United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Cox v. Texas, 202 U.S. 446 (1906)

Cox v. Texas

Nos. 266, 267

Argued April 27, 1906

Decided May 21, 1906

202 U.S. 446

Syllabus

The provisions in the liquor tax law of 1895 of Texas in regard to the sale of liquor to minors, and the liability of the licensee on the bond required to be given in regard thereto, are not unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because, by the terms of the statute, they do not apply to wines produced from grapes grown in the state while in the hands of the producers or manufacturers thereof, it not appearing that there are any distinct classes of liquor dealers, one selling their own domestic wines and another selling all intoxicants except domestic wines. Connolly v. Union Sewer Pipe Co., 184 U. S. 540, distinguished.

Where the constitutionality of a state statute is assailed in the state court solely on the ground of its conflict with one specified provision of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that Amendment, standing alone, does not touch the case, other provisions of the Constitution cannot be invoked in this Court to give those set up a more extensive application.

The facts are stated in the opinion.

Page 202 U. S. 448