Salgado v. Insular Racing Commission

49 P.R. 451
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJanuary 24, 1936
DocketNo. 6556
StatusPublished

This text of 49 P.R. 451 (Salgado v. Insular Racing Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salgado v. Insular Racing Commission, 49 P.R. 451 (prsupreme 1936).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Córdova Davila

delivered the opinion of the court.

José Gr. Salgado, as the owner of race horses, filed a petition for injunction in the District Court of San Juan, to restrain the Insular Racing Commission from enforcing a section of its regulations which required the payment of a fee of $5 for each application, as a prerequisite to the claiming of a horse before a race.

The petitioner alleged that the races known as “claim races” have been duly authorized by the Insular Racing Commission of Puerto Rico, and that any horse participating in them may be claimed, that is, purchased by any race-horse owner duly authorized therefor by said commission, provided a ticket tendering the sum stated in the race program as the claim price is presented to the claim judge of the corresponding track before the race. The petitioner added that the Insular Racing Commission, without any authority whatsoever, has imposed a fee of five dollars for each ticket presented and ordered that no ticket should be considered by said judge unless the same is accompanied by the aforesaid $5-fee.

It is contended that said commission is not authorized by any law to impose fees of this kind, and that the only fees that it may charge are those specified in section 28 of Act No. 11 (Session Laws 1931-1932, p. 194) of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, approved April 8, 1932.

The District Court of San Juan declared the nullity of the section of the regulations imposing the $5-fee as a pre- ' requisite to the claiming of a horse before a race is held, and decreed the injunction sought.

[453]*453 It is urged that the lower court erred in holding that the power granted by section 5 of Act No. 11 of 1932, to prescribe the rules and conditions by which the holding of horse races in Puerto Rico is to be governed, does not extend to the imposition of other fees on the horse owners than those provided by section 28 of said act. The lower court was of the opinion that section 28 of the above-cited act determines the fees to be imposed by the commission and that the Legislature thereby showed its intention to exclude any other fee not specified in said section, in accordance with the maxim expressio vmus est exckosio alterius. The appellant argues that this maxim is not absolute and that there are exceptions to it; that its main purpose is to determine the legislative intent, and that when such intent is manifest, the said maxim should not be applied as a rule of interpretation if its application is in conflict with the intention of the lawmaker. We are in accord with this viewpoint, which is upheld- in the case of Springer v. Philippine Islands, 277 U. S. 189, 72 L. Ed. 845, and in other eases cited by the appellant. It can not be denied, however, that where a statute grants certain powers without mentioning others of a like nature, this is a strong indication of the legislative intent to include only those powers expressed. In order to justify a different conclusion it would be necessary that the statute itself should show that it was not the intention of the Legislature to confine the powers granted strictly to those enumerated.

Section 5 of Act No. 11 of 1932 reads as follows:

“The Insular Racing Commission is hereby empowered to regulate all matters concerning the sport of racing, and for that purpose it shall have power to prescribe the rules and conditions by which the holding of horse races in Porto Rico is to be governed; to regulate all matters connected with the manner in which bets are to be made in the tancas alemanas and pools, and by regulation to prescribe the requirements that should be fulfilled by persons wishing to obtain, and who obtain, from the Commission, race-track licenses, and licenses as horse owners, jockeys, trainers, or stablemen.
[454]*454“Tbe Insular Racing Commission, in its investigations and acts, shall follow the procedure prescribed by law for courts of justice in the transaction and dispatch of their business.
“The Insular Racing Commission, in the exercise of their duties, and the members of the Commission when they act in representation thereof, are authorized to summon witnesses, administer oaths, take evidence, and compel the appearance of witnesses and the presentation of books, letters, documents, papers, files, and all other data that may be considered essential to a complete knowledge of the matter under investigation in regard to the sport of racing.
“All these powers shall be prescribed in regulations which shall be approved by the Governor of Porto Rico. After the latter has given his approval, said regulations shall have binding force. The Legislature reserves the power to revise and revoke such regulations, wholly or partly, whenever it may deem advisable.”

Section 28 of the same Act (page 210) provides that—

“The Insular Racing Commission shall collect the following fees:
“1. For each race-track license, a year-$300
“2. For each owner’s, or stable, license, a year- 20
“3. For each jockey’s license, a year- 10
“4. For each trainer’s or stableman’s license, a year- 2
“5. For each registration of a horse in the studbook_ 10
“6. For each registration of a colt, in the register of colts 5
“7. For the annotation of each change in the name of a horse_ 5
“8. For the annotation of each transfer or sale of a horse 5
“9. For the first inspection and branding of a colt_ 20
“10. For each certified copy of a registration_ 1
“11. For each certified copy, twenty (20) cents for each hundred words and for the certificate_ 1.”

Section 5, already transcribed, can not be construed in the sense of granting to the commission power to collect fees not included in section 28, which enumerates in detail the cases in which the commission may collect them. The appellant maintains that section 30 of the act shows that the Racing Commission has authority to collect other fees. Said section reads as follows:

[455]*455“The amount of the fees referred to in Section 28 of this Act, as well as the fines and all other income received by the Commission, shall be covered into the funds of the Insular Racing Commission. ’ ’

Emphasis is laid upon the words “and all other income/’ which, according to the appellant covers the alleged right of the commission to impose the challenged fee. We do not agree. Those words can not he interpreted in the sense of. authorizing the commission to impose and collect fees which do not derive from the powers granted to it by the act. By “other income” should be understood other income specified in said act, as for example, 15 per cent of the gross income derived from the deductions made from the german banks, pool, and subscription fund, which section 29 grants to the Insular Racing Commission.

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Related

Springer v. Government of Philippine Islands
277 U.S. 189 (Supreme Court, 1928)
Douglas Park Jockey Club v. Talbott
191 S.W. 474 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1917)

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Bluebook (online)
49 P.R. 451, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salgado-v-insular-racing-commission-prsupreme-1936.