State ex rel. Gamble v. Hubbard

41 So. 903, 148 Ala. 391, 1906 Ala. LEXIS 309
Supreme Court of Alabama·Decided July 6, 1906·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinions

TYSON, J.

— Under the act “to establish a charter for the city of Troy in Pike county” (Acts 1869-70, p. 123), all the powers and jurisdiction of a justice of the peace in civil and criminal cases, within the corporate limits, were conferred on the mayor; and “exclusive original jurisdiction to hear, adjudge and determine all suits, prosecutions or other proceedings for the violation of the charter, bv-laws or ’ ordinances ’ of the corporation. Jurisdiction ivas also conferred upon him of “all proceedings by motion, scire facias, or other suits on any penal bonds payable to the mayor, taken under the act or ordinances of said corporation, including proceedings and suits of the officers of the corporation and the sureties on their official bond,' for the nonpayment of taxes or other moneys collected or íeceived, or for other delinquencies or defaults in office.” — Acts 1869-70, p. 127, § 12. By the act establishing an inferior court of criminal and quasi criminal jurisdiction, to be known as the “recorder’s court,” and providing a judge therefor, approved March 4, 1901, exclusive jurisdiction is conferred upon that court “of all offenses against the by-laws and ordinances passed and ordained by the mayor and councilmen of Troy, within the territory-embr'aced within the police jurisdiction of said city, and of all misdemeanors, [394] concurrently with the criminal court of Pike county, committed within said territory embraced within said police jurisdiction, except violations of the revenue laws of the state, adultery, concealed weapons, assault and battery when a stick or other weapon is used and larceny and kindred offenses when the value of the property exceeds ten dollars;” also to examine all persons charged with felonies and to commit the same to jail, admit them to bail or discharge them as the law and evidence in the case may require. The other provisions of the act, comprising 16 sections, simply provide the machinery for carrying out and effectuating the exercise of the powers or jurisdiction conferred upon the court, not necessary to be here set out.— Acts 1900-01, p. 2323.

It will he observed that no reference whatever is made in. this act to the charter act. It does not assume in terms to revise, alter, or amend that act, or any section of it. The act itself is complete, and its meaning and scope plain and apparent. While its effect was to alter or change to a certain extent an existing power conferred on the mayor, that effect was produced by the later act, repealing pro tanto, by implication, the section of the charter act which conferred it, and not by anything on its face evincing that it was of an amendatory character. In other words, it is an independent act of legislation, and repeals by necessary implication because inconsistent with that provision of the chai ter act conferring jurisdiction on the mayor. To this extent, and only to this extent, did it change or alter that act. A repeal is one thing, and an amendment is quite another and different thing. A repeal of a statute involves necessarily a change in the law; and this is true, whether it be the only statutory enactment on the subject dealt with in the repealed act. Would any one contend that a statute in derogation of the common law was an amendment of it, simply because it altered or changed it? We think not.. If not, it cannot be asserted with ■any show of logic that because an independent act, full and complete within itself; repeals by implication any portion of a statutory system, it is amendatory of the remaining statutes of that system, to which no reference [395] is made. It is undoubtedly true that such an act alters or changes the system; but this change or alteration is and must be ascribed to the repeal wrought by the independent act, and not to the change or alteration consequent- upon the repeal. So, also, an amendment involves some change or alteration in the existing statute law, and may also operate as a repeal of some of its provisions; but such change or alteration made by the amendment is direct and not consequential, as is the case of a repeal, and therefore the difference between the two is plain. There is also another marked difference. An amendment may not, and often does not, operate as a repeal, but merely as an addition to the statute of which it is amendatory. This can never be the effect or operation of a repealing statute, whether the repeal be by implication or be direct. A repeal is properly defined to be “the abrogation or destruction of a law by a legislative act.” Amendment in legislation is “an alteration or change of something proposed in a bill or established as law. — Bouv. Dictionary.

The jurisdiction to try offenses against ordinances of the municipality, civil cases, -and offenders violating the criminal laws of the state, conferred upon some municipal officer, is not necessary to the -act of incorporation. An independent act, conferring jurisdiction of offenses against city ordinances and of offenses against- the criminal laws of the state upon any other judicial tribunal, would not offend the Constitution or charter act creating and conferring corporate powers .upon the municipality; and where such a tribunal was established, as here, by an independent act, the corporate powers granted the municipality were neither enlarged nor diminished by it. It is true the jurisdiction of the mayor of the municipality was diminished because his right to try certain offenses was taken away; but we apprehend this did not affect the corporate powers- of the municipality. His right to> exclusive jurisdiction as a court was not derived from the corporation, nor as mayor was he virtute offici possessed with such a right. This being-true, the repeal effected by the act creating the inferior court, known as the “recorder’s court,” in no proper sense amended the charter of the corporation. That act [396] was not and did not become in part the charter power of the municipality. To repeat, it simply repealed by implication certain powers conferred upon an officer of the municipality—the mayor.

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State ex rel. Gamble v. Hubbard, 41 So. 903, 148 Ala. 391, 1906 Ala. LEXIS 309 (Ala. 1906).

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