Mrotek v. Nair

231 A.2d 95, 4 Conn. Cir. Ct. 313, 1967 Conn. Cir. LEXIS 237
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedFebruary 9, 1967
DocketFile No. CV 14-663-21623
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 231 A.2d 95 (Mrotek v. Nair) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mrotek v. Nair, 231 A.2d 95, 4 Conn. Cir. Ct. 313, 1967 Conn. Cir. LEXIS 237 (Colo. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

Dearington, J.

The plaintiff took the examination for admission to the bar on three occasions and on each occasion failed to pass. Following each failure, he sought the permission of the "bar examining committee to inspect and copy his percentage score, his numerical score for each examination hour, official records of the score earned for each question in the examination, and the records, correspondence, comments and notations which related to his examination together with the minutes of committee meetings at which rules and regulations authorizing secrecy were adopted in reference to the information sought. His requests having been denied by the committee on each occasion, he now claims to be an aggrieved person under the provisions of §§ 1-19, 1-20 and 1-21 of the General Statutes1 and seeks an order from the Circuit Court requiring the committee to permit him to inspect and copy the information sought.

[315]*315The defendant, chairman of the state bar examining committee, in his motion to erase for lack of jurisdiction alleged that the committee was an arm of the Superior Court and as such was subject only to the rules, orders and directions of that court and therefore the Circuit Court was without jurisdiction. He further claimed that §§ 1-19, 1-20, and 1-21 are not applicable to the bar examining committee, nor to its officers in the performance of their duties, and that an application of the statutes in this matter would violate article second of the Connecticut constitution of 1965, which provides for the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers of government. He further claimed that the order sought by the plaintiff violates article [316]*316fifth, § 1, of this constitution with respect to the vesting of judicial power.

The trial court, in granting the motion to erase, noted that § 1-20 provides that the Circuit Court shall determine whether a denial of permission to inspect public records is for just and proper cause. The court held, however, that the test was whether on the face of the records the Circuit Court had jurisdiction; that is, does the Circuit Court under the “right to know” statutes have jurisdiction over the proceedings of a committee which is an instrumentality or arm of the Superior Court? The court reasoned that the Superior Court is, in contrast to the Circuit Court, a constitutionally established tribunal and that it has been long recognized that the Superior Court has the sole and exclusive power to admit persons to the bar and to regulate the conduct and discipline of its members. The trial court concluded that the General Assembly did not intend “that an inferior court, such as the Circuit Court, under the ‘right to know’ statute was privileged to order the Superior Court or its state bar examining committee to comply with any directive issued by the Circuit Court.”

The only question of law presented by this appeal is the correctness of the trial court’s ruling in granting the motion to erase from the docket for lack of jurisdiction. A motion to erase will lie for want of jurisdiction which appears plainly on the face of the record. Ragali v. Holmes, 111 Conn. 663, 664. The motion reaches only defects appearing on the face of the record. When want of jurisdiction appears on the record, such a motion is better procedure than a plea in abatement. Felletter v. Thompson, 133 Conn. 277, 279; Smith v. Smith, 150 Conn. 15, 23. The granting of a motion to erase is a final adjudication from which an appeal lies to this court. Norton v. Shore Line Electric Ry. Co., [317]*31784 Conn. 24, 31. No finding is necessary, and none was made. Practice Book § 957; Maltbie, Conn. App. Proc. § 126. A motion to erase admits all well-pleaded facts and serves the same purpose as a demurrer, except that, unlike the sustaining of a demurrer, the sustaining of a motion to erase is a final judgment. Park Construction Co. v. Knapp, 150 Conn. 588, 592. “In passing upon a motion to erase, the allegations of the complaint should be given such construction as is most favorable to the plaintiffs. . . . Every presumption which favors the jurisdiction of the court should be indulged.” Fairfield Lumber & Supply Co. v. Herman, 139 Conn. 141, 144.

Error is assigned by the plaintiff in that jurisdiction of the Circuit Court is apparent on the face of the record; such jurisdiction does not interfere with the Superior Court’s power to admit attorneys; the legislature may regulate certain activities of the state bar examining committee within the frameAvork of the separation of the powers requirement of article second of the Connecticut constitution; there is no legislative intent to bar the committee from the operation of the “right to know” statutes; the trial court exceeded its constitutional mandate in purporting to legislate; and the information sought is in the interest of the public. The plaintiff does not question the power of the Superior Court, acting by its examining committee, to determine the qualifications of candidates for the office of attorney. He concedes, as he must, that this power was lawfully delegated and properly exercised. His claim is that he has the right under the provisions of § 1-19 to inspect the material sought. The defendant’s reply to such pleadings appears in his motion to erase, which has been heretofore set forth.

The power of the Superior Court to make rules governing its bar examining committee has never [318]*318been seriously questioned. The provisions of § 51-80,2 relating to the rule-making power of the Superior Court, can be construed only as a legislative recognition of the inherent right of that court, a constitutionally established tribunal, to promulgate rules respecting the functions of the bar examining committee. “It should be borne in mind that no judicial power is vested by the constitution in the General Assembly, either directly or as an incident of the legislative power, and the General Assembly cannot confer it.” Brown v. O’Connell, 36 Conn. 432, 446; State Bar Assn. v. Connecticut Bank & Trust Co., 145 Conn. 222, 231. To that end article second of the constitution of Connecticut provides : “The powers of government shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them confided to a separate magistracy, to wit, those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judicial, to another.” Article fifth, § 1, provides in part: “The judicial power of the state shall be vested in a supreme court, a superior court, and such lower courts as the general assembly shall, from time to time, ordain and establish.” The division of the powers of government has been an integral part of our constitution from 1818. Article second of the constitution of 1818 is identical with article second of the constitution of 1965; so, too, as to article fifth, § 1. Thus, the judicial power is vested in the courts as “a separate magistracy.”

In O’Brien’s Petition, 79 Conn. 46, 49, Justice Baldwin, in a scholarly review of this subject, traces the history of law and procedure since 1708. The [319]*319first legislation in this regard was in 1708, when it was provided that admission to the bar be controlled by county courts. In 1808, such authority was extended to include the Superior Court.

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Bluebook (online)
231 A.2d 95, 4 Conn. Cir. Ct. 313, 1967 Conn. Cir. LEXIS 237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mrotek-v-nair-connappct-1967.