Williams v. Walsh, 222 U.S. 415 (1912)
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Williams v. Walsh
No. 79
Argued December 5, 1911
Decided January 9, 1912
222 U.S. 415
ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT
OF THE STATE OF KANSAS
Syllabus
A classification as to time that is not arbitrary is not repugnant to the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment does not forbid statutory changes to have a beginning, and thus discriminate between rights of an earlier and later time. Sperry & Hutchinson v. Rhodes, 220 U.S. 502.
A state police statute regulating sales, otherwise constitutional, is not unconstitutional under the equal protection clause because it excepts from its operation sales made under existing contracts.
This Court cannot take judicial knowledge of details of importation and sales of a commodity even if it can take such knowledge of the fact that such commodity is an article of interstate commerce.
The writ of habeas corpus cannot be made to perform the function of a writ of error, nor can it be made the means of obtaining a new trial.
The term "original package" as used in a state statute does not necessarily have the same meaning as when used in some of the decisions of this Court.
A law cannot be declared invalid at the instance of one not affected by it.
An article, such as powder, which is dangerous to handle in proportion to the quantity handled, is properly subject to police regulation in regard to quantity from which harmless articles of commerce are exempt.
The Kansas statute regulating sale of black powder is not unconstitutional a denying equal protection of the law because it excepts from its operation sales made under existing contracts; but whether it offends the commerce clause cannot be determine in a suit in which it does not appear that the party raising the question was affected in that respect.
79 Kan. 212 affirmed.
The facts, which involve the constitutionality under the commerce clause of and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of the statute of Kansas regulating the sale of black powder, are stated in the opinion.