Klein v. Hutton

191 N.W. 485, 49 N.D. 248, 1922 N.D. LEXIS 48
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 25, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 191 N.W. 485 (Klein v. Hutton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Klein v. Hutton, 191 N.W. 485, 49 N.D. 248, 1922 N.D. LEXIS 48 (N.D. 1922).

Opinion

Geace, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment and for costs and disbursements. It will be conducive to a clear comprehension of the issues involved to set forth a concise statement of the material facts necessary to be stated: On the 6th day of December, 1920, at Bismarck, North Dakota, the defendant executed and delivered to plaintiff, his promissory note of that date in the sum of $60, bearing interest at 10 per cent per annum, and dire on demand. Demand for payment of the note was duly made. No payment was made, except the sum of $2. At the time the action was commenced plaintiff was the owner and holder of the note.

At the time of commencement of the action there was a duly appointed, qualified, acting conciliation board within and for the county of Burleigh, state of North Dakota, which was appointed by virtue of the provisions of chapter 38 of the Session Laws of 1921, which repealed §§ 9187-9192 of the Comp. Laws, 1913. The plaintiff before commencement of this action did not file in any court a certificate of a conciliator, showing any attempt to effect a settlement of the claim upon which the action is brought. He made no attempt to have his ■claim submitted to conciliation. In the action no provisional or ancillary remedy was sought nor was there involved therein title or possession of real estate; nor has any district judge directed the issuance of process therein without recourse to conciliation proceedngs. There are no other material facts.

[252]*252The complaint is in the ordinary form in such cases before the passage of the Conciliation Act. In substance the defense set forth in the answer is: That at the time of the commencement of the action, there was a duly appointed, qualified acting conciliation board within and for the county of Burleigh, as provided for under chap. 38 of the Session Laws of 1921, referred to in the answer as Senate Bill No. 158 of the lYth legislative assembly; that plaintiff before the commencement of the action did not file in any court a certificate of a conciliator, showing an attempt to effect a settlement of the claim upon which the action is founded; that such attempt has failed; that the action is not one in which a provisional or ancillary remedy is sought; that it does not involve title or possession of real estate, and, that no district judge directed the issuance of any process in the action without recourse to conciliation proceedings.

Were it not that the ultimate issues, and innovation in the administration of justice, provided for in the act in the kind of controversies to which it relates concerns, not only the social welfare of the citizens of this state, but indirectly may concern the welfare of the citizens of other states of the Union, should such other states or any of them at some future time see fit to follow the example of North Dakota in the enactment of a conciliation act, the first of the states to establish a state wide tribunal of conciliation, the case would be of minor importance, but in the circumstances the case is one of unusual public interest. The case has been ably briefed by the counsel of both parties, and especially able and helpful is the brief filed by Honorable John Wigmore of counsel, author of the well-known work on evidence, which bears his name, who, from public interest, appeared on behalf of the American Judicature Society, and Herbert Harley and Albert Kocourek, who appear as amici curias, and whose participation is also from public interest.

The manifest purpose of the act is to facilitate, regulate, and encourage a voluntary adjustment of matters which otherwise would or may become the subject of legal controversies, where such amount does, not exceed $200, and to provide a means to accomplish that end, the use of which will not necessitate invoking the powers and functions of the ordinary and regularly constituted courts of justice. Perhaps ill this state from one third to one half of all civil causes involve not to exceed $200, any of which may be litigated from. the lowest to the highest [253]*253court, many of wbicb in fact are so litigated, and which, had just a little common sense been applied to the facts by the litigants, would not have resulted in litigation. Neither is it an unreasonable statement that the expenses of such litigation to the parties concerned will approximate the amount involved therein. However, the monetary loss in this class of litigation is not the full measui e of the whole loss; to ascertain the whole loss, there must be included loss of time, for time is of great value; if it were possible to get an accounting of all the time consumed or lost by litigants in this state in all actions involving not more than $200 plus the loss of time by all witnesses and that were applied to production of what may be termed necessities of life, the amount of such production and its value would be astounding. In addition to this, every law suit is a minature war, in which the respective combatants are bringing into action all their ingenuity, energy, and resourcefulness for the purpose of acquiring victory, and like war, when the battle is ended there still remains in the breasts of the participants a Certain amount of resentment against their late adversaries. The principle of encouraging private adjustments of legal controversies embodied in the act was in all probability derived from the laws of Norway and Denmark, where a conciliation system has been in use since 1797. Many thousands of citizens of each of those countries later became citizens of our country, and of our state in particular, constituting therein a great body of our most respected citizenship, now, as at the time of the adoption of our Constitution.

The purpose of the act being praiseworthy, seeking to maintain amicability between those who otherwise might be compelled to resort to expensive litigations over claims within the amount specified by the act, it should be sustained unless its provisions are inhibited by the fundamental law of the United States or of this state. That the act in various respects and for various reasons contravenes in certain respects, the Constitution of the United States and that of the state of North Dakota is the contention of the appellant. Appellant’s contentions challenging the validity of the act are eight in number; each will be considered in the order adopted in appellant’s brief.

Point “1.”

Appellant contends that the act is unconstitutional and contravenes § 61 of the Constitution of North Dakota, in that its title is defective. [254]*254Tlie title of the act reads thus: “An Act to Provide for Conciliation of Controversies and to Repeal Sections 9187, 9188, 9189, 9190, 9191 and 9192 of tlie Compiled Laws of North Dakota for 1913.” Tlie provisions of § 61 of tlie Constitution are as follows: “No bill shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title, but a bill which violates this provision shall be invalidated thereby only as to so much thereof as shall not be so expressed.”

The subject of the bill which became chapter 38 is Conciliation of Controversies, that is, the subject-matter or object of the bill is conciliation of controversies.

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Bluebook (online)
191 N.W. 485, 49 N.D. 248, 1922 N.D. LEXIS 48, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klein-v-hutton-nd-1922.