An Important Decision by K. C. R.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 30, 1908

An Important Decision

By K. C. R.

An important decision has recently been handed down by Judge W. H. Pike, at Winnemucca, Nev., in the case of Leslie M. Burwell, a Salvation Army captain, who was arrested and fined for conducting religious services on the streets of Reno, Nev. The decision is in part as follows:—

“In the exercise of their police power, the city council may without doubt regulate open-air public meetings, provided they do so in a reasonable manner, and to a reasonable extent; but they can not prohibit or suppress them either directly or indirectly, and as it is another well-settled rule of law that one can not do indirectly that which the law forbids him to do directly, it is clear that the city council of the city of Reno can not say to all the citizens of Reno and vicinity: ‘You must hold all of your open-air public meetings of whatever kind or character, and for whatever purpose held, on that certain piece of land described in the ordinance and known as the “Plaza,”’ for that is virtually saying, and for all practical purposes does say, that the citizens of Reno and vicinity can not hold any open-air public meetings within the city of Reno. This is unfair, unjust, and unreasonable. It is

offensive to all well-established ideas of civil and religious liberty, and it is plain for the reason herein stated that the said ordinance is illegal and void, and for that reason the judgment of the municipal court is reversed; the defendants are exonerated of their bonds, and they are discharged.

“Let the judgment be entered in accordance herewith.

“Dated at Winnemucca, Nev., Dec. 17, 1907. W. H. A. Pike, District Judge.”

This decision is certainly in accord with the principles of religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, and one that does honor to the State of Nevada. K. C. R.