Jordan v. Andrus

66 P. 502, 26 Mont. 37, 1901 Mont. LEXIS 93
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 28, 1901
DocketNo. 1,705
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 66 P. 502 (Jordan v. Andrus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jordan v. Andrus, 66 P. 502, 26 Mont. 37, 1901 Mont. LEXIS 93 (Mo. 1901).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE MILBURN

delivered the opinion of the court.

This cause is before the court upon the motion of the respondents to dismiss the appeal upon the grounds: “(1) That the transcript on appeal herein by the said appellants is not printed, nor made upon paper ten inches long by seven inches wide, nor are the typewritten pages thereof seven and one-half inches long by three and one-half inches wide, nor is said transcript otherwise or at all made in conformity with Subdivision 1 of Rule VI of this court. (2) That said transcript on appeal is not in conformity with Subdivision 1 of Rula VII of this court in this: that the cover thereof does not state the title of this court or of said cause, or otherwise or at all conform to said rule in relation to covers in transcripts on appeal. (3) That said transcript is made out in a slovenly manner. * * * (4) That the order of the district court from which this appeal is taken or sought to' be taken, to-wit, the order made and entered July 16, 1901, dissolving and vacating the temporary restraining order theretofore made in this action, is not an ap-pealable order, within the meaning of Sections 1122 and 1723 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended February 28, 1899, and an appeal does not lie from said order1 to' this court.”

The transcipt is typewritten. Subdivision 1 of Rule VI requires transcripts to be printed. Is the rule abrogated and annulled by the Act of the legislature approved March 9, 1901, known as “Senate Bill 101” (Laws of 1901, page 161), and providing that all transcripts, documents and papers filed in [39]*39the supreme court in conneotion with, any appeal taken and mentioned in the chapter in the Code of Civil Procedure upon appeals in civil actions may be printed or typewritten, at the election of the appellant ? If the Act is within the powers of the legislature, then the rule of this court opposed to it is null, and the motion to dismiss the appeal must be denied, so far as the first ground is concerned.

This particular question is not treated of in any opinion ox any court to which we have been referred, or by any of the learned writers, many of whose works we have examined.

The constitution of this state vests the powers of government in three different and distinct departments, — the legislative, the exeeutivei, and the judicial. It is not necessary to quote from the multitudinous authorities supporting the proposition that it is not lawful for any department, or officer thereof, to interfere with the power of any other department. It is sufficient to refer to the constitution (Article IV, Sec. 1) and to State ex rel. State Pub. Co. v. Smith, 23 Mont. 44, 57 Pac. 449.

Section 3 of Article VIII of the Constitution of this state declares that “the appellate jurisdiction of the supreme court shall extend h> all eases at law and in equity, subject, however, to such limitations and regulations as may be prescribed by law.” Section 2 of the same article also gives the legislature power to subject the appellate jurisdiction to “regulations” and “limitations;” and Section 15 of the article is as follows: “Writs of error and appeals shall be allowed from the decisions of the said district courts to the supreme court under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.”

What is meant by “limitations” and “regulations?” The words in their ordinary sense are easily understood to mean what they in legal parlance, respectively, imply, to-wit, restrictions of power and rules of conduct or proceeding. The matter of this rule need not be treated as in any wise affected by the power of the legislature to establish limitations to jurisdiction. Its power to make rules of conduct or proceeding (that is, rules of procedure and practice) is all that can be considered on this [40]*40motion. Tbe question, is, lias the legislature the authority under the constitution, after having enacted a Code of Civil Procedure, including a chapter establishing the procedure and practice in the matter of appeals to the supreme court, to' dictate to the supreme court as to the very physical substance of the pleadings and other instruments which it may be necessary for'the justices to handle, read and study in their deliberations after the cause is submitted ?

What style of typewriter would the legislature permit the appellant to use ? What size of type ? How close shall the lines be ? How thick is to be the paper ? How small or large shall the pages be? What sort of ink shall the operator use in preparing the papers, — record or copying? How skillful in the use of the machine shall the typewriting operator be? If the legislature has the power to dictate as to carbon copies of transcripts to be used on appeal, why has not the legislature the power, under the constitution, to force the justices to read, study and handle, during its deliberations, sometimes extending through a long period of time, papers prepared upon tissue paper, with machines making faint impressions from small type, and with such ink or carbon that they will be annoying, inconvenient, untidy and soon indecipherable? Could a regulation such as that last above suggested be within the powers of the legislature to regulate the procedure and practice on appeal to the supreme court? If not, then we cannot see how any regulation of any character dictating to our department of the state government what kind of ink or other material substance shall be used, or how the ink shall be put on, in the manufacturing of the pleadings and papers to be handled and perused by the justices, can be valid. Might not the legislature go farther, and permit the appellant to use a pen instead of a typewriter? Power to dictate to this department of government as to the use of typewritten transcripts includes the right to order us to struggle through a mass of penwritten transcripts and all other records and papers, including briefs.

Wherein would such acts be within the power of the legis[41]*41lature, as a “regulation” of tlio appellate jurisdiction of tbis court? Would it not be simply and only an obstruction put in tlie way of the court, and interfering with, its deliberations upon a cause or matter after its submission, and of which it has acquired jurisdiction under the constitution and the laws defining, limiting and establishing its powers, and under the lawful procedure and practice through and by means of which the litigants had presented their several contentions to the court? Wo think it would- be an illegal attempt to interfere with the operations of the judiciary in the performance of its duties after it had acquired jurisdiction.

It is doubtless true that the legislature lias power by “regulations” to establish the procedure in civil and criminal cases (that is, the steps to be taken by the parties in an action or other legal proceeding before this court), so far as such procedure does not amount to a denial of justice, and has power to declare by law what shall be the practice on appeal (that is to say, to fix the form, manner and order of conducting and carrying on causes through their various stages according to the principles of law) ; but we cannot see how the power to make regulations (that is, to establish procedure and practice) includes the power to interfere with the discretion of this court in saying that the instruments filed for the reading of the justices of the court shall be printed and upon certain sized paper, to the end that causes may be conveniently heard and disposed of, and not delayed by the necessity of handling and reading papers which are inconvenient in shape and condition.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 P. 502, 26 Mont. 37, 1901 Mont. LEXIS 93, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-andrus-mont-1901.