Commonwealth v. Luckey

31 Pa. Super. 441, 1906 Pa. Super. LEXIS 234
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 5, 1906
DocketAppeal, No. 6
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 31 Pa. Super. 441 (Commonwealth v. Luckey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Luckey, 31 Pa. Super. 441, 1906 Pa. Super. LEXIS 234 (Pa. Ct. App. 1906).

Opinion

Opinion by

Porter, J.,

The defendant was, in a summary proceeding before a justice of the peace, tried and, .on October 24, 1905, convicted and fined for maintaining and operating an unlawful device for the taking of fish. He, on October 28, 1905, entered into a recognizance for his appearance at the next court of quarter sessions of Monroe county, and on October 31, 1905, the transcript of the record of the justice of the peace was filed in the office of the clerk of said court. The defendant, on November 11, 1905, presented his petition to the court of quarter sessions of Monroe county setting forth his summary conviction before the justice on October 24, that he had on October 28, 1905, entered into his recognizance with surety, before the justice of the peace, for his appearance at the next court of quarter sessions, and that his appeal from the sentence was perfected under the provisions of the Act of April 22, 1905, P. L. 284, which he was then advised and believed was the proper procedure; that since the taking of the said appeal the petitioner was advised that there was serious doubt as to the constitutionality of the aforesaid act, and he therefore prayed the court to allow him, for the above reason, to take an appeal in the said case and file the same in the said court of quarter sessions, with the same force and effect as if the said appeal had been taken within five days from the date of said conviction, as provided by the Act of April 17,1876, P. L. 29. This petition did not allege any circumstance to indicate oppression, corruption or disregard,of law on the part of the magistrate, nor that there was any irregularity in the proceedings, nor did it aver that- the defendant was not guilty; it did not, in other words, attempt to show cause why the appeal should be allowed. The court granted a rule to show cause why the appeal should not be allowed nunc pro tunc, which rule remains undisposed of. The commonwealth, on January 20, 1906, presented a petition averring the regularity of the proceedings before the justice, and moved the court to strike off the appeal upon the ground that the Act of April 22,1905, P. L. 284, is unconstitutional, and that the appeal of .the defendant had not been allowed by the court of quarter sessions, for cause shown, as required by article Y, section 14, of the constitution of the state of Pennsylvania. The court granted a rule on the defendant to show [443]*443cause why the appeal should not be stricken off, which rule the court,' on January 29, discharged. The commonwealth appeals from the order to strike off the appeal.

The opinion filed by the learned judge of the court below, on discharging the rule to strike off the appeal, puts this action upon the ground that the act of 1905 is constitutional, and that under its provisions the defendant in any case of summary conviction is now entitled to an appeal as a matter of right, without allowance by the court of quarter sessions. The reasons which he gives in support of this conclusion may thus be briefly stated in his own language; “The provision of the constitution for an appeal in cases of summary conviction as above stated, had for its purpose the protection of the right under and subject to special regulations, and cannot in any sense be considered a restriction or prohibition on the legislature from enlarging such right. . . . The intention of the act was to give to every defendant convicted in an action of summary conviction, the right of trial in the court of quarter sessions of the peace, as of course, and not simply when allowed by the appellate court. It had this power.” The opinion of the learned judge as to the intention and effect of the act of assembly is -certainly correct, if that act is valid. We cannot, however, assent to his view of the purpose, force and effect of the constitutional provision.

A constitution is a plan or frame of government, which lays down certain fundamental principles, according to which the several departments it calls into existence are to govern the people; all auxiliary rules which are necessary to give effect to these principles must of necessity come from the legislature: Commonwealth v. Maxwell, 27 Pa. 444. The constitution defines the powers intrusted to and the duties imposed upon the several branches of the state government. The provision of the constitution now in question, article V, section 14, is in these words : “ In all cases of summary conviction in this commonwealth, or of judgment in suit for a penalty before a magistrate, or court not of record, either party may appeal to such court of record as may be prescribed by law, upon allowance of the appellate court or judge thereof, upon cause shown.” This section is embodied in the article which refers to the judicial power and the organization of the courts of the common[444]*444wealth, and this particular provision relates to judicial procedure in a certain class of cases. Prior to the adoption of the present constitution there were many cases in which an appeal was by law allowed in actions for penalties, but there were also many in which the judgment of the justice, whether upon á summary conviction or an action for a penalty, was final. This want of uniformity in the manner of enforcing penal statutes and ordinances attracted the attention of the constitutional convention and led to the adoption of the provision in question. . The convention, subject to the approval of the people, might have granted the appeal as a matter of right, and designated the court to which it should be taken, or it might have provided that neither party should have the right to appeal in such cases; but it did neither of these things. What it did do was to provide that either party may appeal, subject to certain express regulations and restrictions. The section expressly gave to the legislative branch of the government the power to designate the courts to which appeals might be taken by either party in this class of cases, and inferentially it imposed upon .that branch of the government the duty to so designate the courts ; but it at the same time vested the power to allow the appeal in the court, and upon the judi.eiary it imposed the duty of inquiring into the sufficiency of the cause shown. The constitution in express terms makes the question whether an appeal shall be allowed, from the judgment of a court not of record, in any particular case of summary conviction, or action for a penalty, a judicial one to be determined by the court to which the appeal lies. If the position of the learned judge of the court below could be sustained, and it should be held that the constitution simply granted to parties a restricted right of appeal, leaving the legislature free to strike down the restrictions, and “ enlarge the right,” then in all those cases, of actions for penalties, in which an appeal was allowed prior to the adoption of the constitution, that right would remain unaffected by the constitutional provision, for there would be no inconsistency between the constitutional provision and the earlier statute. That question has, however, been squarely decided the other way. In all those cases, within the classes referred to by the constitutional provision, in which an appeal had been allowed by pre-existing laws, the [445]*445effect was to deprive the parties of an appeal as a matter of. right, and make it dependent upon allowance by the appellate court: McGuire v. Shenandoah, 109 Pa. 613 ; Commonwealth v. Eichenberg, 140 Pa. 158; Commonwealth v. McCann, 174 Pa. 19; Commonwealth v. Menjou, 174 Pa. 25.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 Pa. Super. 441, 1906 Pa. Super. LEXIS 234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-luckey-pasuperct-1906.