Merced County v. Helm & Nolan

In January, 1893, the county of Merced passed an ordinance fixing the rate of county license taxes upon certain occupations within the county, and providing for the collection of the same by suit, in case the persons liable to pay the tax should engage in any business subject thereto without having first procured a license therefor. The present action was brought against the respondents to recover the sum of three thousand dollars, claimed to be a debt due from them to the county by virtue of their having sold intoxicating liquors within the county without having first paid the license tax required by said ordinance for the quarter commencing March 1, 1893.

The right of the county to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors in the exercise of the police power conferred upon it by article XI, section 11, of the constitution, which has been so fully discussed by counsel, is not involved in the determination of this case, as the ordinance in question does not purport to have been enacted under this power. By its very terms the ordinance is a revenue measure, and this suit is simply a civil action to recover a liability alleged to have been incurred by the defendants by virtue of…