State Ex Rel. Jones v. Wiseheart

245 So. 2d 849
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMarch 11, 1971
Docket40829, 40830
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 245 So. 2d 849 (State Ex Rel. Jones v. Wiseheart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Jones v. Wiseheart, 245 So. 2d 849 (Fla. 1971).

Opinion

245 So.2d 849 (1971)

STATE of Florida ex rel. Willie Dee JONES, Relator,
v.
The Honorable Marshall C. WISEHEART As Presiding Judge and the Honorable Joseph Nesbitt As Judge of the Circuit Court in and for the 11TH Judicial Circuit in and for Dade County, Florida, Respondents.
Eddie Lee GRIFFIN, Relator,
v.
Harvey DUVAL, Circuit Judge, Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, Respondent.

Nos. 40829, 40830.

Supreme Court of Florida.

March 11, 1971.

*850 Prebish & Masin, Miami, for Willie Dee Jones.

Phillip A. Hubbart, Miami, for Eddie Lee Griffin.

Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Stuart L. Simon, Deputy Atty. Gen., and Rebecca Bowles Hawkins, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents.

ROBERTS, Chief Justice.

These are companion cases attacking the validity of House Bill 17-B, now published as Chapter 71-1(B), Laws of Florida, 1971, by way of original proceedings filed in this court to obtain Writs of Prohibition against the respondents as presiding judge and judges of the Circuit Court of Dade County, respectively. The Rule Nisi issued as prayed in each case, and the causes were ordered consolidated for hearing on the issues made by the Relators' Suggestions for the Writ of Prohibition and the Respondents' Return to and Motions to Quash the Rule Nisi.

House Bill 17-B was enacted on February 1, 1971, during a special session of the Legislature, to provide a procedure for helping to break the "log jam" of noncapital felony cases awaiting trial in the criminal courts of record in some of our larger counties. The statute provides two avenues of approach to the problem: (1) a felony case pending in the criminal court of record may be transferred to the circuit court for trial, and (2) a circuit judge may be assigned to the criminal court of record to try cases pending in that court.

The Relator Jones contends that the provision of the statute under which the case pending against him in the Criminal Court of Record of Dade County was transferred to the circuit court for trial violates Section 6(3) and Section 9 of Article V of the Florida Constitution, F.S.A., and the Petitioner Griffin argues that the provision under which a circuit judge was assigned to try the case pending against him in the Criminal Court of Record of Dade County violates Section 2 of Article V of the Florida Constitution. We have the view that neither of these contentions may be sustained.

Section 6(3) of Article V was a part of the 1885 Constitution (formerly Section 11 of Article V prior to the 1956 revision of Article V). It provides in pertinent part that:

"The circuit courts shall have exclusive original jurisdiction * * * in all criminal cases not cognizable by subordinate courts. They shall have original jurisdiction of * * * such other matters as the legislature may provide. * * *"

Also relevant here is Section 9 of Article V, providing for the establishment of criminal courts of record by the Legislature and vesting in such courts "jurisdiction of all criminal cases not capital which shall arise in said counties respectively." It is contended on behalf of the Relator Jones that the provision of House Bill 17-B authorizing *851 the transfer of a cause pending in the criminal Court of record to the circuit court has the effect of vesting in the circuit court jurisdiction of such cause concurrent with that of the criminal court of record, contrary to the provisions of Sections 6(3) and 9 of Article V, supra. No case is cited in support of the contention that the constitution prohibits the Legislature from conferring upon a circuit court concurrent jurisdiction, as distinguished from exclusive original jurisdiction, of any matter. Nor has our independent research revealed such a case.

In Hays' Administratrix v. McNealy, 16 Fla. 409 — a case decided in 1878, just seven years before the adoption of the 1885 Constitution — the court was concerned with the question of whether a statute vesting in the Superior Court authority to make an order in an estate matter divested the Probate Judge of authority under an earlier statute relating to the same matter. The court said:

"The subject here acted upon by the Legislature is the jurisdiction of courts, and looking to the repeated expression of opinion by the Supreme Court of the United States and the several State courts as to the nature and character of jurisdiction, there is nothing in it which renders it inconsistent or exclusive. The rule may be stated to be that jurisdiction is concurrent, not exclusive. The exception is where it is exclusive. (Emphasis added.)"

It may be assumed that, in drafting the instrument that is to serve as the basic framework of our government, the framers of our Constitution selected each word to express precisely their intent. When the language of Section 6(3) and Section 9 of Article V is considered in the light of the rule as to jurisdiction enunciated in Hays' Administratrix v. McNealy, supra, there can be little if any doubt that the framers of the Constitution intended to vest in the circuit courts exclusive original jurisdiction of criminal cases not cognizable in subordinate courts, but that they did not intend to prohibit the Legislature from vesting in such courts jurisdiction concurrent with that vested in a subordinate court. The provision of the same section authorizing the Legislature to vest in circuit courts "original jurisdiction" — without the qualifying word "exclusive" — of "such other matters as the Legislature might provide" is susceptible of no other construction. It is equally clear that the criminal court of record was vested with nonexclusive jurisdiction of noncapital criminal cases. Here, again, the omission of the word "exclusive" is conclusive. It has, in fact, been so held by this court in State v. Sullivan (1928) 95 Fla. 191, 116 So. 255, in which the court reaffirmed the rule of Hays' Administratrix v. McNealy, supra, and upheld a statute creating a court of crimes and vesting in it jurisdiction over misdemeanors concurrent with that of the criminal court of record. The court said:

"Jurisdiction then `is not like a grant of property which cannot have several owners at the same time.' Two or more courts may have concurrent jurisdiction of the same subject-matter, and the rule is well settled that when the Constitution or the statute in specific terms vests jurisdiction in any tribunal without the qualifying term `exclusive,' or words of equivalent import, the Legislature may in its discretion vest the like jurisdiction in another court or tribunal. Hays v. McNealy, 16 Fla. 406 * * *." 116 So. at page 259.

Nor can it be seriously contended that the provision authorizing the transfer of a case from the criminal court of record to the circuit court is an unconstitutional attempt to expand the jurisdiction of the circuit court. As noted above, Section 6(3) of Article V vests in the circuit courts jurisdiction of "such other matters as the Legislature may provide." In Ex parte Cox (1902) 44 Fla. 537, 33 So. 509, this court noted that, by this provision, the framers of the Constitution intended that the Legislature could enlarge the jurisdiction *852 of the circuit courts "in order that the courts, by the flexibility of their powers, might meet the unforeseen or growing demands engendered by new conditions. * * *" And numerous decisions of this court have upheld statutes vesting in the circuit courts jurisdiction of various matters to meet a new situation. See Pugh v. Bowden (1907) 54 Fla. 302, 45 So.

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Bluebook (online)
245 So. 2d 849, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-jones-v-wiseheart-fla-1971.