Cite as 329 Ark. 143 (1997)
foregoing reasons, this matter is reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
NEWBERN, J., dissents.
DAVID NEWBERN, Justice, dissenting. It is indeed proper for an appellate court of last resort to overrule a prior decision when that decision was made on the basis of a mistake or when conditions have changed so as to make it outmoded. Stare decisis does not require stagnation. The law develops through the application of tried-and-true principles to changing times. That is not what the majority is about in this case.
In Carr v. Turner, 238 Ark. 889, 385 S.W.2d 656 (1965), we recognized that the General Assembly had criminalized giving or selling liquor to an intoxicated person or to a minor. We wrote, however, that
Even if the prohibition against the sale of liquor to an intoxicated person [the subject at hand; see Ark. Code Ann. § 3-3-209 (Repl. 1996)], had the comprehensive implications that the appellant attributes to it, [i.e., civil liability of the seller] we do not see how the impact of the statute could be confined to those who sell liquor, legally or illegally. The same reasoning would be applicable in the case of a person entertaining his friends in his home. . . . It may be that a Dramshop Act is to be desired, but such a measure should be the result of legislative action rather than of judicial interpretation.
The legislation to which we referred in the Carr case appeared in Ark. Stat. Ann. § 48-903 (1947). At the legislative session following our decision, the General Assembly added Act 277 of 1967 which made it a misdemeanor chargeable to one who would "knowingly sell, give, procure, or otherwise furnish any alcoholic beverage to any person under twenty-one years of age." An exception was provided for furnishing wine for a religious ceremony. A second offense within three years of the first offense was made a felony. The penalty was stiffened somewhat by Act 875 of 1993 which called for a fine and imprisonment rather than stating those penalties in the disjunctive.
