People v. One 1941 Buick 8-Four-Door Sedan, Engine No. 54135130

This is an appeal from a judgment rendered under section 52 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (Stats. 1935, p. 1123, and amendments thereto, Deering’s Supp. to Gen. Laws of 1941, p. 2006, Act 3796), forfeiting to the State a Buick taxicab automobile because the driver thereof, without the knowledge of the owner, violated section 3 of that act by selling one pint of whiskey, without a license, to passengers riding in the machine. It is conceded the driver of the taxicab was guilty of a misdemeanor in selling the liquor without a license. The owner of the automobile contends that the taxicab was illegally forfeited since it was in actual use as a common carrier at the time of the sale of liquor, and that all common carriers are specifically exempted from application of the statute by the provisions of section 52 (i) thereof. In no case relied upon by the respondent in support of the forfeiture does it appear that a similar exemption of “common carriers” was involved.

Mrs. Marie Littlefield has owned and operated a taxicab business in Sacramento for sixteen years under the name of Union Taxicab Company. The taxicab in question is one of a fleet of twenty automobiles used by her…