Harlan F. Stone

“ This court held that the words 'any person not registered' could not be taken to apply to any person in the United States, but must be read, in harmony with the purpose of the act, to refer to persons required by law to register. ”

“ All laws are to be given a sensible construction; and a literal application of a statute, which would lead to absurd consequences, should be avoided whenever a reasonable application can be given to it, consistent with the legislative purpose. ”

“ We think the reasoning of these cases applicable here, and that the words 'no person' in section 10 refer to persons authorized under other provisions of the act to carry on traffic in alcoholic liquors. It is not without significance that the Commissioner has never made any regulation with respect to records of bootlegging transactions, and that the published regulations contain no suggestion that section 10 has any application, except to persons who hold permits, or are otherwise authorized by law to traffic in intoxicating liquor. ”

“ Section 5 provides for the revocation of permits, if the product manufactured does not comply with the requirements of section 4.
Section 6 prohibits the sale, purchase, transportation, or prescription of liquor without a permit from the Commissioner, issued as prescribed in the section, except the purchase and use for medicinal purposes and for the treatment of alcoholism. This section also exempts sacramental wines from the provisions of the act, except as to the requirements of section 6 for permits (save for purchase) and to the requirements of section 10 for the keeping of records. ”

“ The overt act charged in each indictment was the sale of whisky by one defendant to the other. This is an offense under the National Prohibition Act; but as the defendants in each case were only one buyer and one seller, and as the agreement of the parties was an essential element in the sale, an indictment of the buyer and seller for a conspiracy to make the sale would have been of doubtful validity. Compare United States v. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. (C. C.) 146 F. 298; United States v. Dietrich (C. C.) 126 F. 664; Vannata v. United States (C. C. A.) 289 F. 424, 427. ”

“ Jin Fuey Moy, supra, the defendant was indicted for a conspiracy 'to have in * * * possession' of another person, not registered, a quantity of opium, in violation of the Opium Registration Act of 1914 (Comp. St. §§ 6287g-6287q) , which declared it unlawful for 'any person,' who had not registered and paid the prescribed tax, to have in his possession or control any of the drug in question. ”