io6 Maine: agricui^turai, experiment station. 1909. 



Sec. 12. The word 'person' as used in this act shall be construed to 

 import both the plural and the singular, as the case demands, and shall 

 include corporations, companies, societies and associations. When con- 

 struing and enforcing the provisions of this act, the act, omission, or 

 failure of any officer, agent or other person acting for or employed by 

 any corporation, company, society, or association, within the scope of 

 his employment or office, shall in every case be also deemed to be the 

 act, omission, or failure of such corporation, company, society, or asso- 

 ciation as v/ell as that of the person. 



M. F. D. R. 2. 



SHORT TITLE OF FOOD AND DRUG LAW. 

 The act to regulate the sale and analysis of food and drugs, chapter 

 124 of the Public Laws of 1907, printed in full in M. F. D. R. i shall 

 be known and referred to as the Maine Food and Drug Law. 



M. F. D. R. 3. 

 SCOPE OF THE REGULATIONS. 



Section 5 of the Maine Food and Drug Law directs the Director to 

 make uniform rules and regulations for carrying out the provisions of 

 the law and permits him to fix and adopt standards of purity. The 

 rules, regulations and standards are, when possible, to be the same as 

 those adopted by the executive ofificer of. the National Food and Drugs 

 Act, June 30, 1906. These rules, regulations and standards,* become 

 when published a part of the law. 



In addition to these, the Director of the Station will publish from 

 time to time expressions of opinion which are not to be considered in 

 the light of rules and regulations and are not part of the law. These 

 opinions are and will be in accord with the Food Inspection Decisions 

 of the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture and express his attitude and that 

 of the Station Director in the interpretation of the law. They are issued 

 in an advisory spirit and are not mandatory. It may occur that such an 

 opinion is not that of the manufacturer, jobber, or dealer. Each one is 

 entitled to his own opinion and interpretation, and to assume the respon- 

 sibility of acting in harmony therewith. The opinion of the Director 

 is not the law. The courts are the final authority as to what the law 

 means. It is clear, however, that if the manufacturers, jobbers, and 

 dealers interpret the law including the rules and regulations in the same 

 manner as they are interpreted by the Director and follow that inter- 

 pretation in their business transactions, no prosecution will lie against 

 them. 



*Doubt has been expressed as to the power of the legislature to delegate 

 the authority to fix standards. This matter has been taken to the 

 Supreme Court in the states of Indianna and New York and the court 

 findings in both cases were that a law providing for th*e fixing of stand- 

 ards is constitutional and that "the law took effect because of the power 

 that made the law and that the taking effect was only delayed till the 

 standard was made." 



