Neisel v. Moran

85 So. 346, 80 Fla. 98
Supreme Court of Florida·Decided August 21, 1919·Published·Cited by 40 cases

Opinions

Whitfield. J.

(after stating the facts) :

There is a preliminary contention that the amendment to Article XIX of the State Constitution proposed by the legislature in 1917, and adopted at the polls November 5, 1918, to “go into effect” January 1, 1919, is invalid because it was not proposed,, submitted and ratified in accordance with Article XVII of the State Constitution, in that the legislature in proposing the amendment to Article XIX did not “determine upon the submission of the amendment to the people for ratification or rejection.”

The Constitution requires that proposed amendments to the Constitution by the legislature shall “be agreed to by three-fifths of all the members elected to each house,” that “such proposed amendments shall be entered upon their respective journals with the yeas and nays,” and that “the same shall be submitted to the electors of the State, for approval or rejection.”

[106] Whether previous proposed amendments to the Constitution have or have not' in terms provided specifically for their submission to the electors of the State for approval or rejection, is immaterial here, as the Constitution does not require the proposed amendments to contain express provisions for their submission to the electors. The general election law makes provision for appropriately placing any proposed amendments to the Constitution on the official ballots to be cast at general elections; and the proper officers of the State and counties have authority and duty under the general election laws to submit duly proposed amendments to the Constitution to the electors of the State for approval or rejection. See Sec. 21, Art. IV; Sec. 1, Art. XVII, Const. 1885; Secs. 7a, 79, 218, 219 as amended in 1907; Secs. 220, 230, 242, Gen. Stats. 1906, Chap. 5405, Act's of 1905; State ex rel. Adams v. Herried, 10 S. D. 109, 72 N. W. Rep, 93; Crawford v. Gilchrist, 64 Fla. 41, 59 South. Rep. 963, Ann. Cas. 1914B, 916. Amended Article XIX was legally proposed, submitted and adopted as a part of the Constitution.

In ex parte Francis, 76 Fla. 304, 79 South. Rep. 753, it was held that in providing for prohibitions of the sale of intoxicating liquors in counties by local option elections, original Article XIX of the Constitution by implication restrained the police power of the State and forbad legislation regulating the possession and the transportation of such liquors in counties where the sale thereof teas unlawful. But this construction was not put upon amended Article XIX which forbids the nvanufactwe, sale, barter or exchange of intoxicating liquors; and the statute now considered insofar as it regulates the possession of intoxicating liquors, was sustained as a valid exercise of the police power, though the validity of the statute with reference to the time of its enactment was [107] not then questioned. Marasso v. YanPelt, 77 Fla. 432, 81 South. Rep. 529.

It is contended that the statute is void because it was passed, while original Article XIX was in force, though the statute did not take effect or become operative until original Article XIX had been superseded by amended Article XIX, with which amended article the statute does not conflict.

Those who assert the uneonstitutionality of a statute have the burden of showing that beyond' all reasonable doubt the statute inevitably conflicts with some designated provision of the Constitution. 12 C. J. 797; Peninsular Casualty Co. v. State, 68 Fla. 411; 67 South. Rep. 165; State ex rel. Simpson v. Ackerly, 69 Fla. 23, 67 South. Rep. 232; State ex rel. Clarkson v. Phillips, 70 Fla. 340, 70 South. Rep. 367; City of Jacksonville v. Bowden, 67 Fla. 181, 64 South. Rep. 769; Pinellas Park Drainage Dist. v. Kessler, 69 Fla. 558, 68 South Rep. 668; Lainhart v. Catts, 73 Fla. 735, 75 South. Rep. 47; Anderson v. City of Ocala, 67 Fla. 204, 64 South. Rep. 775; ex parte Pricha, 70 Fla. 265, 70 South. Rep. 406; County Com’rs of Duval County v. City of Jacksonville, 36 Fla. 196, 18 South. Rep. 339; Peninsular Industrial Ins. Co. v. State, 61 Fla. 376, 55 South. Rep. 398; Lindsley v. National Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U. S. 61, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 337.

A statute cannot be judicially ■ declared beyond the power of the Legislature to enact, unless some provision of the Constitution which is in conflict with it can be specifically pointed to. Cleveland v. City of Watertown, 222 N. Y. 159, 118 N. E. Rep. 500; Wooten v. State, 24 Fla. 335, text 345, 5 South. Rep. 39; 120 N. E. Rep. 19.

[108] The Federal Constitution provides that “all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in’’ the Congress. The State Constitution provides that “the legislative authority of this State shall be vested in” the Legislature. Differing from the Federal Constitution in this particular, the State Constitution does not grant particular lawmaking powers to the legislative body. The State Constitution merely imposes specified limitations upon the general law-making power of the State that is vested in the Legislature; and those limitations do not forbid the passage of statutes of the nature here considered. 120 N. E. Rep. 19.

The State Legislature has plenary law-making power subject only to the limitations imposed by the State and Federal Constitutions, and may enact any anticipatory statutes that are not forbidden by such Constitutions. The State Constitution expressly provides for the enactment of statutes to take effect after their passage and approval and after the final adjournment of the session of the Legislature at which they were enacted. Anticipatory statutes are not forbidden; nor are they contrary to the letter or to the spirit of the State Constitution; but the enactment of statutes to take effect at times subsequent to their enactment is expressly contemplated by the Constitution. Under Section 18'of Article III of the State Constitution, if this statute had not expressly provided that it should take effect on January 1, 1919, it would not have taken effect until some day in February, 1919, sixty days after the final adjournment of the session of the Legislature at which it was enacted, and until amended Article XIX had been in force more than á month.

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Neisel v. Moran, 85 So. 346, 80 Fla. 98 (Fla. 1919).

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