Opinion

Lowery v. Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Control Board

  • 584 P.2d 720
  • 1978 OK 120
  • 1978 Okla. LEXIS 483
Court
Supreme Court of Oklahoma
Filed
Sep 19, 1978
Status
Published
Author
Irwin
On the bench
Berry, Hodges, Lavender, Williams, Barnes, Simms, Doolin, Irwin
Cited by
9 cases
Authority
More cited than 5.1%

The opinion

IRWIN, Justice,

concurring specially:

In AMF Tuboscope Company v. Hatchel, Okl., 547 P.2d 374 (1976) we said that the Legislature will not be presumed to have intended an absurd result, and a statute should be given a sensible construction, bearing in mind the evils intended to be avoided or the remedy afforded.

The Legislature, in providing that a retail package store shall not be located within 300 feet of a church or school, established the minimum distance without reference to the actual size of a block. It did not provide a standard definition for a “block”. Therefore, in my opinion, the word “block” must be given a reasonable interpretation depending upon the facts and circumstances of a particular case.

In my judgment, when the legislature provided that a “license shall not be issued for a location on any city or town block where a school or church is located”, that it did not intend and did not include within the word “block” a tract of land comprising approximately 400 acres.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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