Haritwen v. Olsen

52 F. 652, 1892 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 235
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedOctober 7, 1892
DocketNo. 10,424
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 52 F. 652 (Haritwen v. Olsen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haritwen v. Olsen, 52 F. 652, 1892 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 235 (N.D. Cal. 1892).

Opinion

Morrow, District Judge.

This suit is brought by Charles Haritwen against the steam schooner Louis Olsen, to recover the sum of $1,396.80, claimed to be due the libelant as wages. The claimant excepts to the libel on the ground that it appears from the libel that whatever wages [653]*653were earned for any services performed or rendered by the libelant were so earned by him while he was acting in the capacity of master of the vessel. The lien is claimed by the libelant under the provisions of section 813. of the Code of Civil Procedure of this state, which, among other things, provides that “all steamers, vessels, and boats are liable (1) for services rendered on board at the request of, or on contract with, their respective owners, agents, masters, or consignees.” In the case of The Lottawanna, 21 Wall. 558-580, it was held by the supreme court that the district courts of the United States, having jurisdiction of a contract as a maritime one, might, under the provisions of the twelfth admiralty rule, as promulgated in 1872, enforce liens, given for its security, when created by the state laws. In the case of The Mary Gratwick, 2 Sawy. 342, the late Judge Hoffman held that the master of a vessel, engaged in navigating the interior waters of this state, might proceed in rem in this court to recover his wages upon the lien created by the law of this state. This decision was affirmed by Judge Field, sitting in the circuit court. It is not denied that such was the law at that time, but it is said, on behalf of the claimant, that the state lien no longer exists. At the time' The Mary Gratwick Case arose in this court, in 1872, the domestic lien was contained in section 317 of the practice act of this state. The Codes (Civil, Civil Procedure, Penal, and Political) took effect January 1,1873. The practice act was incorporated into the Code of Civil Procedure, and section 317 of the former act became section 813 of the latter Code. But in the Civil Code it was provided, in section 3055: “The master of a ship has a general lien, independent of possession, upon the ship and freightage, for advances necessarily made or liabilities necessarily incurred by him for the benefit of the ship, but has no lien for his wages.” Here is a conflict between provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure and the Civil Code, and the question is, which is now the law of this state?

The first inquiry would naturally be to ascertain which of these two sections was the last expression of the will of the legislature; but section 4480 of the Political Code provides that, “with relation to each other, the provisions of the four Codes must be construed * * * as though all such Codes had been passed at the same moment of time, and were parts of the same statute.” This provision disposes of any question as to which section was the later enactment. The location of two sections, in an ordinary statute, would afford a rule of construction in the presumption that the later section in number was the last in time, and intended to repeal the provisions of a prior conflicting section; but, in the present case, the conflicting sections belong to different Codes, and, under the foregoing rule of construction, we are not at liberty to assume that these two sections were passed otherwise than at the same moment of time.

We find, however, that section 813 of the Code of Civil Procedure was amended and re-enacted in 1874 by an act which amended the Code generally, and which provided that “all provisions of law inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed; ” but, in this re-enactment, there was no change made in the subdivision of the section now under [654]*654consideration. The amendment was in another subdivision and upon a different subject. The constitution of this state requires that “no law shall be revised or amended by reference to its title; but in such case the act revised or section amended shall be re-enacted and published at length, as revised or amended.” Is such a re-enactment a sufficient expression of the will of the legislature to authorize us to hold that a lien in favor of the master for his wages, created by the first subdivision of section 813 of the Code of Civil Procedure, has been re-enacted so as to repeal that part of section 3055 of the Civil Code which declares that he has no lien?

In Sutherland on Statutory Construction, (section 133,) the rule respecting the effect of amendments of this character is stated as follows:

“The constitutional provision requiring amendments to be made by setting out the whole section as amended was not intended to make any different rule as to the effect of such amendments. So far as the section is changed, it must receive a new operation; but so far as it is not changed, it would be dangerous’to hold that the mere nominal re-enactment should have the effect of disturbing the whole body of statutes in pari materia which had been passed since the first enactment. There must be something in the nature of the new legislation to show such an intent with reasonable clearness before an implied repeal can be recognized. The amendment operates to repeal all of the section amended, not embraced in the amended form. The portions of the amended sections which are merely copied without change are not to be considered as repealed and again enacted, but to have been the law all along; and the new parts, or the changed portions, are not to be taken to have been the law at any time prior to the passage of the amended act.”

This rule is supported by abundant authority, and was approved by the supreme court of this state in Railroad Co. v. Shackelford, 63 Cal. 261-265. The re-enactment of section 813 of the Code of Civil Procedure is therefore without value in determining this question of conflict.

It is next claimed that section 4481 of the Political Code furnishes the proper rule of construction, as follows:

“If the provisions of any title conflict with or contravene the provisions of another title, the provisions of each title must prevail as to all matters and questions arising out of the subject-matter of such title.”

It is urged that section 3055 is found in a title of the Civil Code which treats of liens in general, whereas section 813 is found in a special place in the Code of Civil Procedure which treats of actions against steamers, vessels, and boats; and, as the question in controversy relates to a lien, it is claimed that the former section must prevail; but in People v. Freese, 76 Cal. 634, 18 Pac. Rep. 812, the supreme court of this state rejected this rule of construction in favor of a rule provided in section 5 of the Political Code, which is as follows:

“The provisions of this Code, so far as they are substantially the same as existing statutes, must be construed as continuations thereof, and not as new enactments.”

This is precisely the language of section 5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the question involved in People v. Freese, as to the superiority of certain conflicting sections of the Political Code, makes the deci[655]*655sion in that case authority; but, in making the application, we must notice, also, the rule of construction provided by section 5 of the Civil Code, as follows:

“The provisions of this Code, so far as they are substantially the same as existing statutes or the common law, must be construed as continuations thereof, and not as new enactments.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 F. 652, 1892 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haritwen-v-olsen-cand-1892.