Raabe v. State

7 Ohio App. 119, 29 Ohio C.C. Dec. 330, 28 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 169, 28 Ohio C.A. 169, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 354
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 19, 1917
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 7 Ohio App. 119 (Raabe v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Raabe v. State, 7 Ohio App. 119, 29 Ohio C.C. Dec. 330, 28 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 169, 28 Ohio C.A. 169, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 354 (Ohio Ct. App. 1917).

Opinion

Richards, J.

The plaintiff in error, Frank Raabe, was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced in the police court of the city of Toledo on a charge that he unlawfully operated and maintained a private employment agency for hire in violation of the provisions of Section 886 and succeeding sections of the General Code. He prosecuted error to the court of common pleas, where the judgment and sentence were affirmed, and he brings this proceeding in error to procure a reversal of these judgments.

It is earnestly contended that the affidavit on which he was arrested is insufficient; that the court erred in the admission of evidence; and that the judgment of conviction is not sustained by sufficient evidence. And it is also insisted that the section of the General Code already cited is in violation of various provisions of the Constitution of Ohio and the Constitution of the United States.

A careful examination of the affidavit fails to disclose any defect therein. Neither have we found any prejudicial error in the admission or rejection of evidence on the trial of the case.

The act of the general assembly under which the defendant was prosecuted prohibits any person from operating- or maintaining a private employment agency for hire, or in which a fee is charged an applicant for employment, without obtaining a license from the commissioner of labor statistics. The phrase “private employment agency” is clearly defined in Section 893, General Code. That section provides in substance that, except an employment agency of a charitable . organization, a person, firm or corporation furnishing or agreeing [121]*121to furnish employment or help shall be deemed a private employment agency.

The bill of exceptions contains all of the evidence which was introduced on the trial in the police court, and the evidence disclosed therein is of such a character as would justify that court in finding that the defendant, pretending to have influence with a certain company, had on various occasions furnished and agreed to furnish employ^ ment with said company, to sundry persons, that for this service he received compensation from the persons for whom he agreed to furnish employment, and that he was not acting as agent of any charitable organization. It is true that the defendant maintained no office and displayed no sign or bulletin indicating that he was operating or maintaining a private employment agency; but various men seeking employment met him at his residence, and the business was there ordinarily conducted, and this clearly brings him within the purview of the statute. We are of opinion that the judgment of conviction is not so manifestly against the weight of the evidence contained in the record as to justify a reversal of the judgment.

The most important question in this case is the claimed unconstitutionality of the act providing for the regulation of private employment agencies. The first section of the act, being Section 886,-General Code, prohibits any person, firm or corporation from opening, operating or maintaining a private emplojmient agency for hire, or in which a fee is charged an applicant for employment or an applicant for help, without obtaining a. license from the commissioner of labor statistics. The • [122]*122section also requires the payment of a fee by the applicant for license, which fee is graded according to the population' of the municipality in which the licensee is to conduct business, the fee ranging from $25 in villages to $100 in cities having a population of 50,000 or more. The section also provides that the commissioner may refuse to issue or renew a license to an applicant, if, in his judgment, such applicant has violated the law relating to private employment agencies, or is not of good moral character. The statute does not contain any provision for a review by the courts of the action of the commissioner of labor statistics in refusing to issue or renew a license to an applicant.

It is said that this statute is invalid because it bestows arbitrary power on the commissioner of labor statistics and contains no definitions or directions for the determination of what constitutes good moral character or what constitutes a violation by an applicant for a license, of the law relating to private employment agencies; because the classification of municipalities in fixing the price of the license is. arbitrary and unjustified; and because no provision is made in the statute for a review by. the courts of the decisions reached by the commissioner of labor statistics.

We have no doubt that the general assembly has ample authority, under the police power possessed by the state, to regulate the general subject' of employment agencies. This subject has been many times discussed in the courts, and with very few exceptions the conclusion reached has been in favor of the existence of this power by the state legislatures. We need refer only to the fol[123]*123lowing authorities: Wessell v. Timberlake, 95 Ohio St., 21; Moore v. City of Minneapolis, 43 Minn., 418; Price v. The People, 193 Ill., 114; The People, ex rel. Armstrong, v. The Warden of the City Prison, 183 N. Y., 223, and People v. Brazee, 183 Mich., 259.

This latter case is one of very great importance in determining the questions involved in the case at bar and was affirmed by the supreme court of the United States in 241 U. S., 340. In the case last cited the statute limited the license fee of $100 to cities of over 200,000 inhabitants, and there was but one city in the state that came within that ^classification, and yet the act was held not to be thereby rendered unconstitutional.

In the case of Gundling v. Chicago, 177 U. S., 183, an ordinance of the city of Chicago, authorizing the issuance of a license to persons to sell cigarettes upon the payment of $100, was held valid although it delegated to the mayor the entire subject of granting and revoking licenses for engaging in the business. The .contention was made in that case that this ordinance vested arbitrary power in the mayor and was for this reason invalid.

The most recent utterance of the supreme court of the United States on the questions now under consideration may be found in a group of cases decided by that court on January 22, 1917, and entitled Hall, Superintendent of Banks of the State of Ohio, v. Geiger-Jones Company; Caldwell, as Attorney-General of South Dakota, v. Sioux Falls Stock Yards Co. et al., and Merrick et al. v. Hal[124]*124sey & Company et al. These cases may be found in 242 U. S., 539, and following pages.

Many of the cases which have been cited were based on statutes which • contained provisions for a review by the courts of the decision made by the commissioner or board having charge of the issuing and revocation of licenses. Indeed it is probable that most of the statutes on this subject have a provision of that character; but all of the statutes do not have this provision. In the group of cases - last cited such provision was found to exist in most of the statutes under review, and in some of those cases comment was made on that provision; but in the case last cited the court held that the absence of such provision did not render the statute invalid, since there is a presumption against wanton action by any commissioner, and that if there should be such disregard of duty a remedy in the courts would necessarily be implied.

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Bluebook (online)
7 Ohio App. 119, 29 Ohio C.C. Dec. 330, 28 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 169, 28 Ohio C.A. 169, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 354, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/raabe-v-state-ohioctapp-1917.