People v. Penman

271 Ill. 82
Illinois Supreme Court·Decided December 22, 1915·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

Mr. Justice Dunn

delivered the opinion of the court:

Augustus Penman, having, been convicted in the circuit court of Champaign county of murder and sentenced, to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life, has sued out a writ of error to reverse the judgment..

The indictment was returned at a term of the court beginning on the first Monday of September, 1913.' It is insisted that there was no law authorizing the holding' of a term of the circuit court at that time, and therefore the proceedings were without jurisdiction and the judgment should have been arrested. An act approved June n, 1897, was passed by the legislature, entitled “An act to amend 'An act concerning circuit courts and to fix the time for holding the same in the several counties in the judicial circuits of the State of Illinois, exclusive of the county of Cook,’ approved May 24, 1879, in force July ,1, 1879.” (Laws of 1897, p. 191.) The act consists of nineteen sections and is not divided into chapters. The county of Champaign was in the sixth circuit, and by section 7 of this act the times of holding court in that circuit were fixed. In the county of Champaign the terms were directed to be held on the fourth1 Monday of September and the first Monday in March. In 1903 “An act to amend section 7 of chapter 37 of an act fixing the terms of holding court in the several judicial circuits of the State of Illinois, exclusive of Cook county, approved June 11, 1897, and in force July 1, 1897,” was passed. (Laws of 1903, p. 147.) It was enacted “that section 7 of chapter 37, fixing the terms of holding court in the several judicial circuits of the- State of Illinois, exclusive of Cook county, approved June 11, 1897, in force July 1, 1897, be amended to read as follows: Section 7. — In the county of Champaign on the first Monday in January, the first Monda))- in April and the first Monday in September of each year,’-’ etc. It is contended that the title to this act purported to amend a part of a chapter which did not exist in the act, and that the act itself did not identify any portion of an existing act and was therefore invalid. The title of the act does not purport to quote the title of the previous act, though it does refer correctly to the act of 1897 by its subject and the date of its approval. It refers to chapter 37 when there is no chapter 37 in the act. The omission of the words “of chapter 37” leaves a correct reference to the act intended to-be.amended. The rule for the guidance of courts in such a case is to ascertain the intention of the legislature, and not its mistakes either as to law or facts. The only question is, has. the legislature expressed its purpose intelligently? If it has,' the act is valid and must be upheld. (Patton v. People, 229 Ill. 512; People v. VanBever, 248 id. 136.) In the latter c’ase the amendatory act Was entitled “An act to amend the’ Criminal Code,” while the act sought to be amended was entitled “An act to revise the law in relation to criminal juris-, prudence,” etc., and the amendatory act was sustained. In Otis v. People, 196 Ill. 542, the title was, “An act to amend article 8, section 202, of an act entitled an act to establish and maintain a system of free schools.” There was no section 202 in'the latter act, that number having been given, to section 1 of article 8 of the act to establish and maintain a system of free schools, in a private publication in general use throughout the State, known as “Starr & Curtis’ Annotated Statutes.” The legislature was evidently misled thereby to refer to the section as section 202. It was held that the number “202” might be regarded as surplusage in. determining whether the amendatory act was in force. So here, the words “of chapter 37,” which evidently referred to the chapter in Hurd’s Statutes upon the subject of courts, must be rejected. By so doing the title refers to section 7 of an act fixing the terms of holding court in the several judicial circuits, approved June 11, 1897. This fully describes the act by its subject and the date of its approval' and leaves no doubt of the intention of the legislature. The’ objection to the statute cannot be sustained.

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People v. Penman, 271 Ill. 82 (Ill. 1915).

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