Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Roschen v. Ward

279 U.S. 337

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1929-04-22
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • rejecting a challenge to a state's legislation that required an optometrist or ophthalmologist to be personally in charge of businesses that sold eyewear, concluding that "there can be no doubt that the presence and superintendence of the specialist tend to diminish an evil"
  • upholding as constitutional, without reference to any specific constitutional clause, a New York statute making it unlawful for opticians to sell eyeglasses at retail in any store, unless a duly licensed optometrist or physician was in charge and personally in attendance
  • "[T]here is no canon against using common sense in construing laws as saying what they obviously mean."
  • “[Tjhere is no canon against using common sense in construing laws as saying what they obviously mean.”
  • "A statute is not invalid under the Constitution because it might have gone farther than it did."
  • Holmes, J. “[Tjhere is no canon against using common sense in construing laws as saying what they obviously mean.” Id. at 339, 49 S.Ct. at 336
  • “We agree to all the generalities about not supplying criminal laws with what they omit * * *.”
  • “A statute is not invalid under the Constitution because it might have gone farther than it did, or because it may not succeed in bringing about the result that it tends to produce.”

Citator

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Cited by
231 opinions

Headnotes

  1. Constitutional Law — Due Process A state statute making it unlawful to sell spectacles, eyeglasses, or lenses for the correction of vision at retail in any store or established place of business unless a licensed physician or qualified optometrist is in charge of and in personal attendance at the place of sale is a valid exercise of the state's police power, notwithstanding that the statute contains no express requirement that the specialist examine the customer's eyes. 279 U.S. at 339
  2. Constitutional Law — Due Process A statute is not invalid under the Constitution because it might have gone farther than it did, or because it may not succeed in bringing about the result it tends to produce. 279 U.S. at 339
  3. Constitutional Law — Due Process Whether legislation requiring the attendance of a physician or optometrist at places where spectacles or eyeglasses are sold at retail is expedient is a question for the legislature and not for the courts; courts will not presume that the benefits of such legislation are a pretense or a cloak for establishing a monopoly. 279 U.S. at 339
  4. Statutory Interpretation — Implied Duties — Common Sense Construction Where a statute requires a physician or optometrist to be in charge of a place of sale of eyeglasses and in personal attendance at it, the requirement means that the specialist is in charge by reason of and in the exercise of his professional capacity; it is the specialist's duty to determine whether an examination of the eye is necessary and, if so, to make it, and there is no canon against using common sense in construing laws as saying what they obviously mean. 279 U.S. at 339
ROSCHENv. WARD,279 U.S. 337(1929)
49 S.Ct. 336
ROSCHENv. WARD, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW YORK, ET AL.
S.S. KRESGE COMPANYv. SAME.
APPEALS FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN
DISTRICT OF NEW YORK.
Nos. 667 and 668.
Argued April 10, 1929.
Decided April 22, 1929.
1. A state statute making it unlawful to sell at retail in any store or established place of business any spectacles, eye glasses, or lenses for correction of vision, unless a physician or optometrist is in charge of the place of sale and in personal attendance at it, though not providing specifically for an examination by the specialist, is valid. P. 339. 2. A statute is not invalid under the Constitution because it might have gone farther than it did, or because it may not succeed in bringing about the result that it tends to produce. P. 339. 3. It being obvious that much good will be accomplished by a statute requiring the attendance of a physician or optometrist at any placePage 338where spectacles or eye glasses are sold at retail, the question of the expediency of such legislation is not for the courts, and no presumption will be indulged that the benefits are a pretence and a cloak for establishing a monopoly. P. 339.29 F.2d 762, affirmed.
APPEALS from decrees of the District Court, three judges
sitting, denying preliminary injunctions and dismissing the bills
in suits to restrain state officers from enforcing a statute
requiring the attendance of a physician or optometrist at places
where spectacles, eye glasses, or lenses for the correction of
vision are sold at retail. The opinion below was reportedsub
nom. S.S. Kresge Co. v.Ottinger.
Mr. Walter N. Seligsberg, with whomMr. I. Maurice Wormserwas on the brief, for appellants.Messrs. Hamilton Ward, Attorney General of New York, andHenry S. Manley, Assistant Attorney General, were on the brief for appellees.
MR. JUSTICE HOLMES delivered the opinion of the Court.
These are suits brought by dealers in eye glasses for an injunction prohibiting the enforcement of chapter 379 of the New York Laws of 1928, which amends the Education Law by inserting two sections, of which the material portion makes it unlawful to sell at retail in any store or established place of business `any spectacles, eye glasses, or lenses for the correction of vision, unless a duly licensed physician or duly qualified optometrist, certified under this article, be in charge of and [in] personal attendance at the booth, counter or place, where such articles are sold in such store or established place of business.' The complainants moved for a preliminary injunction, a statutory court of three judges was convened and after a hearing the injunction was refused and the bills were dismissed onPage 339the ground that no cause of action was shown.29 F.2d 762.

The complainants sell only ordinary spectacles with convex spherical lenses, which merely magnify and which it is said can do no harm. The customers select for themselves without being examined and buy glasses for a relatively small sum. It is said that the cost of employing an optometrist would make the complainants' business impossible, and that in the common case of eyes only grown weaker by age the requirement is unreasonable. But the argument most pressed is that the statute does not provide for an examination by the optometrist in charge of the counter. This as it is presented seems to us a perversion of the Act. When the statute requires a physician or optometrist to be in charge of the place of sale and in personal attendance at it, obviously it means in charge of it by reason of and in the exercise of his professional capacity. If we assume that an examination of the eye is not required in every case, it plainly is the duty of the specialist to make up his mind whether one is necessary and, if he thinks it necessary, to make it. We agree to all the generalities about not supplying criminal laws with what they omit, but there is no canon against using common sense in construing laws as saying what they obviously mean. Moreover, as pointed out below, wherever the requirements of the Act stop, there can be no doubt that the presence and superintendence of the specialist tend to diminish an evil. A statute is not invalid under the Constitution because it might have gone farther than it did, or because it may not succeed in bringing about the result that it tends to produce.

Of course we cannot suppose the Act to have been passed for sinister motives. We will assume that there are strong reasons against interference with the business as now done — but it is obvious that much good would be accomplishedPage 340if eyes were examined in a great many cases where hitherto they have not been, and the balancing of the considerations of advantage and disadvantage is for the legislature not for the Courts. We cannot say, as the complainants would have us say, that the supposed benefits are a cloak for establishing a monopoly and a pretence.Decree affirmed.