In Re Dees

The determination of this matter depends on the validity of a recent amendment to the San Francisco License Ordinance and particularly to the section thereof relating to the resale of theater tickets, for the violation of which the petitioner was arrested.

On behalf of the municipality it is maintained that the provisions of the ordinance were adopted by the local legislative body in the exercise of its admitted power to raise, revenue by taxation, and that the courts cannot interfere with the exercise of this power. The petitioner, on the other hand, contends that the provisions in question were not adopted under the power to tax, but constitute an unlawful exercise of the police power, and further, that even considered as a revenue measure, the section of the ordinance under consideration cannot be upheld.

The frequent application to courts of this and other states to adjudicate upon similar license provisions, as well as the common experience of the great mass of people who travel and who attend theatrical performances, have made notorious the fact that it is the custom of so-called ticket speculators to buy in advance numbers of desirable reserved seat tickets for popular…