Montgomery County NyArchives Court.....Healy, Libbie Vs Henry Forbes 1889
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ny/nyfiles.htm
************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 May 29, 2008, 12:24 am

Source: Reports Of Cases - N Y
Written: 1889

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ex rel. LIBBIE E. HEALEY v. HENRY P. FORBES 
and Others, Commissioners of Excise of the Town of Canton, N. Y.

A billiard table may be kept in a tavern, if not used for gambling — chapter 628 
of 1857, section 7.

Upon a hearing had upon the return to a writ of certiorari, issued to review the 
proceedings of a board of excise in annulling and revoking the license of the 
relator as an inn-keeper for suffering a billiard table to be kept in her hotel, 
it appeared that she kept a billiard table in the house on which persons played 
upon the terms that the loser should pay for the use of the table.

By section 7 of title 9 of chapter 20, part 1 of the Revised Statutes, the 
keeper of an inn is required to give a bond with the condition that during the 
time he shall keep such inn he will not keep any billiard table within the 
tavern. In section 7 of chapter 628 of 1857, the present excise law, the 
words "billiard table" are omitted.

Held, that as the statute of 1857 was a penal statute, the omission of those 
words signified that a billiard table might now be lawfully kept in a hotel if 
it was not used for gambling purposes.

That, as it appeared that the loser paid simply the amount that was due the 
proprietor for the use of the table and the winner took nothing, the provisions 
of the excise act, preventing her from keeping a gaming table, were not violated.

Certiorari issued at a Special Term held in Montgomery county on April 25, 1888, 
to Henry P. Forbes and others, as commissioners of excise of the town of Canton, 
N. Y., to review the determination of said board of commissioners in the matter 
of revoking the license of the petitioner.

Horace D. Ellsworth, for the relator.

Almoron Z. Squires, for the respondents.

Learned, P. J.:

We think that the resolution, revoking the relator's license, although it was 
not delivered to her, was such an act of the board that she has the right to 
review it.

By the vote of the board, on motion of Mr. Forbes, it appears that the license 
was revoked because she suffered gambling in the house, "as we understand the 
law." The question, then, is fairly presented whether on the evidence she did 
suffer gambling in the house. The evidence, in brief, is that she kept a 
billiard table in the house on which persons played, upon the terms that the 
loser should pay for the use of the table. The game of billiards is one of 
skill, not of chance. It is a game for physical, though not violent, exercise. 
It is similar in its character to the game, lately so popular, of croquet; and 
not unlike in character to curling or base ball.

In People v. Sergeant (8 Cow., 139), it was decided that keeping a billiard 
table where the loser paid for the table was not gaming within the law which 
makes the house a nuisance. In Hitchins v. People (39 N. Y., 454), it does not 
appear what games were played. In an unreported case, the People v. Commissioner 
of Excise decided in November, 1887, it was held by Mr. Justice Potter that such 
playing at billiards (the loser paying) was not a violation of the bond given by 
a hotel-keeper.

In Tanner v. Trustees (5 Hill, 121), however, it was held that a bowling alley 
kept for hire was a nuisance at common law. The learned justice who wrote the 
opinion cited many ancient cases, and spoke of the immorality of Charles the 
Second, but said that, he himself had never seen a game of billiards. Nothing, 
therefore, was decided as to this game.

It further appears that under the old law, and for many years, the bond of a 
hotel-keeper was conditioned that he should not keep a billiard table or other 
gaming table. Under the present law the words billiard table are omitted, and 
the condition is that the licensee will not keep a gambling table. The 
respondents urge that the omission was made because it had been settled that a 
billiard table was a gambling table and need not be specified. It may quite as 
well be said that the omission was intended to indicate that a billiard table 
was not a gambling table. (Laws 1857, chap. 628, § 7.)

The case of People v. Cutler (28 Hun, 465) was a conviction of defendant as a 
disorderly person, and the court held the evidence sufficient under Code of 
Criminal Procedure (§ 899, subs. 4, 7). We do not think that that decision is 
conclusive on the present question. The truth is that the evils and the 
attraction of gambling arise where there is a large element of chance; and, in 
construing this statute, we may properly consider the evil aimed at. Our opinion 
is that the doctrine of People v. Sergeant and of People v. Commissioner of 
Excise, above cited, is correct, and that keeping a billiard table, even though 
the loser pays for the use, is not keeping a gambling table within the statute.

The order should be reversed.

Landon, J.:

The statute now omits a billiard table; it formerly specified it. It is a penal 
statute, and the omission signifies that a billiard table may be lawfully kept, 
if not used for gambling. I do not think it safe to say that billiards are not a 
game of chance, but of skill. That depends, in part, upon whether the players 
are experts or not. The terms "scratch" or "fluke" are of the nomenclature of 
the chances of the game. Be that as it may, when the game is played upon a hired 
table, if the loser pays the hire, he simply pays what is due the proprietor; 
the winner takes nothing. If, directly or indirectly, anything else, as cigars 
or drinks or money, should be at stake, then a case of gambling would exist. I 
think the legislature must have had this distinction in view, and I, therefore, 
concur in the result.

Ingalls, J., concurred.

Order of board annulling license reversed.

Additional Comments:
Reports of Cases Heard and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of New 
York. Marcus T. Hun, Reporter. Volume LIX, 1889, HUN 52. Banks & Company, 
Albany, NY. 1901.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ny/montgomery/court/healy697gwl.txt
This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nyfiles/

File size: 6.5 Kb