within the police power of the state. Under the police power, the legislature may constitutionally enact laws for the protection of the lives, limbs, health, comfort, and quiet of all persons within the state, and the protection of all property within the state. 139 And, subject to what has been said in sections preceding this, it is generally for the legislature, and not for the courts, to determine what laws and regulations are needed for this purpose, 140 Among the laws sustainable as an exercise of the police power are license laws, quarantine laws, laws creating liability for causing death or injury to servants, laws requiring dangerous machinery to be properly guarded and used, so as to avoid injury, laws to prevent monopolies, extortion, and fraudulent imposition, and also usury laws.141

42. Regulations as to Food Products.

The legislature cannot arbitrarily prohibit absolutely the manufacture and sale of harmless articles of food. For this reason it has

139 Frorer v. People, 141 Ill. 171.

140 Powell v. Com., 114 Pa. St. 265, affirmed in 127 U. S. 678; People v. Gillson, 109 N. Y. 389, and cases cited in notes following.

141 Frorer v. People, 141 Ill. 171.

been held that a statute absolutely prohibiting and punishing the manufacture or sale for food of any substitute for butter or cheese produced from pure unadulterated cream or milk, as oleomargarine, and not merely requiring such substitute to be marked so as to prevent fraud upon the public, is unconstitutional.142

Prevention of Fraud.-The legislature, however, has the power to enact laws for the protection of the public against fraud and deception in the sale of articles of food in common and general use. This is clearly a legitimate exercise of the police power of the state. Statutes, therefore, merely regulating the sale of articles of food, and punishing adulteration, deception, and fraud, are unquestionably valid; and whether a particular regulation of this character is necessary, reasonable, or expedient is a question for the legislature, and not for the courts.1

143

142 People v. Marx, 99 N. Y. 377, 52 Am. Rep. 34. And see Northwestern Mfg. Co. v. Wayne Circuit Judge, 58 Mich. 381, 55 Am. Rep. 693.

143 The following statutes of this character have been sustained by the courts:

Statutes prohibiting and punishing the sale or

Protection of Public Morals, Health, and Comfort. It is also a legitimate exercise of police power of the state to enact laws regulating the manufacture and sale of food products, and other articles, to such an extent as may be necessary to properly protect the morals, health, and comfort of the public. Thus, the legislature may regulate or prohibit the

keeping for sale of oleomargarine or other substances in imitation of butter, without marking them so as to show what they are, and statutes regulating generally the sale of dairy products, and punishing their adulteration. Powell v. Com. 114 Pa. St. 265, affirmed in 127 U. S. 678; State v. Addington, 77 Mo. 110; State v. Marshall, 64 N. H. 549; People v. Arensberg, 103 N. Y. 388, 57 Am. Rep. 741; Palmer v. State, 39 Ohio St. 236; State v. Horgan, 55 Minn. 183; Pierce v. State, 63 Md. 592.

Statutes prohibiting the sale of adulterated or watered milk. See the cases above cited, and see Butler v. Chambers, 36 Minn. 69; Com. v. Waite, 11 Allen (Mass.) 264, 87 Am. Dec. 711; Com. v. Evans, 132 Mass. 11; People v. West, 106 N. Y. 293, 60 Am. Rep. 452; State v. Smyth, 14 R. I. 100, 51 Am. Rep. 344.

Statutes prohibiting the sale of vinegar below a certain standard. People v. Worden Grocer Co. (Mich.) 77 N. W. 315.

Statutes requiring that baking powder containing alum shall be so marked as to show that fact. Stolz v. Thompson, 44 Minn. 271.

sale of intoxicating liquors,144 and it may prevent the keeping of cows in an unhealthy or crowded condition, and the adulteration of dairy products,145 or of confectionery or other articles of food.146

43. Regulation of Places of Amusement.

It is also within the power of the state legislatures to regulate theatres, billiard rooms, and other places of amusement and sport, so as to prevent annoyance or disturbance of the community, corruption of the public morals, etc. 147

Statutes regulating the manufacture and sale of lard and lard compounds and substitutes, and of foods prepared therefrom. State v. Aslesen,

50 Minn. 5.

Statutes prohibiting the sale of adulterated confectionery. Com. v. Chase, 125 Mass. 202.

144 Santo v. State, 2 Iowa, 165, 63 Am. Dec. 487; Thurlow v. Com., 5 How. (U. S.) 504; Woods v. State, 36 Ark. 38; Keller v. State, 11 Md. 525, 69 Am. Dec. 226.

145 Powell v. Com., 114 Pa. St. 265, affirmed in 127 U. S. 678; Butler v. Chambers, 36 Minn. 69; note 143, supra.

146 Com. v. Chase, 125 Mass. 202; Stolz V. Thompson, 44 Minn. 271. And see the other cases cited in notes preceding.

147 Thus, the legislature may prohibit the keeper of a billiard room or bowling alley from allow

44. Ex Post Facto Laws.

It is provided by the constitution of the United States that no "ex post facto law" shall be passed by congress,' 148 or by any state,149 and in the state constitutions there is a similar limitation on the power of the legislature. An "ex post facto law," within the meaning of this prohibition, is "one which, in its operation, makes that criminal which was not so at the time that the action was performed, or which increases the punishment, or, in short, which, in relation to the offense or its consequences, alters the situation of a party, to his disadvantage." 150 In a sense, all acts passed after an offense is committed are ex post facto in relation to that.

ing playing therein after a certain time in the evening or night. Com. v. Colton, 8 Gray (Mass.) 488.

148 Const. U. S. art. 1, § 9.

149 Id. § 10.

150 Per Mr. Justice Washington in U. S. v. Hall, 2 Wash. C. C. 366, Fed. Cas. No. 15,285. And see Kring v. Missouri, 107 U. S. 221; Marion v. State, 16 Neb. 349, 20 Neb. 233, 57 Am. Rep. 825; In re Medley, 134 U. S. 160; Duncan v. Missouri, 152 U. S. 377; Garvey v. People, 6 Colo. 559, 45 Am. Rep. 531.

In Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cranch, 87, Chief Justice