CHAPTER 16.
OF THE REVENUES OF THE STATE.
AN ACT to raise Revenue and to Provide for the Licensing of Certain Amusements within the State.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That no person or persons, firm, company or corporation, without having first obtained a proper license therefor as hereinafter provided for shall within the limits carry on any trade, business, pursuit or occupation in this section, hereinafter mentioned, that is to say, conducting or exhibiting any circus, theatre, opera, show, moving picture theatre, amusement park, merry-go-round, toboggan slide, switch back, shoot-the-shoots, ferris wheel, scenic railway or other place of amusement.
Section 2. That every space, tent or arena where feats of horsemanship or acrobatic sports are exhibited shall be regarded as a circus within the meaning of this act.
Section 3. That every edifice used for the purpose of dramatic or operatic or other representation, or where plays or performances, including vaudeville performances, are exhibited shall be regarded as a theatre within the meaning of this act.
Section 4. Every edifice used for the purpose of exhibiting moving or motion pictures or illustrated songs shall be regarded as a moving picture theatre within the meaning of this act.
Section 5. Every space, arena or park wherein are exhibited any two or more places of amusement, including moving pictures and theatrical performances, shall be regarded as an amusement park within the meaning of this act.
Section 6. That any person or persons, firm, company or corporation desiring to be engaged in, prosecute, follow or carry on any trade, business, pursuit or occupation named in the foregoing sections of this act, may apply to the Clerk of the Peace of any County of this State for a proper license, authorizing or empowering him, her or them to engage in, prosecute, follow or carry on such trade, business, pursuit or occupation which he, she or they may desire to engage in, prosecute, follow or carry on, and upon his, her or they paying for the use of the State to the said Clerk of the Peace the fee hereinafter mentioned for such license, and also the fee to the Clerk of the Peace for issuing the same, it shall be the duty of such Clerk of the Peace to issue to him, her or them a proper license therefor.
Section 7. For each license to conduct or exhibit a circus, within two miles of the corporate limits of any city in this State having a population of over fifty thousand people, a fee of Three Hundred Dollars ($300) shall be paid to the Clerk of the Peace for the use of the State.
Section 8. For each license to conduct or exhibit a circus not within two miles of the corporate limits of any city in this State, having a population of over fifty thousand people, a fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100) shall be paid to the Clerk of the Peace for the use of the State.
Section 9. For each license to conduct or exhibit a theatre or a moving picture theatre within the corporate limits of any city in this State, having a population of over fifty thousand people, a fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100) shall be paid to the Clerk of the Peace for the use of the State.
Section 10. For each license to conduct or exhibit a theatre or a moving picture theatre within the corporate limits of any city, village or town in this State, having a population of less than fifty thousand people, a fee of Twenty-five Dollars shall be paid to the Clerk of the Peace for the use of the State.
Section 11. For each license to conduct or exhibit an amusement park, a fee of Five Hundred Dollars ($500) shall be paid to the Clerk of the Peace for the use of the State.
Section 12. For each license to conduct or exhibit a merry-go-round, toboggan slide, switch back, scenic railway, shoot-the-shoots, a fee of Seventy-five Dollars ($75.00) shall be paid to the Clerk of the Peace for the use of the State.
Section 13. For each license to conduct or exhibit any other place of amusement for profit, a fee of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) shall be paid to the Clerk of the Peace for the use of the State.
Section 14. Any person, firm, company or corporation who secures a license to conduct or carry on an amusement park, under the provisions of this act, shall not be required to take out any further license to conduct any place of amusement or an eating house within the boundaries of such park, provided, however, that an amusement park license shall not give the person, firm, company or corporation holding the same the privilege of conducting or exhibiting a circus.
Section 15. That any person, firm, company or corporation who secures a theatre license under the provisions of this act shall not be required to take out any additional license in order to carry on the business of conducting a moving picture theatre or exhibiting illustrated songs.
Section 16. That if any person or persons, firm, company or corporation shall be engaged in, prosecute, follow or carry on within the limits of this State any trade, business, pursuit or occupation named in this act, without having first obtained a proper license therefor, he, she or they, and the individuals composing such firm or company and every of them, and the president and directors and every of them of such corporation for every such offence shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof by indictment, besides being liable to the payment of the tax, be subject to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500) or both at the discretion of the Court, one moiety of such fine for the use of the State, the other moiety to the use of the person who shall first give information of the fact whereby such forfeiture was incurred.
Section 17. That in every license to be taken out under or by authority of this act shall be contained and set forth the trade, business, pursuit or occupation for which said Iicense is granted, the name and place of abode of the person or persons taking out the same, and that the fee due the State therefor has been paid; and in the case of theatres, moving picture theatres, amusement parks and all other places of amusements of a permanent character a general description of the place at which the trade, business, pursuit or occupation for which such license is granted to be carried on; provided that a license granted under this act for the purpose of conducting or carrying on any theatre, moving picture theatre, toboggan slide, scenic railway, switch back, amusement park or any other place of amusement of a permanent character shall not authorize the person or persons, firm, company or corporation to be engaged in, prosecute, follow or carry on any trade, business, pursuit or occupation specified in such license in any other place than that described therein; and provided further that if such a house, park, enclosure or place be duly licensed, and the tenant be changed during the year, it shall be lawful for the new tenant to keep such house, park, enclosure or place under said license until the expiration of the term for which it was granted. Where one or more persons are associated together as a firm or co-partnership or doing or carrying on any trade, business, pursuit or occupation mentioned in this act at the same time and place, it shall not be necessary for each of the individuals composing such firm or corporation to take out a separate license therefor, but such license may be granted in the name of the firm or co-partnership. In every case where more than one of the trades, businesses, pursuits or occupations mentioned in this act, except as hereinbefore excepted, shall be pursued or carried on by the same person or persons, firm, company or corporation at the same time, a license must be taken out for each according to the rates prescribed by this act.
Section 18. Every license issued in pursuance of the provisions of this act, except a circus license, shall bear date on the day on which it was issued, shall continue in force for one year from the date thereof and no longer; every circus license issued in pursuance of the provisions of this act shall bear the date on the day on which it was issued and shall continue in force for three months from the date thereof and no longer. Such licenses shall be signed by the Governor of this State and countersigned by the Secretary of State and sealed with the great seal of the State. The death, resignation or removal from office of the Governor or of the Secretary of State, shall not avoid or invalidate any license issued under the provisions of this act. Every person or persons, firm, company or corporation who shall procure a license under this act to conduct a circus shall be authorized and empowered during the term for which such license was granted to exercise and carry on the business or pursuit of conducting or exhibiting a circus in any County of this State, subject, however, to the provisions and restrictions contained in said license. And every person, firm, company or corporation who shall procure a license under this act to conduct or carry on any place of amusement of a permanent character shall be authorized and empowered, during the term for which said license was granted, to exercise and carry on the trade, business, pursuit or occupation for which said license was granted in any County of the State. Provided, that no such person or persons, firm, company or corporation shall be engaged in, prosecute, follow or carry on such trade, business, pursuit or occupation at more than one place at the same time. And provided further, that if any person shall be duly licensed under this act to carry on any trade, business, pursuit or occupation mentioned in this act, and shall die before the expiration of the term for which said license was granted it shall be lawful for his, her of their executors or administrators to exercise and carry on the trade, business, pursuit or occupation for which the license was granted until the expiration of the term for which it was granted. Every person applying to any Clerk of the Peace for a license under the provisions of this act shall, in addition to the fee for the Secretary of the State, as herein provided for, pay to such Clerk of the Peace a fee of fifty cents for issuing the same.
Section 19. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State and he is hereby directed to prepare and to deliver to every Clerk of the Peace blank licenses signed by the Governor, countersigned by the Secretary of State and sealed with the seal of his office for each trade, business, pursuit or occupation mentioned or enumerated in this act, and he shall keep a correct account of the same against each of the said Clerks of the Peace, and shall send a duplicate of every such entry in such account to the Auditor of Accounts.
Section 20. The Auditor of Accounts shall keep an account in the books of his office of all licenses supplied to the Clerks of the Peace by the Secretary of State, in pursuance of the provisions of this act, and all the provisions of Chapter 30 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware as amended and published in 1893 relative to the duties and powers of the Auditor of Accounts in settling the accounts of said Clerks of the Peace, and in enforcing such settlements shall extend to and be applied to the licenses and fees to the State therefor, which said Clerks of the Peace are by this act authorized and required to issue and collect.
Section 21. That all the provisions of Section 8 of Chapter 117, Volume 13, Laws of Delaware, relative to the duties and powers of the Clerks of the Peace shall extend to and be applied to the licenses and fees authorized and required under the terms and provisions of this act.
Section 22. That it shall be the duty of every Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, Deputy Sheriff and Constable, within their respective counties, whenever he shall have knowledge that any person or persons, firm or company is or are engaged in exercising, following or carrying on any trade, business, pursuit or occupation mentioned in this act, without having first obtained a license therefor, as provided by this act, to make a complaint or cause complaint to be made thereof before some Justice of the Peace of his County, who shall thereupon proceed according to the provisions of Chapter 97 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware in relation to complaints made before him in other criminal cases and of existing provisions of law relative to misdemeanor and offences shall extend and apply to offences created by this act so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent herewith.
Section 23. Every person exercising or carrying on any trade, business, pursuit or occupation named in this act shall on demand of any Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, Deputy Sheriff, Constable or citizen within this State, produce the license therefor, and unless he shall do so it shall be presumptive evidence that he has no license.
Section 24. That every person, firm, company or corporation engaged in the business, pursuit or occupation of conducting an amusement park within the meaning of this Act shall have the option of either taking out a license to conduct said amusement park or of licensing each separate place of amusement within the confines of such park.
Section 25. That any person, firm, company or corporation conducting or exhibiting any place of amusement which is required to be licensed under the provisions of this act where all of the profits derived from such place of amusement are devoted to charitable, religious or philanthropic purposes shall not be required to take out any license under the provisions of this act.
Section 26. That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act be and the same are hereby repealed.
Approved April 13, A. D. 1911.