Foster v. Speed

The question in this case is whether the statute making the sale of intoxicating liquors a privilege, and imposing a tax upon those engaged in that business, applies to territory in which the sale of liquors is prohibited by what is commonly 'known as the “four mile law.”

The plaintiff, T. J. Poster, conducted a place for the sale of liquors by retail in Shelby county, outside the corporate limits of the city of Memphis and within four miles of a schoolhouse where a school was kept. R. A. Speed, the defendant, clerk of the county court of Shelby county, issued a distress warrant against him…