Ritzman v. Campbell

93 Ohio St. (N.S.) 246
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 11, 1915
DocketNo. 15009
StatusPublished

This text of 93 Ohio St. (N.S.) 246 (Ritzman v. Campbell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ritzman v. Campbell, 93 Ohio St. (N.S.) 246 (Ohio 1915).

Opinion

Nichols, C. J.

There is no question involved here of the constitutionality of the act, the defect, alleged being that the enrolled bill as filed in the office of the secretary of state, though duly signed by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house in the manner and form required by the constitution, and approved by the governor, is not in words and figures the identical bill passed by both houses of the general assembly.

It appears that the enrolled bill differs in one respect only from the bill shown by an examination of the journals of both houses to have been passed. The difference is to be found in subdivision (a) 3 of Section 486-8, the enrolled bill reading: “The members of all boards and commissions and heads of principal departments, boards and commission appointed by the governor, or by and with his consent;” while the journals of the two bodies show that this paragraph should have read: “The members of all boards and commissions and heads of principal departments, and bureaus appointed by the governor or by and with his consent.” For some unexplained reason the word “bureaus,” which had been substituted for the words “boards and commission” by the action of both houses, was not inserted in the enrolled copy of the bill, and as both the president of the senate and speaker of the house, as well as the governor, signed the enrolled bill, the actual law as it appears in Volume 106, page 404, [249]*249Ohio Laws, varies from the bill as actually passed both houses, as appears from their respective journals as above set forth.

This court having disposed of this case on other grounds, will give but little consideration to the question as to whether the admitted variance between the enrolled bill and the bill as actually passed is of that substantial nature requiring'the holding that the law as signed by the presiding officers and the executive and filed with the secretary of state was null and void. Were it necessary to consider this phase of the case at length it may be said that this court would be loath indeed to invalidate a law covering twenty pages of a volume of the session laws for the reason that a discrepancy existed as to one word of one clause of one sentence of one paragraph of one division of one section of a long and involved bill; for it appears that if the one word “bureaus” had been substituted by the enrolling - clerk for the words “boards and commission” there would have been no variance.

This is especially true since the failure to make the substitution in noway affected the integrity, object or scope of the bill.

The utmost that could be claimed for the substitution is that it would take out from the operation of the civil service law the heads of a few of the state bureaus, whereas it is not at all illogical to contend that the language of the paragraph of the section in question contained in the bill as signed by the governor does exempt the so-called heads of “bureaus.”

[250]*250The provisions of the constitution pertinent to this inquiry are found in Article II. Section 9 thereof declares that each house shall keep a correct journal of its proceedings. At the desire of any two members, the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the journal; and, on the passage of every bill, in either house, the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and 'entered upon the journal; and no law shall be passed in either house without the concurrence of a majority of all the members elected thereto.

Section 17 thereof is as follows: “The presiding officer of each house shall sign, publicly in the presence of the house over which he presides, while the same is in session, and capable of transacting busi-. ness, all bills and joint resolutions passed by the general assembly.”

Section 16 provides:

“Every bill shall be fully and distinctly read on three different days, unless in case of urgency three-fourths of the house in which it shall be pending, shall dispense with the rule. No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title, and no law shall be revived, or amended unless the new act contains'the entire act revived, or the section or sections amended, and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed. Every bill passed by the general assembly shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor for his approval. If he approves, he shall sign it and thereupon it shall become a law and be filed with the secretary of state. If he does not approve it, he shall return it with his objections in writing, [251]*251to the house in which it originated, which shall enter the objections at large upon its journal, and may-then reconsider the vote on its passage. If three-fifths of the members elected to that house vote to repass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections of the governor, to the other house, which may also reconsider the vote on its passage. If three-fifths of the members elected to that house vote to repass it, it shall become a law notwithstanding the objections of the governor, except that in no case shall a bill be repassed by a smaller vote than is required by the constitution on its original passage. In all such cases the vote of each house shall be determined by yeas and nays and the names of the members voting for and against' the bill shall be entered upon the journal. If a bill shall not be returned by the governor within ten days, Sundays excepted, after being presented to him, it shall become a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the general assembly by adjournment prevents its return; in which case, it shall become a law unless, within ten days after such adjournment, it shall be filed by him, with his objections in writing, in the office of the secretary of state. The governor may disapprove any item or items in any bill making an appropriation of money and the item or items, so disapproved, shall be void, unless repassed in the manner herein prescribed for the repassage of a bill.”

Just a cursory examination of these constitutional provisions will indicate that some are directory merely, others plainly mandatory.

[252]*252Failure to follow these mandatory provisions must invalidate acts so passed, and there being no other available tribunal, resort must be had to the courts of the state to determine the validity thereof.

The provisions clearly mandatory are those to the effect that no law shall be passed without the concurrence of a majority of all the members elected to each house of the general assembly; that the presiding officer of each house shall sign all bills, publicly in the presence of the house over which he presides, while the same is in session and capable of transacting business; that each house shall keep a journal and that on the passage of a bill the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered thereon ; and that every bill, before it becomes a law, shall be presented to the governor for his approval.

The important question in the instant case is whether the court will look beyond the enrolled bill to ascertain, first, if it has been enacted in strict accord to constitutional requirements; second, if the contents or subject-matter of the bill, as duly authenticated and signed by the proper officers, may be disputed by the journals of either or both branches of the general assembly.

There is a wide range of disagreement among the courts on both of these questions.

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Related

Field v. Clark
143 U.S. 649 (Supreme Court, 1892)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 Ohio St. (N.S.) 246, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ritzman-v-campbell-ohio-1915.