Coutlakis v. State

268 S.W.2d 192, 160 Tex. Crim. 249, 1954 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1907
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 24, 1954
Docket26860
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 268 S.W.2d 192 (Coutlakis v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coutlakis v. State, 268 S.W.2d 192, 160 Tex. Crim. 249, 1954 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1907 (Tex. 1954).

Opinions

WOODLEY, Judge.

The conviction is for violation of Sec. 5 of Art. 5154(a) V.A.C.S., which reads as follows:

“All labor union organizers operating in the State of Texas shall be required to file with the Secretary of State, before soliciting any members for his organization, a written request by United States mail, or shall apply in person for an organizer’s card, stating (a) his name in full; (b) his labor union affiliations, if any; (c) describing his credentials and attaching thereto a copy thereof, which application shall be signed by him. Upon such applications being filed, the Secretary of State shall issue to the applicant a card on which shall appear the following: (1) the applicant’s name; (2) his union affiliation; (3) a space for his personal signature; (4) a designation, ‘labor organizer’; and (5) the signature of the Secretary of State, dated [251]*251and attested by his seal of office. Such organizer shall at all times, when soliciting members, carry such card, and shall exhibit the same when requested to do so by a person being so solicited for membership.”

A fine of $500 was assessed as punishment.

It is contended that the above quoted Sec. 5 of Art. 5154 (a) V.A.C.S. is in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act and is therefore inoperative.

This question was before the courts in Thomas v. Collins, 323 U.S. 516, 89 L.Ed. 430, by certiorari from the Supreme Court of Texas, whose opinion is reported in 174 S.W. 2d 958 (Ex parte Thomas).

In Ex parte Thomas, 141 Texas, 591, 174 S.W. 2d 958, 960, 961, the Supreme Court of Texas said:

“The right of the State under its inherent police power to regulate labor unions in order to protect the public welfare appears to be almost beyond question.***

“A careful reading of the section of the law here under consideration will disclose that it does not interfere with the right of the individual lay members of unions to solicit others to join their organization. It does not affect them at all. It applies only to those organizers who for a pecuniary or financial consideration solicit such membership. It affects only the right of one to engage in the business as a paid organizer, and not the mere right of an individual to express his views on the merits of the union. Furthermore, it will be noted that the Act does not require a paid organizer to secure a license, but merely requires him to register and identify himself and the union for which he proposes to operate before being permitted to solicit members for such union. The Act confers no unbridled discretion on the Secretary of State to grant or withhold a registration card at his will, but makes it his mandatory duty to accept the registration and issue the card to all who come within the provisions of the Act upon their good-faith compliance therewith.

“That the Legislature was justified in concluding that that part of the Act here under consideration was necessary for the protection of the general welfare of the public, and particularly the laboring class, can hardly be doubted.”

[252]*252In Thomas v. Collins, 323 U.S. 516, the contempt conviction for violation of the injunction, upheld by the Supreme Court of Texas in Ex parte Thomas, was reversed, the majority holding that the statute (Art. 5154(a) “as it was applied in this case imposed previous restraint upon appellant’s rights of free speech and free assembly . . .” The facts were that Thomas addressed a mass meeting of workers, for which purpose he came to Texas, and at the end of his speech asked persons present to join the union.

It was urged, as here, that the application of the statute was inconsistent with the National Labor Relations Act. In this connection the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of U.S. said:

“That the State has power to regulate labor unions with a view to protecting the public interest is, as the Texas court said, hardly to be doubted. They cannot claim special immunity from regulation. Such regulation however, whether aimed at fraud or other abuses, must not trespass upon the domains set apart for free speech and free assembly***

“*** Upon the re-argument attention was given particularly to the questions whether and to what extent the prohibitions of Sec. 5, or their application in this case, are consistent with the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act. Both the parties and the Government, which has appeared as amicus curiae, have advanced contentions on this issue independent of those put forward upon the question of constitutionality. Since a majority of the Court do not agree that Sec. 5 or its present application conflicts with the National Labor Relations Act, our decision rests exclusively upon the grounds we have stated for finding that the statute as applied contravenes the Constitution.”

Justice Douglas wrote a concurring opinion and removed any doubt that a majority of the court agreed only that the contempt judgment should be reversed because the injunction was an effort to forestall Thomas from speaking at all, the contempt being based, at least in part, on the fact that he did make a public speech.

Appellant relies upon Hill v. Florida, 325 U.S. 538, 89 L.Ed. 1782, wherein the Supreme Court of the United States held two sections of a Florida statute regulating labor union activities to be repugnant to the National Labor Relations Act.

[253]*253Hill was enjoined from further acting as the union’s business agent until he obtained a state license under Sec. 4 of the Florida statute, which provided that no one shall be licensed as a “business agent” of a labor union who has not been a citizen of the United States for more than ten years, who has been convicted of a felony or who is not a person of good moral character. The statute provided for a $100 fee to accompany the application for such license, and for a 30 day period to permit the filing of objections, the application to then be passed on by a board created for the purpose. Also the statute required annual license and reports.

The Supreme Court of U.S. said of those provisions of the Florida statute:

“To the extent that Sec. 4 limits a union’s choice of such an ‘agent’ or bargaining representative, it substitutes Florida’s judgment for the workers’ judgment.”

“The collective bargaining which Congress has authorized contemplates two parties free to bargain, and cannot thus be frustrated by state legislature. We hold that Sec. 4 of the Florida Act is repugnant to the National Labor Relations Act.”

The injunction sought against the union was that it had operated without obtaining a state license as required by Sec. 6 of the Florida Statute.

The Court in holding that this statute infringed the Labor Relations Act, said:

“Section 6, as here applied, stands no better. The requirement as to the filing of information and the payment of a $1.00 annual fee does not, in and of itself, conflict with the Federal Act. But for failure to comply, this union has been enjoined from functioning as a labor union. It could not without violating the injunction and also subjecting itself to the possibility of criminal punishment even attempt to bargain to settle a controversy or a strike.

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Coutlakis v. State
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 S.W.2d 192, 160 Tex. Crim. 249, 1954 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coutlakis-v-state-texcrimapp-1954.