Litzelman Appeal

217 A.2d 838, 207 Pa. Super. 374, 1966 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1125
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 24, 1966
DocketAppeals, 682 to 685
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 217 A.2d 838 (Litzelman Appeal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Litzelman Appeal, 217 A.2d 838, 207 Pa. Super. 374, 1966 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1125 (Pa. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinions

Opinion by

Jacobs, J.,

The principal question raised in these appeals is whether or not the insolvency law of 1901 applies to violators of The Game Law who are imprisoned for failure to pay fines and costs.

On December 21, 1964, Darcy D. Litzelman was found guilty of violating The Game Law of the Commonwealth, Act of June 3, 1937, P. L. 1225, as amended, 34 P.S. §1311.1 et seq., by Lycoming County Justice of the Peace Dean E. Dawes. He was sentenced to pay a fine and costs totalling $309. On January 5, 1965, he was found' guilty of another violation of The Game Law by the same justice of the peace and was sentenced to pay a fine and costs of $527 and to forfeit an automobile and certain hunting equipment to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. On March 20, 1965, being unable to pay the two fines and costs, Darcy was sentenced by Squire Dawes and committed to Lycoming County Prison to serve one day in jail for each dollar of the fine and costs, pursuant to Section 731 of The Game Law, 34 P.S. §1311.731, 836 days.

On May 6, 1965, while incarcerated in the Lycoming County Prison, Darcy plead guilty to another violation of The Game Law before the same justice of the peace and was sentenced to pay a fine and costs of $906. Unable to pay this fine and costs, Darcy was sentenced by Squire Dawes to serve one day in the same jail for each dollar of the fine and costs, 906 days..

[377]*377On April 21, 1965, Howard E. Litzelman plead guilty before Lycoming County Justice of the Peace Howard Campbell to a violation of The Game Law and was sentenced to pay a fine and costs of $827. Unable to pay the fine and costs, he was sentenced by Squire Campbell to the Lycoming County Prison for 827 days. On the same date, Howard plead guilty before Squire Dawes to certain other violations. of The Game Law and was sentenced to pay a fine and costs of $1,663. Since he was unable to pay this fine and costs, Howard was on the same date sentenced and committed by this justice of the peace to the Lycoming County Prison for 4,663 days.

All of the offenses of which the Litzelmans were convicted are designated as summary offenses by The Game Law and jurisdiction is given to the nearest available justice of the peace. 31 P.S. §§1311.1201-1311.1202.

After serving three months in jail, each Litzelman filed a petition with the Common Pleas Court of Lycoming County, asking to be discharged from prison under Section 6 of the Act of June 1, 1901, P. L. 404, 39 P.S. §13, providing for the release of insolvents, hereinafter called the Insolvency Act. The Common Pleas Court in each case directed that the petitioner be discharged from imprisonment under his first commitment and made the discharge effective as of June 16, 1965 for Darcy and as of July 19, 1965 for Howard. The court also held that neither petitioner could be discharged from his second commitment until three months from discharge on his first commitment (September 16, 1965 for Darcy and October 19, 1965 for Howard) on the ground that the sentences imposed were consecutive. Both the Commonwealth and the Litzelmans have appealed from the order of discharge. The Commonwealth contends that the provisions of the Insolvency Act of 1901 do not apply to The Game [378]*378Law, and the Litzelmans contend that they should have been discharged from all commitments after serving three months in prison. On August 13, 1965, the court below provided that the appeals should operate as a supersedeas and released the Litzelmans from jail on bail pending the disposition of the appeals.

We agree with the conclusion of the lower court that the penalty provision of The Game Law here at issue is subject to the discharge provision of the Insolvency Act. The language of the two statutes, the rules of statutory construction, and considerations of reason and fairness all compel this conclusion.

The Act of June 4, 1901, P. L. 404, §6, 39 P.S. §13, jjrovides:

“The court of common pleas of any county ... in which any person may be confined for the nonpayment of any fine or of the costs of prosecution . . . shall discharge such person from confinement on his making application and conforming to the provisions herein directed in the case of insolvents, who have been arrested on civil process: Provided, that where such per-, son shall have been sentenced to the payment of a fine ... he shall not be entitled to make such application until after he shall have been in actual confinement for a period of not less than three months . . .”

Section 731 of The Game Law, Act of June 3, 1937, P. L. 1225, as amended, 34 P.S. §1311.731, provides:

“Upon failure of any person convicted of a first offense to immediately pay the fine imposed and costs of prosecution, he shall be imprisoned one day for each dollar of the fine imposed and costs of prosecution.”

Clearly the Litzelmans, sentenced and committed under the latter act, were confined for the nonpayment of fines and costs of prosecution. Unless it can be shown that the fine and costs under The Game Law are for some reason not within the fine and costs our legislature referred to in the Insolvency Act, the In[379]*379solvency Act, by its own wording, is applicable. The Commonwealth fails to meet this burden.

First it cites Ferree v. Douglas, 145 Pa. Superior Ct. 447, 21 A. 2d 472 (1941), which held that the Insolvency Act had no application to a city ordinance. Ferree and others were sentenced to jail for failure to pay a fine of $50 imposed under a city ordinance. The city ordinance in that case fixed a limit on the imprisonment, providing that any commitment for failure to pay a fine should not exceed 30 days. Our court held that the prisoner had to be released at the end of 30 days, making it impossible to invoke the provisions of the Insolvency Act, which requires three months of confinement before applying for discharge. The Game Law contains no such limitation of imprisonment. Thus the Ferree case is inapplicable.

The Commonwealth’s argument that the legislature imposed the jail sentence in The Game Law specifically to avoid and make inapplicable the discharge provisions of the Insolvency Act is untenable. First of all, since The Game Law contains no express repeal of any provisions of the Insolvency Act, any repeal must be by implication, which is not favored by the law. H. C. Frick Coke Company Appeal, 352 Pa. 269, 42 A. 2d 532 (1945); Kingston Borough v. Kalanosky, 155 Pa. Superior Ct. 424, 38 A. 2d 393 (1944). Secondly, since the two statutes in question do not deal with the same subject matter, the later law shall not be construed to repeal the earlier one unless the two are irreconcilable. Section 91 of the Statutory Construction Act of 1937, P. L. 1019, 46 P.S. §591; Schuylkill Haven Borough v. Trinity Church, 62 Pa. Superior Ct. 413 (1916). We see nothing irreconcilable between a statute dealing only with game regulation which provides imprisonment for a violator who is unwilling or unable to pay fines and costs and a statute dealing with insolvency which provides for release from [380]*380imprisonment only when the prisoner is insolvent. One statute permits imprisonment and is silent as to release.; the other fixes a limit on imprisonment and mandates release. It is only when the imprisonment imposed under the former statute exceeds three months and the game law violator confined is insolvent that •the latter statute has any application. When this situation arises, the statute of release must control.

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Litzelman Appeal
217 A.2d 838 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
217 A.2d 838, 207 Pa. Super. 374, 1966 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/litzelman-appeal-pasuperct-1966.