Alcohol Prohibition in the New Mexico and Arizona State Judiciaries at 100 Years: The Development of Law and Shaping of Society in the Southwest

This article is examines the development of liquor limitation laws in the New Mexico and Arizona territories. The decisions issued by the territorial courts were persuasive on the state supreme courts in the sense that neither Arizona’s nor New Mexico’s justices decided to overturn prior territorial decisions on alcohol. The article analyzes Arizona and New Mexico Supreme Court decisions prior to and during the National Prohibition Act. The period of the National Prohibition Act’s was a time of significant federal law-enforcement action.

Doctrines of preemption, incorporation of laws through “reference,” double jeopardy involving prosecutions under federal and state sovereigns, and statutory interpretation were given lasting shape by the two state supreme courts. The article concludes by examining the influence of the courts during this period as well as an assessment on their choice of case-law methodology.