People v. Circus Room, Inc.

Defendant, a corporation which operated an on-sale liquor establishment, was tried before a jury and convicted of offering for sale and keeping for sale two bottles of whisky which had been refilled or partly refilled in violation of subdivision (a) of section 26517 of the Health and Safety Code. 1 Defendant appealed to the appellate department of the superior court, which affirmed by a divided court and then certified the cause to this court under rule 63 of the California Rules of Court * so as to settle an important question of law. The question is the interpretation of sec *687 tion 26517 as it applies to the evidence in this record. Pursuant to rule 62 of the California Rules of Court † this court ordered the case transferred to it.

The evidence on which the People’s case rests may be briefly stated. Two state inspectors entered defendant’s premises, examined the merchandise behind the bar and carried away two partially empty bottles labeled “Seagram’s V. O. Canadian Whisky” for laboratory analysis, Chemists who examined the contents of these bottles testified that one bottle contained dissolved solids in the proportion of 412 grams per 100 liters and the other 413 grams per…