People v. Carroll

264 N.W. 861, 274 Mich. 451, 1936 Mich. LEXIS 778
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 31, 1936
DocketDocket No. 130, Calendar No. 38,421.
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 264 N.W. 861 (People v. Carroll) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Carroll, 264 N.W. 861, 274 Mich. 451, 1936 Mich. LEXIS 778 (Mich. 1936).

Opinions

Edward M. Sharpe, J.

Respondent was informed against for violation of Act No. 235, § 15, Pub. Acts 1933; and was charged with being a partner in the operation of a dental parlor contrary to the above *453 statute. He was tried and convicted. The record shows that respondent is not a licensed dentist, but has for more than 20 years been operating a dental parlor in Michigan under the name “New System Dentists” where all dental work was done by regularly licensed dentists; and at the time of the acts complained of he had three licensed dentists in his employ.

In his appeal respondent contends:

“1. That the act is unconstitutional and void in that it takes away from the respondent vested rights under Act No. 183, Pub. Acts 1913 (amendatory of Act No. 338, Pub. Acts 1907), in that the respondent did, prior to the effective date of said act, manage and have - a financial interest in a dental parlor in Grand Rapids and has at all times thereafter continued to manage and operate said dental parlor.
“2. That Act No. 235, Pub. Acts 1933, violates the due process clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions (Mich. Const. 1908, art. 2, § 16; U. S. Const., Am. 14, § 1), in that it deprives the respondent of his property right to manage a dental parlor and have a property interest therein, where all dental work is done by reputable licensed dentists, and that the prohibition of said statute does not even remotely promote the public health and welfare.
“3. That the title to said act violates article 5, § 21, State Constitution, in that the act contains more than one object, and the purpose- of the act is not embraced in the title.”

Regulation of the' practice of medicine and dentistry is within the police power of the State. We said in People v. Phippin, 70 Mich. 6, 23:

“It must be conceded from cases cited, that the legislature has power to define the qualifications of those who shall be licensed to practice those callings or professions the exercise of which may affect the public health or safety, and that this law would be *454 entirely constitutional in that view if it stopped short with prohibiting all except medical graduates from practicing.”

See, also, People v. Reetz, 127 Mich. 87; Locke v. Ionia Circuit Judge, 184 Mich. 535; People v. Blair, 192 Mich. 183; Graves v. Minnesota, 272 U. S. 425 (47 Sup. Ct. 122); Dent v. West Virginia, 129 U. S. 114 (9 Sup. Ct. 231); Lambert v. Yellowley, 272 U. S. 581 (47 Sup. Ct. 210, 49 A. L. R. 575).

In People v. Moorman, 86 Mich. 433, this court held that the regulation of the practice of pharmacy was within the scope of the police power of the State.

In People v. Painless Parker Dentist, 85 Col. 304, 310 (275 Pac. 928), the court said in reference to the practice of dentistry:

“We are not concerned now with an ordinary trade or calling. Law, medicine and dentistry are generally considered as learned professions. Neither is an ordinary trade or calling which all citizens alike may pursue. The State in its sovereign capacity is vested with the indefinable police power which includes the power to conserve and protect the public health. Only those who are qualified by statute and experience to practice dentistry may do so, if the legislature sees fit so to .ordain.”
The next question that presents itself to us is the validity of a regulation requiring the owner or operator of a dental parlor to be a licensed practitioner. In Winslow v. Kansas State Board of Dental Examiners, 115 Kan. 450 (223 Pac. 308), the court said:
“Dentistry is a profession having to do with public health, and so is subject to regulation by the State. The purpose of regulation is to protect the public from ignorance, unsldllfulness, unscrupulousness, deception, and fraud. To that end, the State *455 requires that the relation of the dental practitioner to his patients and patrons must be personal. ’ ’
“It has been recognized by the professions, by statutes and by decisions that a corporation offering professional services is not placed beyond legislative control by the fact that all the services in question are rendered by qualified members of the profession. See People v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co., 227 N. Y. 366 (125 N. E. 666); Tucker v. New York State Board of Pharmacy, 127 Misc. Rep. 538 (217 N. Y. Supp. 217, 220); Matter of Co-operative Law Co., 198 N. Y. 479 (92 N. E. 15, 32 L. R. A. [N. S.] 55, 139 Am. St. Rep. 839, 19 Ann. Cas. 879); People, ex rel. Lawyers’ Institute of San Diego, v. Merchants’ Protective Corp., 189 Cal. 531 (209 Pac. 363); New Jersey Photo Engraving Co. v. Carl Schonert & Sons, Inc., 95 N. J. Eq. 12 (122 Atl. 307); Hodgen v. Commonwealth, 142 Ky. 722 (135 S. W. 311).” Prom the dissenting opinion by Justice Holmes in Louis K. Liggett Co. v. Baldridge, 278 U. S. 105, 115 (49 Sup. Ct. 57).

See, also, State Board of Dental Examiners v. Savelle, 90 Col. 177 (8 Pac. [2d] 693, 82 A. L. R. 1176); Painless Parker v. Board of Dental Examiners, 216 Cal. 285 (14 Pac. [2d] 67); State v. Bailey Dental Co., 211 Iowa, 781 (234 N. W. 260).

Counsel for respondent cite Louis K. Liggett Co. v. Baldridge, supra, where the court held that a Pennsylvania statute requiring stockholders in corporations operating drug stores to be licensed pharmacists tó be unconstitutional on the ground that, p. 113:

“Mere stock ownership'in a corporation, owning and operating a drag store, can have no real or substantial relation to the public health, and that the act in question creates an unreasonable and unnecessary restriction upon private business.”

*456 Respondent relies upon the case of State v. Brown, 37 Wash. 97 (79 Pac. 635, 68 L. R. A. 889, 107 Am. St. Rep. 798), which holds that the State could not require the owner of a dental office to be a licensed dentist.

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Bluebook (online)
264 N.W. 861, 274 Mich. 451, 1936 Mich. LEXIS 778, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-carroll-mich-1936.