Dillon v. Continental Trust Co.

175 S.E. 652, 179 Ga. 198, 1934 Ga. LEXIS 254
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJuly 28, 1934
DocketNo. 10170
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 175 S.E. 652 (Dillon v. Continental Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dillon v. Continental Trust Co., 175 S.E. 652, 179 Ga. 198, 1934 Ga. LEXIS 254 (Ga. 1934).

Opinion

Beck, P. J.

The Court of Appeals certified certain questions to this court. Among them is the question whether the amendment to the constitution of this State, provided for by the act of 1927 (Georgia Laws 1927, p. 117), and the enabling act of 1933, subsection (g) of section 42, passed thereunder (Georgia Laws 1933, p. 290), give jurisdiction to that court to consider a bill of exceptions from the municipal court of Atlanta.

In 1912 (Ga. Laws 1912, p. 30), article 6, section 7, paragraph 1, of the constitution was so amended as to read as follows: “There [200]*200shall be in each militia district one justice of the peace whose official term, except when elected to fill an unexpired term, shall be four years; provided, however, that the General Assembly may, in its discretion, abolish justice courts and the office of justice of the peace and of notary public ex-officio justice of the peace in any city of this State having a population of over twenty thousand, except the City of Savannah, and establish in lieu thereof such court or courts or system of courts as the General Assembly may, in its discretion, deem necessary, conferring upon such new court, or courts, or system of courts, when so established, the jurisdiction as to subject-matter now exercised by justice courts and by justices of the peace and notaries public ex-officio justices of the peace, together with such additional jurisdiction, either as to amount or subject-matter, as may be provided by law, whereof some other court has not exclusive jurisdiction under this constitution; together also with such provision as to rules and procedure in such courts and as to new trials and the correction of errors in and by said courts, and with such further provision for the correction of errors by the superior court or Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court, as the General Assembly may from time to time, in its discretion, provide or authorize. Any court so established shall not be subject to the rules of uniformity laid down in paragraph 1 of section 9 of article 6 of the constitution of Georgia.” Under the power and authority thus given by the part of the constitution just quoted, the General Assembly by the act of 1913 (Ga. Laws 1913, p. 145) abolished justices’ courts in the City of Atlanta, and established in lieu thereof a new system of courts, and provided for the correction of errors in such court by writ of error to the Court of Appeals, and cases were carried to the Court of Appeals by writ of error under the provisions of this act. But in 1916 the General Assembly proposed an amendment to the constitution of the State of Georgia (Georgia Laws 1916, p. 19), under the terms of which the General Assembly was authorized to provide for the correction' of errors in cases tried in the superior courts and in the city court of Atlanta and like city courts. This proposed amendment was adopted and became a part of the constitution. The portion of the amendment of 1916 material to the question here under consideration reads as follows: “The Court of Appeals shall have jurisdiction for the trial and correction of errors of law from the superior [201]*201courts and from the city courts of Atlanta and Savannah, and such other like courts as have been or may hereafter be established in other cities, and in all cases in which such jurisdiction has not been conferred by this constitution upon the Supreme Court, and in such other cases as may hereafter be prescribed by law.”

Subsequently to the constitutional amendment of 1916, just referred to, this court, in the case of Griffin v. Sisson, 146 Ga. 661 (92 S. E. 278), rendered a decision in which it was held: “The constitutional amendment of 1912 authorized the abolition of justices’ courts in certain cities, with authority in the legislature to establish in lieu thereof municipal courts, with provision for the correction of errors in and by such courts by the superior court, or Supreme Court, or Court of Appeals. The act creating the municipal court of Atlanta (Acts 1913, p. 145) provided for a writ of error to the Court of Appeals. The constitutional amendment of 1916 allows writs of error to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals only from superior courts, and from the city courts of Atlanta and Savannah and such other like courts as have been or may hereafter be established in other- cities. The municipal court of Atlanta is not a court like the city court of Atlanta or that of Savannah. The provision of law for a writ of error from the municipal court of Atlanta- to the Court of Appeals is repealed by the amendment of 1916.” Or, briefly stated, this court held that the provision of the amendment of 1912, authorizing the legislature to provide for writs of error from municipal courts, by necessary implication was repealed by the amendment of 1916. But in 1927 (Georgia Laws 1927, p. 117) the legislature passed an act proposing an amendent to article 6, section 7, paragraph 1, of the constitution, which provided that the legislature might abolish justices’ courts and the office of justice of the peace and notary public ex-officio justice of the peace in certain cities, and establish in lieu thereof such courts or systems of courts as the General Assembly might deem necessary, provide for the jurisdiction, for rules of procedure, etc.; so that the amended section of the constitution referred to, when amended, should read as follows: “There shall be in each militia district one justice of the peace, whose official term, except when elected to fill an unexpired term, shall be four years; provided, however, that the General Assembly may, in its discretion, abolish justice- courts and the office of justice of the peace and of notary [202]*202public ex-officio justice of the peace in any city of this State having a population of over twenty thousand, and establish in lieu thereof such court or courts or system of courts as the General Assembly may, in its discretion, deem necessary, conferring upon such new court or courts or system of courts, when so established, the jurisdiction as to subject-matter now exercised by justice courts and by justices of the peace and notaries public ex-officio justices of the peace, together with such additional jurisdiction, either as to amount or subject-matter, as may be provided by law, whereof some other court has not exclusive jurisdiction under this constitution ; together with such provision as to rules and procedure in such courts, and as to new trials and the correction of errors in and by said courts, and with such further provision for the correction of errors by the superior court, or Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court, as the General Assembly may, from time to time, in its discretion, provide or authorize. Any court so established shall not be subject to the rules of uniformity laid down in paragraph 1 of section 9 of article 6 of the constitution of Georgia.

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Bluebook (online)
175 S.E. 652, 179 Ga. 198, 1934 Ga. LEXIS 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dillon-v-continental-trust-co-ga-1934.