{
  "id": 8554214,
  "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. VON ETTA TERRY and LATHEN EARL WARREN",
  "name_abbreviation": "State v. Terry",
  "decision_date": "1976-08-04",
  "docket_number": "No. 7612SC197",
  "first_page": "372",
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T18:42:34.327987+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges Parker and Arnold concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. VON ETTA TERRY and LATHEN EARL WARREN"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "HEDRICK, Judge.\nThe facts surrounding defendants\u2019 arrest are not in dispute. On 18 October 1975 the defendants, Terry and Warren, each purchased one gallon of taxpaid whiskey at a Cumberland County ABC store. Each defendant was the owner of the one gallon which he purchased. As they were transporting the whiskey home in an automobile owned by Terry and driven by Warren, they were stopped and arrested for violating G.S. 18A-26(a), which in pertinent part provides:\n\u201cTransportation of alcoholic beverages.\u2014 (a) A person may transport, not for sale or barter, not more than one gallon of alcoholic beverages, except as authorized by permit, to and from any place in the State; . . .\nIt shall be unlawful for any person operating a for-hire passenger vehicle as defined in G.S. 20-38(20) (b) to transport alcoholic beverages except when the vehicle is actually transporting a bona fide paying passenger who is the actual owner of the alcoholic beverages being transported. Alcoholic beverages owned and possessed by each passenger shall be transported in the manner and amount authorized by this section, . . .\u201d\nJudge Herring concluded in his order:\n\u201c1. That there is no reasonable relation to the public peace and welfare or safety in the requirement of provisions of G.S. 8-26 [18A-26] regarding maximum amount of alcoholic beverages which may be transported as between private vehicles and for-hire passenger vehicles, as defined in G.S. 20-38(20) (b).\n2. That the requirement of statute as to persons utilizing private vehicles as opposed to those utilizing for-hire passenger vehicles, is arbitrarily discriminatory and is in violation of the Fourth Amendment [Fourteenth Amendment] to the United States Constitution and Article 1 Section 19 of the North Carolina Constitution, declaring that no person be denied equal protection of the law.\u201d\nIt is apparent from the conclusions of law in the order that Judge Herring interpreted the statute as being discriminatory in allowing persons utilizing for-hire passenger vehicles to transport more alcoholic beverages than persons transporting alcoholic beverages in a privately owned vehicle.\nAssuming arguendo that Judge Herring was correct in concluding that the statute in question does permit the transportation of more than one gallon of alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle for hire under some circumstances without obtaining a permit, still it does not necessarily follow that such discrimination is \u201carbitrary\u201d or that the discrimination serves \u201cno reasonable relation to the public peace and welfare.\u201d\nThe classification in the present case does not affect any \u201cfundamental interest\u201d of the defendants and is not \u201cinherently suspect,\u201d so as to require a \u201ccompelling State interest\u201d in order to justify the discrimination on Constitutional grounds. See In re Walker, 282 N.C. 28, 191 S.E. 2d 702 (1972), and cases cited therein. Indeed, the U. S. Supreme Court in California v. LaRue, 409 U.S. 109, 34 L.Ed. 2d 342 (1972), stated that:\n\u201cWhile the States, vested as they are with general police power, require no specific grant of authority in the Federal Constitution to legislate with respect to matters traditionally within the scope of the police power, the broad sweep of the Twenty-first Amendment has been recognized as conferring something more than the normal state authority over public health, welfare, and morals [in the area of alcoholic beverage regulation].\u201d\nIf a classification is based on differences reasonably related to the purposes of the legislation in which it is found, then such classification does not offend the equal protection clause of either the Federal or State Constitutions. In re Walker, supra. \u201c[T]he General Assembly may distinguish, select and classify objects of legislation provided such classifications are reasonable and just and apply uniformly to all members of the affected class.\u201d Ramsey v. Veterans Commission, 261 N.C. 645, 135 S.E. 2d 659 (1964).\nThere are significant differences present in the transportation of alcoholic beverages owned by passengers traveling in a for-hire passenger vehicle and transportation in private vehicles. The for-hire vehicle, in most instances, must serve anyone who demands a ride and has the money to pay for it. The driver of a for-hire vehicle has no authority to inspect the contents of baggage which the passenger might be carrying to determine if there are possible violations of the State\u2019s liquor laws. A person owning or operating a private vehicle has a choice to allow a rider or not and to require him not to bring particular items with him.\nThe State has a legitimate legislative interest in controlling the sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages.\n\u201c \u2018In the area of economics and social welfare, a state does not violate the Equal Protection Clause merely because the classifications made by its laws are imperfect. If the classification has some \u201creasonable basis,\u201d it does not offend the Constitution simply because the classification \u201cis not made with mathematical nicety or because in practice it results in some inequality.\u201d \u2019 Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 485, 25 L.Ed. 2d 491, 501-02, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 1161 (1970).\u201d Glusman v. Trustees and Lamb v. Board of Trustees, 281 N.C. 629, 638, 190 S.E. 2d 213, 219 (1972).\nThere exists a \u201creasonable basis\u201d for distinguishing transportation of alcoholic beverages in a for-hire passenger vehicle from other modes of transportation. The statute in the present case is not unconstitutional on its face or as applied to these defendants. The order appealed from is reversed and the cause is remanded to the Superior Court with directions that the Superior Court remand the cause to the District Court for further proceedings as by law provided.\nReversed and remanded.\nJudges Parker and Arnold concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "HEDRICK, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Attorney General Edmisten by Associate Attorneys James Wallace, Jr., and Jack Cozort for the State.",
      "Lacy S. Hair for defendant appellees."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. VON ETTA TERRY and LATHEN EARL WARREN\nNo. 7612SC197\n(Filed 4 August 1976)\nConstitutional Law \u00a7 20; Intoxicating Liquor \u00a7 8\u2014 transportation of alcoholic beverage \u2014 distinction between for-hire vehicle and other vehicles \u2014 statute constitutional\nSince there exists a \u201creasonable basis\u201d for distinguishing transportation of alcoholic beverages in a for-hire passenger vehicle from other modes of transportation, G.S. 18A-26(a) providing for classification of the modes of transportation does not offend the equal protection clause of either the Federal or State Constitutions.\nAppeal by the State from Herring, Judge. Judgment entered 12 February 1976 in Superior Court, Cumberland County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 9 June 1976.\nThe defendants, Von Etta Terry and Lathen Earl Warren, were charged in a magistrate\u2019s order, proper in form, issued pursuant to G.S. 15A-511, with \u201ctransport [ing] more than the legal limit of alcoholic beverages in a vehicle, without first obtaining a valid transportation permit from the Cumberland County ABC Board,\u201d a violation of G.S. 18A-26(a). From an order entered in the District Court declaring G.S. 18A-26(a) to be unconstitutional, the State appealed. In the Superior Court, defendants moved to dismiss the charge, pursuant to G.S. 15A-954, on the grounds that the statute alleged to have been violated was unconstitutional on its face. After a hearing Judge Herring made findings and conclusions and entered an order allowing defendants\u2019 motion. The State appealed to this court.\nAttorney General Edmisten by Associate Attorneys James Wallace, Jr., and Jack Cozort for the State.\nLacy S. Hair for defendant appellees."
  },
  "file_name": "0372-01",
  "first_page_order": 400,
  "last_page_order": 403
}