Lapland v. Stearns

54 N.W.2d 748, 79 N.D. 62, 1952 N.D. LEXIS 99
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 28, 1952
DocketFile 7304
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 54 N.W.2d 748 (Lapland v. Stearns) 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
Lapland v. Stearns, 54 N.W.2d 748, 79 N.D. 62, 1952 N.D. LEXIS 99 (N.D. 1952).

Opinion

Grimson, J.

The plaintiff, as the legal heir of Lewis C. Stearns, brought this action in the District Court of Ward County against the men who are the executors of his last will and testament for the avails of a life insurance policy payable to the estate of Lewis C. Stearns. The defendant executors admit receiving $24,496.28 on such policy. They deny plaintiff’s right thereto and allege that the only law under which the plaintiff could recover in this action is Sec 26-1018 NDRC 1943, which statute *66 they claim is -unconstitutional. They ask for a dismissal of the action.

The matter was submitted to the District Court on the. following stipulated facts: Lewis C. Stearns, a resident of Minot, Ward County, North Dakota, died on Jan. 29, 1951, testate, leaving no wife surviving him. Mona Stearns Lapland, the plaintiff, was his legally adopted daughter and his only child or issue and no issue or children of Lewis C. Stearns preceded him in death. He left a will with codicil which was duly admitted to probate. The defendants are the duly appointed executors thereof. No creditors are involved in this controversy. At the time of the death of Lewis C. Stearns he was possessed of $24,496.28 worth of life insurance on his own life. The beneficiary named in the policy was the Lewis C. Stearns estate. No mention was made in the Stearns will or codicil of life insurance or avails of life insurance. Lewis C. Stearns made no special contract inter vivos in regard to the avails of his said life insurance. The defendant executors have collected the avails of said life insurance and still hold the same in the amount of $24,496.28. They have failed to pay said avails to anyone. Demand for payment of said avails was served on the defendant by the plaintiff prior to the commencement of this fiction. All of the defendants are interested solely as executors except James W. Stearns who is also a legatee or beneficiary under a testamentary trust created by the will of Lewis C. Stearns. The District Court found for the plaintiff. The defendants appeal.

The sole issue raised on the appeal is the constitutionality of Sec 26-1018 NDRC 1943. That section reads as follows:

“The avails of a life insurance policy or of a contract payable by any mutual aid or benevolent society, when made payable to the deceased, to the personal representatives of the deceased, to his heirs, or to his estate, shall not he subject to the debts of the decedent upon the death of such insured or member of such society except by special contract. Such avails shall be inventoried as a part of the estate of the decedent and distributed without deduction and shall pass to the heirs at law or legatees of the decedent in accordance with the laws of succession or of *67 wills, as the ease may be. The insured may transfer the avails of such' life insurance policy or contract either by will or by contract. Nothing contained in this section shall:

1. Affect, in any manner, any life insurance policy or beneficiary certificate which is made payable to a designated person, including the spouse of the insured, or to persons or to members of a family designated as a class, such as ‘all children’ or ‘all brothers and sisters,’ even though the members of such class are not designated by name; or

2. Permit any insured to dispose of the avails of a contract by a mutual or fraternal society by will to anyone who could not be a beneficiary in such contract under the charter or by-law of-such society.”

This section, 26-1018, supra, was originally Chapter 149 of the 1929 Session Laws. The defendants claim that section was an original enactment and that for that reason they have a right to consider the title thereof in connection with their claim of its unconstitutionality. The first ground for such claim is that the title covers more than one subject in violation of Sec 61 of the state constitution. That title reads as follows:

“An act to provide for the distribution of the avails of life insurance made payable to the deceased, his personal representatives, his heirs, or estate, and exempting such avails from the debts of the decedent.”

The subject matter of Sec 26-1018, supra, is the distribution of the avails of such life insurance. If all the provisions of an act are germane to the subject expressed in the title then the act is valid as against any claim of violation of Sec 61 of the constitution.

Referring to that principle this court in State ex rel. Weeks v. Olson, 65 ND 407, 259 NW 83 has said:

“This principle of law is well settled in North’ Dakota and in many other states having constitutional provisions similar to ours. Stated differently, this rule means that legislation may include any matter naturally and reasonably connected with the subject of the act as expressed in the title. State ex rel. Gammons v. Shafer, 63 ND 128, 246 NW 874; Thompson Yards v. Kingsley, 54 ND 49, 208 NW 949. It is also the law of this state *68 that the title to an act will he construed liberally and not in a strict and technical manner. State ex rel. Poole v. Peake, 18 ND 101, 120 NW 47.” See also Great Northern Railway Co. v. Duncan, 42 ND 346, 176 NW 992; State v. Colohan, 69 ND 316, 286 NW 888; 50 Am Jur Statutes, Secs 196, 197, pp 177-180.

The defendants claim that the method of determining succession and an exemption statute are included in the act extraneous to the matter of the distribution of the avails. The policy makes the heirs or estate of the decedent the beneficiaries. The law of heirship determines the succession. The act makes no determination thereof. The provision that the avails shall not be-subject to the debts' of the decedent relates merely to the safeguarding of the avails. Construing the act liberally it contains only matters relative to the distribution of the avails of such insurance which is the subject matter thereof.

Furthermore, if there should be any doubt about this, Chapter 149 SL 1929 was reenacted in the 1943 revision of the code as Sec 26-1018 NDRC 1943 without the inclusion of the title and the original statute, including the title, was repealed, Sec 1-0219 NDRC 1943. It has been held that a statute which fails to comply with a constitutional provision requiring every act to embrace one subject to be mentioned in its title becomes valid upon its incorporation in a proper code or revision duly adopted as such. See 59 CJ Statutes, Sec 376, p 799; Schaller Co. v. Canistota Grain Co. 32 SD 15, 141 NW 993.

“Where a section of a legislative act has been incorporated in the Revised Codes and adopted, as a part of the complete statutes of the state, the court will not inquire into or consider the sufficiency of the original title of the act in which such section was originally adopted by the Legislature. In such case, it is too late to raise the sufficiency of the title to the original act, which was adopted prior to the date of its incorporation and adoption in the Revised Codes of the state.” Anderson v. Great Northern Railway Co. 25 Idaho 433, 138 Pac 127.

“When an act is incorporated in the Code in accordance' with Const art 6, Sec 5, it becomes statutory law, without reference to its title as originally enacted, and the objection that the subject of the act does not correspond with its title cannot be *69

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 N.W.2d 748, 79 N.D. 62, 1952 N.D. LEXIS 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lapland-v-stearns-nd-1952.