Oregon Growers' Co-operative Ass'n v. Lentz

212 P. 811, 107 Or. 561, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 173
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 13, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 212 P. 811 (Oregon Growers' Co-operative Ass'n v. Lentz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oregon Growers' Co-operative Ass'n v. Lentz, 212 P. 811, 107 Or. 561, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 173 (Or. 1923).

Opinion

RAND, J.

Upon their appeal the defendants contend that because the contract in terms provides that in the event of a breach by the defendant August Lentz of any of the material provisions of the contract, the plaintiff shall be entitled to an injunction restraining the defendant August Lentz from any further breach thereof and to a decree for the specific performance of the contract, and stipulates that in such case the contract itself is a proper subject for the remedy of specific performance, the trial court had no jurisdiction to grant the relief awarded, since “parties cannot by consent or stipulation invest a court with jurisdiction or power not authorized by law or conferred upon it by the Constitution.” 11 Cyc. 673; McLaughlin v. Aumsville Mercantile Co., 74 Or. 80 (144 Pac. 1154). While it is not within the power of litigants to invest a court with any jurisdiction or power not conferred on it by law, and if the court is without jurisdiction of the cause of suit or subject matter involved in a particular case, such [575]*575jurisdiction cannot be conferred by consent, agreement or waiver: 15 C. J., p. 802, yet tbe legal principle was not applicable because eke tria] court had full and complete jurisdiction of tbe subject matter involved and of tbe parties to tbe suit, independently of any provision of tbe contract.

Under tbe Constitution and laws of this state, Circuit Courts are courts of original jurisdiction having full and complete power to award equitable relief in all proper cases. Sucb courts have jurisdiction and power to enjoin tbe breach of a contract and to compel tbe specific performance thereof at tbe suit of an injured party whenever sucb party is equitably entitled to sucb relief. Tbe power and jurisdiction of tbe Circuit Court to bear and determine tbe question, of whether tbe defendant has breached bis contract and to award equitable relief in a proper case where a breach has occurred, exists independently of this or any other contract.. The exercise of this power and jurisdiction by tbe court in this case was not in any way, nor to any extent, dependent upon tbe provisions of tbe contract above referred to, and tbe relief granted would have been proper if tbe provisions referred to bad not been incorporated into tbe contract.

Section 6954, Or. L., as amended by Chapter 260, Laws of 1921, contains, among others, tbe following provisions:

“Tbe by-laws and marketing contract may fix, as liquidated damages, specific sums to be paid by tbe member to tbe association upon tbe breach by him of any provision of tbe marketing contract regarding the sale or delivery or withholding of products; and any such provisions shall be valid and enforceable in the courts of this state.
[576]*576“In the event of any snch breach or threatened breach of snch marketing contract by a member, the association shall be entitled to an injunction to prevent the further breach of the contract, and to a decree of specific performance thereof. Pending the adjudication of snch suit, the association shall be entitled in a proper case to a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction against the member. ’ ’

Defendants argue that so far as this statute attempts to confer jurisdiction upon the courts to grant injunctive relief and compel specific performance of a contract against a member of such association who has breached or threatened to breach his contract, it is special legislation and falls within the prohibition of subdivision 3, Section 23, Article IV of the Constitution of this state, which provides: ‘ ‘ The legislative assembly shall not pass special or local laws * * regulating the practice in courts of justice.”

In numerous cases the word-“special,” as employed in this constitutional provision, has been defined by this court, of which it is necessary to cite but one. In Farrell v. Port of Columbia, 50 Or. 169 (91 Pac. 546, 93 Pac. 254), this court, speaking through Mr. Chief Justice R. S. Bean, said:

“And, when it [the word ‘general’] is used in contradistinction to ‘special,’ it signifies relating to the whole community or all of a class instead of to a particular locality or a part of a class. In this latter sense a law is general when it operates equally and uniformly upon all persons, places or things brought within the relation and circumstances for which it provided. But when it is applicable only to a particular branch or designated portion of such persons, places or things, or is limited in the object to which it applies, it is special: Lippman v. People, 175 Ill. 101 (51 N. E. 872); Wheeler v. Pennsylvania, 77 Pa. [577]*577338; 26 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2 ed.), 532; 1 Lewis’ Sutherland Stat. Const., §195. It is in this sense that the terms ‘general’ and ‘special’ are used in the provision of the constitution now under consideration. * * A general law, within this section of the constitution, is one by which all persons or localities complying with its provisions may be entitled to exercise the powers and enjoy the rights and privileges conferred. A special law, on the other hand, is one conferring upon certain individuals or citizens of a certain locality rights and powers or liabilities not granted to, or imposed upon, others similarly situated. ’ ’

The legislature has the power to enact laws which are applicable to all of a particular class of persons or things and not applicable to a different class of persons or things. Such legislation is general and not special. If this were not true, a very large proportion of the statute law would be void. “A statute relating to persons or things as a class is a general law; one relating to particular persons or things of a class is special.” 1 Lewis’ Sutherland Stat. Const. (2 ed.), § 195.

As this statute operates generally upon all co-operative associations throughout the state, and not upon a part of them only, and confers upon all alike the right to exercise the same powers and to enjoy the same rights and privileges, and did not grant to any particular co-operative association any different rights or powers, nor impose any different liabilities from those granted to and imposed upon all others similarly situated, the statute is general and not special within the meaning of those words as used in the Constitution. And as it is a general statute applying equally and uniformly to all cooperative associations alike, the statute does not [578]*578operate to create a monopoly as argued by the defendant, nor is it violative, as is also argued by the defendant, of Section 20, Article I of the Constitution, which provides that “No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens, privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.”

The above quoted provisions of the statute first appear in Chapter 260, L. 1921, which chapter was amendatory of Section 6954, Or. L., and other sections. As so amended, Section 6954, Or. L., introduced into the statute for the first time, the provisions referred to.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
212 P. 811, 107 Or. 561, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oregon-growers-co-operative-assn-v-lentz-or-1923.