Decision of the Supreme Court of Arkansas—June 22, 1889.
127 (Crim.) City of Arkadelphia vs. Z. A. Clark.
The Appellee, Clark, was convicted in the Mayor’s Court of Arkadelphia for a violation of the city ordinance. The ordinance under which the prosecution was had, provided that it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to own, keep or raise bees in the City of Arkadelphia, the same having been declared a nuisance. Upon an appeal to the Circuit Court, that Court sustained a demurrer filed by the defendant, and dismissed the prosecution.
Held.—Neither the keeping, owning or raising of bees is in itself a nuisance. Bees may become a nuisance in a city, but whether they are so or not, is a question to be judicially determined in each case.
The ordinance under consideration undertakes to make each of the acts named a nuisance, without regard to the fact whether it is so or not, or whether bees in general have become a nuisance in the city. It is therefore too broad, and invalid.
Affirmed.
The decision of the Supreme Court is a document that will become of great use as a precedent. It will be a guide for the rulings of Judges—for the information of Juries—and for the regulation of those who may dare to interfere with a respectable pursuit, by law or otherwise!
Thomas G. Newman
General Manager National Bee-Keepers’ Union.
Issued by the National Bee-Keepers’ Union. Copies may be obtained free by addressing the General Manager, Thomas G. Newman, 147 South Western Avenue, Chicago, Ills.
