is engaged in the business of furnishing entertainment for his patrons, and claims the right to continue that business on Sunday, provided the nature of the performance or entertainment is not prohibited by name in section 277 of the Penal Code. That section is as follows:
“The performance of any tragedy, comedy, opera, ballet, farce, negro minstrelsy, negro or other dancing, wrestling, boxing with or without gloves, sparring contest, trial of strength, or any part or parts therein, or any circus, equestrian, or dramatic performance or exercise, or any performance or exercise of jugglers, acrobats, club performances or ropedancers, on the first day of the week is forbidden.”
An examination of the statutes in force prior to 1881 in respect to Sabbath observance is necessary, in order to ascertain how far the enactment of section 277 of the Penal Code was intended to effect a change in the existing laws. Going back no further than the adoption of the first Revised Laws in this state in 1813, we find (2 Van Ness & Woodworth Revised Laws, p. 193) the previous statutes embodied in one act entitled “An Act for Suppressing Immorality,” being chapter 24 of the Revised Laws. The provisions of this statute, so far as material here, were as follows:
“That there shall be no traveling, servile laboring or working (works of necessity and charity excepted), shooting, fishing, sporting, playing, horse-racing, hunting, frequenting of tippling-houses, or any unlawful exercises or pastimes by any person or persons within this state, on the first day of the week commonly called Sunday * * * and that no person shall expose to sale, any wares, merchandise, fruit, herbs, goods or chattels, except small meat and milk and fish, before nine of the clock in the morning.”
On the adoption of the First Revised Statutes in 1828, the Sunday laws were re-enacted in the following form (1 Rev. St. [1st Ed.] pt. 1, c. 20, tit. 8, p. 675, §§ 70, 71):
“Sec. 70. There shall be no shooting, hunting, fishing, sporting. playing, horse-racing, gaming, frequenting of tippling-houses, or any unlawful exercises or pastimes, on the first day of the week called Sunday; nor shall any person travel on that day, unless in cases of charity or necessity- * * * nor shall there be any servile laboring or working on that day, excepting works of necessity and charity, unless done by some person who uniformly keeps the last day of the week, called Saturday, as holy time, and does not labor or work on that day, and whose labor shall not disturb other persons in their observance of the first day of the week as holy time.
“Sec. 71. No person shall expose to sale, any wares, merchandise, fruit, herbs, goods or chattels, on Sunday, except,” etc.
This form of the statute remained practically unaltered until the adoption of the Penal Code in 1881 (Laws 1881, p. 1, c. 676). The statutes were then recast in form, and subdivided into the following sections:
“Sec. 259. The first day of the week being by general consent set apart for vest and religious uses, the law prohibits the doing on that day of certain acts
“Sec. 262. The following acts, as explained in the next six sections are those forbidden to be done on the first day of the week, except in a work of necessity or charity: (1) Servile labor. (2) Public sports and shows. (3) Trades, manufactures, or mechanical employments. (4) Public traffic. (5) Serving process.
“Sec. 263. All manner of servile labor, on the first day of the week, is prohibited, excepting in works of necessity or charity.”
“Sec. 265. All shooting, hunting, fishing, playing, horse racing, gaming or other public sports, exercises, pastimes or shows, upon the first day of the week, and all noise disturbing the peace of the day, are prohibited.
“Sec. 266. All trades, manufactures and mechanical employments upon the first day of the week are prohibited.
“Sec. 267. All manner of public selling, or offering, or exposing for sale publicly, of any commodities upon the first day of the week is prohibited, except that meats, milk and fish may be sold at any time before nine o’clock in the morning, and except that food may be sold to be eaten upon the premises where sold, and drugs, medicines and surgical appliances may be sold at any time of the day.”
Then follow several sections relating to serving of process on Sunday, attempting by threats, etc., to compel certain religious beliefs, disturbing religious meetings, processions, and parades, and finally section 277 is added as the closing section of the chapter in reference to theatrical and other performances on Sunday. In 1883 section 263 was amended (Laws 1883, p. 541, c. 358), and has continued to the present day in form as follows:
“Sec. 263. All labor on Sunday is prohibited, excepting the works of necessity or charity. In works of necessity or charity is included whatever is needful during the day for the good order, health or comfort of the community.”
The same year section 265 was amended by omitting the word “pastimes.” The same year section 262 was repealed. There has been no other important change in the Sunday statute as originally enacted in the Penal Code of 1881, with the single exception relating to section 277, which will be referred to later. At the time of the enactment of the Penal Code the previous statutes which were revised and embodied in that Code were repealed.
The contention of the plaintiff now is that, because of the provisions of section 277 of the Penal Code prohibiting certain theatrical performances on-Sunday, that section should be held to embody the whole law on the subject of Sunday entertainments in theaters, and that none of the other sections should be deemed to apply. There is a well-settled rule of statutory construction, which has been embodied in the statutory construction law in the following form:
“The provisions of a law repealing a prior law which are substantially reenactments of provisions of the prior law shall be construed as a continuation of such provisions of such prior law, and not as new enactments.”
Under this rule the sections of the Penal Code above quoted, which are substantially re-enactments of previous statutes, must be construed as continuing those statutes in force, and not as new statutes. This rule has an important bearing upon the construction of these sections of the Penal Code. Had there been no prior statutes of a similar character, and had the Legislature formulated these sections as new statutes, it would be proper to assume or infer that a section treating spe
This brings us to the question as to whether it was lawful for the proprietor of a theater to continue his business on Sunday prior tu 1881, when section 277 first came into force. The other statutes previously in force and continued and re-enacted in the other sections of the Penal Code above quoted were as follows (2 Rev. St. Banks & Bros. [6th Ed.] pt. 1, c. 22, tit. 8, p. 928, § 84):
“There shall be no shooting, hunting, fishing, sporting, playing, horse-racing, gaming, frequenting of tippling-houses, or any unlawful exercises or pastimes, on the first day of the week called Sunday * * * nor shall there be any servile laboring or working on that day, excepting works of necessity and charity, unless done by some person who uniformly keeps the last day of the week, called Saturday, as holy time, and does not labor or work on that day, and whose labor shall not disturb other persons in their observance of the first day of the week as holy time.”
If this statute has no application to theaters, then it was always lawful prior to 1881 for the proprietor of a theater in Rochester to continue his business on Sunday the same as on a week day, and to give on Sunday any show or form of entertainment which could lawfully be given on a week day unless restrained by some local ordinance of. the common council. I apprehend that, if this statute was capable of such a construction, Sunday theaters in this state would have been the rule, and not as they always have been, the exception. A diligent examination has failed to disclose a single reported decision of the courts in this state prior to 1881, where the proprietor of any theater or public hall was prosecuted for a supposed violation of this statute for continuing his business on Sunday. This may be due to the fact that in many, if not all, of the cities, municipal ordinances prohibited it. Certainly, the fact is that it has been the common understanding of the people, as well as the bar, that the state statutes did not permit theatrical performances on Sunday. It would have keen offensive to the religious sentiments of the community, and entirely out of harmony with the Christian Sabbath as one of our civil institutions, inherited from our ancestors who settled this country and formed our government, and who brought it with them as an already long-existing institution. One of its leading features was that all the people should abstain from pursuing their ordinary week-day occupations on Sunday, and that no labor, except in cases of necessity and for charity, should be continued on that day, but that it should be given up to rest and
“All labor on Sunday is prohibited, excepting the works oí necessity or charity. In works of necessity or charity is included whatever is needful during the day for the good order, health or comfort of the community.”
As this was an old statute, its proper construction is not to be limited because the Legislature saw fit to adopt a later statute, specially prohibiting certain theatrical performances by name. Nowhere has it been provided that theatrical entertainments other than those specially named in section 277 of the Penal Code shall be lawful on Sunday. Selling tickets to a theater, printing a newspaper, serving as a police magistrate, serving as an attorney’s clerk, giving of theatrical exhibitions have all been held to be “laboring” within the intent and meaning of that term as used in the Sunday laws. Quarles v. State of Arkansas, 55 Ark. 10 , 17 S. W. 269 , 14 L. R. A. 192 ; Smith v. Wilcox, 19 Barb. 581 , s. c. 25 Barb. 341 ; Palmer v. Mayor, etc., 2 Sandf. 318 ; Watts v. Van Ness, 1 Hill. 76 ; Lindenmuller v. People, 33 Barb. 548 .
This leads to a consideration of the origin of section 277, and oi how far, if at all, it must be given effect to vary or control the construction of previously existing statutes continued in the Penal Code. It had its origin in chapter 501, p. 999, Laws 1860, an act entitled: ■
“An act to preserve the public peace and order on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.”
The first section provides that it shall not be lawful to exhibit on Sunday in any building, garden, concert room, or other room or place within the city and county of New York any tragedy, comedy, etc., or any other entertainment of the stage. Section 2 provides that any person offending against the act or aiding in such exhibition by advertisement or otherwise, and every owner or lessee of any building who lets the same for the purpose of any such exhibition, or assents to its use for the same, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, in addition to the punishment provided by law, shall be subjected to a penalty of $500, which penalty the “Society for the Reformation of
“All shooting, hunting, fishing, playing, horse-racing, gaming or other public sports, exercises or shows, upon the first day of the week, and all noise disturbing the peace of the day are prohibited.”
It has been held in two recent opinions by justices of this court in the city of New York that the rule for construing statutes based up
I think it may be safely said that it is the policy of this state, as disclosed by its legislation from the earliest times, that all secular occupations not necessary for the welfare of the community should be discontinued on Sunday, both on account of the character of the day and on account of the public policy involved which regards the public interest as promoted by one days’ rest in seven. I think, also, that there has been shown no intent on the part of the Legislature to discriminate in this respect between one occupation and another. The exceptions in favor of drug stores, the sale of tobacco, and of newspapers and operation of railroads, etc., are exceptions, based manifestly upon the comfort and convenience of the community, and not at all as a favor to the individuals engaged in those occupations. The recent statute prohibiting the opening of barber shops on Sunday indicates that there has been no change in this public policy. I feel bound to assume that the Legislature did not intend to make an exception in favor of the theater proprietor to enable him to carry on his business on Sunday for the sole purpose bf making money by simply varying the kind of exhibition produced on that day so ap to
But, if I am wrong in the foregoing views, there is still another reason why the plaintiff has no right to give the exhibition proposed in his theater on Sunday. Under the city charter the common council have adopted ordinances in reference to the licensing of showmen. Article 1 of these ordinances is as follows:
“.Without having procured a license as required by this ordinance, no person shall carry on any business herein named within the city of Rochester.”
Then follow several sections in reference to different classes of licensed occupations, followed by section 10, which is as follows:
“Of showmen, which shall be construed to cover the exhibition of any circus, theatrical representation, or public show of any kind or permitting any place to be used for such purposes.”
Then follow provisions for the issuing of licenses to showmen and the fees to be paid therefor, and by article 5, § 39, it is provided that showmen shall not give any theatrical representation, circus, or other show on Sunday, and by article 7 are provided the penalties for violation. It appears from the complaint that the plaintiff is operating as a showman under a license granted pursuant to these ordinances. It is competent for the common council to regulate and control the licensing of theaters and public shows. Its ordinance within the corporate limits of the city has the same force as a statute. Village of Carthage v. Frederick, 122 N. Y. 268 , 25 N. E. 480 , 10 L. R. A. 178 , 19 Am. St. Rep. 490 . It cannot, of course, permit under its ordinances or license any performance prohibited by the public statutes of the state, but it may impose further restrictions and limitations upon the character of the performance to be licensed or to be authorized in licensed places. The plaintiff cannot lawfully carry on his business without a license under the city ordinances; and he is bound to comply with those ordinances or forfeit his license and right to do business. It follows that he cannot, under his license, violate the ordinance in respect to giving a show on Sunday, nor has he any right to restrain the police department from enforcing the ordinance in that respect.
There is still another sufficient answer to the plaintiff’s application for an injunction against the police department, which is that the plaintiff’s remedy, if he has one, is not in a court of equity to enjoin police from attempting to enforce the criminal law, but is rather in the courts of law, first, to defend himself when arrested charged with a breach of the criminal law and demonstrate to the tribunal having jurisdiction in criminal cases that he is not guilty; and, second, to pursue his remedy in a court of law for damages against any officer
The motion for a temporary injunction is denied, with costs.
Cases cited
- Smith v. Wilcox 19 Barb. 581 p. 590
- Smith v. Wilcox 25 Barb. 341 p. 590
- Palmer v. Mayor 2 Sandf. 318 p. 590
- Lindenmuller v. People 33 Barb. 548 p. 590
- Neuendorff v. Duryea 69 N. Y. 557 p. 593
- People v. Havnor 149 N. Y. 195 p. 593
- Village of Carthage v. Frederick 122 N. Y. 268 p. 593
- Davis v. American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 75 N. Y. 362 p. 594