Commonwealth v. Smithgall

45 Pa. D. & C. 1, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 126
CourtLancaster County Court of Quarter Sessions
DecidedJanuary 5, 1942
Docketno. 162
StatusPublished

This text of 45 Pa. D. & C. 1 (Commonwealth v. Smithgall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Lancaster County Court of Quarter Sessions primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Smithgall, 45 Pa. D. & C. 1, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 126 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1942).

Opinion

Appel, J.,

Defendant moves to quash an indictment against him which charges a violation of section 13 of the Act of July 12, 1919, P. L. 933, being an act to regulate the practice of architecture, as amended by section 4 of the Act of June 27, 1939, P. L. 1188, 63 PS §28.

The indictment charges that defendant during the years 1939 and 1940, at the county aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction of this court, “did unlawfully engage in preparing plans, specifications, and preliminary data and rendering services to clients by preparation of plans, specifications, and data for the erection and alteration of buildings located in the Commonwealth, not having secured from the State Board of Examiners for Architects a certificate of qualification and registration and affidavit card, defendant not being registered and licensed as an architect as required by-the laws of this Commonwealth”.

Defendant in this case is not a registered and licensed architect within the meaning of the above-recited acts of assembly. It is common knowledge in this community that defendant has, for some years, successfully erected and sold many substantial, convenient, and beautiful dwelling houses, particularly in the various suburban districts of our city. By profession, he has been for many years, and still is, a teacher in the Stevens Industrial School which has his main interest and to this work he devotes most of his time, talent, and energy. The building and selling of houses is not, therefore, his main and primary occupation but may be said to be a supplementary or secondary “side-line”. Before the amending Act of June 27, 1939, P. L. 1188, was [3]*3passed, he apparently operated under the exemption clause contained in section 13 of the Act of July 12, 1919, P. L. 933, hereinafter recited.

Defendant moves to quash the indictment for the following reasons:

“1. The indictment found hereunder is based upon an alleged violation of the Act of July 12, 1919, P. L. 933, as last amended by the Act of June 27,1939, P. L. 1188, which amendment is averred to be unconstitutional because
“(a) The title to said amendment fails to give proper notice of the change in status of builders and contractors.
(b) Said act, as amended, violates the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and of article I, sec. 1, of the Declaration of Rights of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
“(c) Said act, as amended, provides for unlawful distinctions and exceptions in the classes of persons to whom the same is applicable.”

Article III, sec. 3, of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provides: “No bill, except general appropriation bills, shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”

Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Article I, sec. 1, of the Declaration of Rights in the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania [4]*4provides: “All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness.”

The preamble to the amending Act of June 27,1939, P. L. 1188, effective upon its final enactment, reads as follows: “An Act to amend the act, approved the twelfth day of July, one thousand nine hundred and nineteen (Pamphlet Laws, nine hundred thirty-three), entitled ‘An act to regulate the practice of architecture in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by providing for the examination and registration of architects by a State Board of Examiners; defining the power and duties of said board of examiners; and providing penalties for the violation of this act,’ as amended, changing limitations upon expenditures by board; revising and changing qualifications for registration; requiring registrants to obtain and use a seal; defining certain terms; requiring certain building plans to be signed by registrants; prohibiting registration of corporations and firms; prohibiting and making certain acts unlawful and increasing penalties.”

Section 13 of the Act of July 12, 1919, P. L. 933, as amended by the Act of June 27,1939, P. L. 1188, for an alleged violation of which defendant is indicted, and which he claims is unconstitutional, provides as follows:

“Section 13. On and after July first, one thousand nine hundred nineteen, it shall be unlawful for any person in the State of Pennsylvania to enter upon the practice of architecture in the State of Pennsylvania, or to hold himself or herself forth as an architect or as a ‘registered architect,’ or to use any word or any letters or figures indicating or intended to imply that the person using the same is a ‘registered architect,’ unless he or she has complied with the provisions of this act and is the holder of a certificate of qualification to practice [5]*5architecture issued or renewed and registered under the provisions of this act.
“[This act shall not be construed to prevent persons other than architects from filing applications for building permits or obtaining such permits; nor shall it be construed to prevent such persons from designing buildings and supervising their construction, provided their drawings are signed by the authors with their true appellation as engineer or contractor or builder or carpenter, but without the use in any form of the title of architect.]
“The practice of architecture consists of rendering or offering to render service to clients by consultations, investigation, evaluations, preliminary studies, plans, specifications, contract documents and a coordination of structural factors concerning the aesthetic or structural design and supervision of construction of buildings or any other service in connection with the designing or supervision of construction of buildings located within the boundaries of the Commonwealth, regardless of whether such persons are performing one or all of these duties, or whether they are performed in person or as the directing head of an office or organization performing them.
“An architect, within the meaning of this act, is an individual licensed under the laws of this Commonwealth to practice architecture.
“In order to safeguard life, health and property, no person shall practice architecture in this Commonwealth or engage in preparing plans, specifications or preliminary data for the erection or alteration of any building located within the boundaries of this Commonwealth, except as hereinafter set forth, or use the title ‘architect,’ or display or use any words, letters, figures, [6]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 Pa. D. & C. 1, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-smithgall-paqtrsesslancas-1942.