Currier v. Mihalcik

5 Alaska 251
CourtDistrict Court, D. Alaska
DecidedMarch 29, 1915
DocketNo. 2054
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 5 Alaska 251 (Currier v. Mihalcik) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Currier v. Mihalcik, 5 Alaska 251 (D. Alaska 1915).

Opinion

BUNNELL, District Judge.

It is urged in the motion to quash summons that the title of chapter 21, page 29, of Session Laws of Alaska 1913, is null and void. The title is “An act to amend section forty-five of the Code of Civil Procedure for Alaska (Compiled Laws of Alaska, Sec. 877).”

Section 8 of the Organic Act, entitled “An act to create a legislative assembly in the territory of Alaska, to confer legislative power thereon, and for other purposes,” is as follows:

“See. 8. Enacting Clause—Subject of Act.—That the enacting clause of all laws passed by the Legislature shall be ‘Be it enacted by the Legislature of the Territory of Alaska.’ No law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title.” U. S. Comp. St. 1916, § 3535.

The territorial Legislature, in fixing a title for chapter 21 of the Session Laws, referred to a certain section of a private compilation, and an authorized compilation.

In the case of State v. Berka, 20 Neb. 375, 30 N. W. 268, where the question arose of designating title by reference to a section of an authorized compilation, it is stated:

“This compilation was made by authority of law, under the provisions of the act of February'26, 1881 (see Comp. St. 1881, §§ 529, 530), and, when made, became as much the law of this state as though made directly by the Legislature itself. It reduced the laws of the state into one compact body, and became its own evidence of the correctness of its contents, without ‘further proof or authentication.’ [256]*256It was therefore competent for the Legislature, in amending any of its provisions, to refer to them as therein contained, without in any way referring to the original acts of which it was composed. This question was before this court in Dogge v. State, 17 Neb. 140, 22 N. W. Hep. 34S, and it was there held, as stated in the syllabus and opinion written by the present Chief Justice, that, ‘in amending an act, it may be designated by its title or chapter in the Compiled Statutes.’ We adhere to the rule there stated.”

In 33 Neb. 812, 51 N. W. 287, In re White, it is stated in the syllabus:

“The Compiled Statutes, having been published under authority of law, and being supposed to contain all the laws in force at the date of publication, may be amended by a proper reference thereto; and, if the amendatory act clearly points out the portion of the statute amended, the objection that the amendment is of the Compiled Statutes will be unavailing.”

In Lewis v. Dunne, 55 L. R. A. 842, in the notes under subject of “Amendment,” subtitle “Sufficiency of Title,” many citations are made supporting the validity of entitling by reference. Introductory to the citations holding to the contrary, it is stated:

“The cases hold, almost without exception, that a title purporting to amend a specified section of a Code or other compilation of laws, without further designating the subject-matter, is sufficient, and most of the few cases to the contrary, it will be seen, can no longer be held as law, even in the jurisdictions where they were rendered.”

Of similar import are the following: State v. Jones, 9 Idaho, 693, 75 Pac. 819; Heller v. People, 2 Colo. App. 459, 31 Pac. 773; Steele v. Erskine et al., 98 Fed. 215, 39 C. C. A. 173; Marston v. Humes, 3 Wash. 267, 28 Pac. 520; Simon v. Northrup, 27 Or. 487, 40 Pac. 560, 30 L. R. A. 171.

The general rule is set forth in 36 Cyc. page 1058, F, “Title of Amendatory Act”:

“The title of an amendatory act must indicate the subject of the amendment by reference to the act or title of the act to be amended or the substance thereof.”

The private compilation by Carter simply gives subjects to the respective titles of the act of March 3, 1899, and the act of June 6, 1900. This question would not have arisen, had the Legislature designated the titles of amendatory acts by reference to the respective sections of the respective titles, instead of to the subject given to the title in the private compilation. But, [257]*257in addition to the reference to the subject given to a title and the section thereof, reference is made parenthetically to an authorized compilation.

For a period of 13 years prior to the convening of the first territorial Legislature at Juneau, “Carter’s Code” had been used generally by the bar in Alaska. It was an accepted compilation. The “Alaska Reports” mention and refer to Carter’s Code in a majority of the cases reported. The name is not unfamiliar to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, nor to the Supreme Court of the United States.

“An act to' amend section forty-five of the Code of Civil Procedure for Alaska (Compiled Laws of Alaska, Sec. 877)”-may not seem entirely appropriate to a severe critic; however, it contains the required elements of sufficiency, and is therefore held to be a clear designation by reference to the section of the statute intended to be amended.

II. Coming now to the second point raised by defendant’s motion to quash summons as set forth in paragraph IY thereof, hereinbefore stated, the last sentence of section 3 of the Organic Act is as follows:

“And the Legislature shall pass no laws depriving the judges and officers of the district court of Alaska of any authority, jurisdiction, or function exercised by like judges or officers of District Courts of the United States.”

Section 877, Compiled Laws of Alaska, prior to amendment by the first territorial Legislature, stated:

“The summons shall be served by the marshal or any deputy or by a person specially appointed by him or by the court or judge thereof. The summons shall be returned to the court or clerk thereof with whom the complaint is filed within forty days after its delivery to the officer or other person for service, with proof of such service or that the defendant cannot be found. The marshal or other person to whom the summons is delivered shall endorse thereon the date of such delivery.”

As amended it reads as follows:

“That summons shall be served by the marshal, or any deputy marshal or by any person over the age of twenty-one years who is competent to be a witness in the action, other than the plaintiff, or by a person specially appointed by the marshal or by the court or judge thereof. The summons shall be returned to the court or the clerk thereof with whom the complaint is filed, within forty days after its delivery to the officer or other person with proof of such service, or that the defendant cannot be found. The marshal or other person [258]*258to whom the summons is delivered shall indorse thereon the date of' such delivery: Provided, however, that the return by any person other than an officer shall be by affidavit of the person making such service indorsed thereon.”

Provision is therefore made by amendment, so that summons may be served by any person over the age of 21 years, competent to. be a witness in the action, other than the plaintiff, provided that the return of such person shall be by affidavit of the person making the service.

If the amendment made by the territorial Legislature is repugnant to the last sentence of section 3 of the Organic Act, defendant’s motion to quash summons must prevail.

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5 Alaska 251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/currier-v-mihalcik-akd-1915.