Taenaka

I dissent. Under section 22 of article XX of the Constitution as amended in 1934 the State Board of Equalization has the “exclusive power to license” the “sale of intoxicating liquors in this State” and has “the power, in its discretion, to deny or revoke any specific liquor license if it shall determine for good cause that the granting or continuance of such license would be contrary to public welfare or morals.” The majority opinion correctly states that “the board ‘denied’ petitioner’s application for a license on the basis that it would be contrary to ‘public welfare and morals’ because of the proximity of the premises to churches and a school.”

Whatever may have theretofore transpired it is stated and conceded by the majority that the proceedings before the board were conducted on the basis of an application by the petitioner for a license and a hearing thereon in the presence of protests rather than on the basis of the revocation of a license theretofore granted. The question of the discretion of the board in denying the license is in the very heart of the whole proceeding. The evidence before the board was abundantly sufficient to support the conclusion of the board that…

The State Board of Equalization, respondent in mandamus proceedings in the superior court, appeals from a judgment of that court granting a peremptory writ of mandate ordering the board to restore to Taenaka, petitioner, an off-sale liquor license at his premises on East 103d Street in Los Angeles.

According to the findings, petitioner is a United States citizen of Japanese ancestry. He owns the above-mentioned premises, and in 1941, he held an off-sale liquor license at said premises regularly issued to him by respondent, and operated a liquor business thereunder. After the outbreak of the second World War and in May, 1942, respondent revoked and cancelled petitioner’s license on the ground of his Japanese ancestry. In 1951, the Legislature added a section to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (Stats. 1935, p. 1123, as amended), * and pursuant thereto on September 4, 1951, *659 petitioner applied to the board for a license. On November 15, 1951, the board,, after hearing, granted the application and ordered the issuance of the license “provided no protests have been filed against the issuance of such license.” At that time no protests had been filed. Thereafter, on November 26,…