Shave and a Haircut · A Little Off the Top
The One-Chair Shop
State v. Lockey (1930)
Charge: Barbering without a certificate of registration under the North Carolina Barber's Act of 1929Court: Supreme Court of North CarolinaDocket: A Little Off the Top
Could the State make it a crime for a barber to work in his own one-chair shop without a licence?
The facts
C. P. Lockey ran a one-chair barber shop in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In 1929 the legislature passed a Barber's Act that created a State Board of Barber Examiners, set examinations and sanitary rules, and required every barber in towns of 2,000 or more to hold a certificate: $5 to register and $3 a year after that. Practising without one was a misdemeanor with a fine of $10 to $50. Lockey had paid the $2 state occupation tax that barbers already owed, but he kept cutting hair after the Act took effect on June 30, 1929 without getting a certificate. He admitted it and was convicted.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: State v. Lockey, 198 N.C. 551 (1930)
Read more at cite.case.law. The source reveals the outcome.