State ex rel. Robertson Realty Co. v. Guilbert

75 Ohio St. (N.S.) 1
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 16, 1906
DocketNo. 10092
StatusPublished

This text of 75 Ohio St. (N.S.) 1 (State ex rel. Robertson Realty Co. v. Guilbert) 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
State ex rel. Robertson Realty Co. v. Guilbert, 75 Ohio St. (N.S.) 1 (Ohio 1906).

Opinion

Davis, J.

This case fairly involves an issue as to the legal existence of the select investigating committee which was appointed by a resolution of the Senate. The auditor of state is made the chief accounting officer of the state and no money can lawfully be drawn out of the treasury except upon [43]*43his warrant; and it is required that “he shall not draw any warrant on the treasurer for any claim unless he finds the same legal, and that there is money in the treasury which has been duly appropriated to pay the same” (Revised Statutes, Sections 153, 154). The only appropriation for such purpose which is available at present, is an appropriation for “contingent fund of the Senate for the use of select investigating committees” (98 O. L., 42). This is not an appropriation specifically for this committee; but it is clearly an appropriation for the contingent fund of the Senate for the use of any select investigating committee or committees. Presumably it is appropriated’ for the use of any select investigating committee which has been legally constituted for a legal purpose. The auditor of state declines to issue his warrant for the payment of expenses of this committee, claiming that the Senate exceeded its constitutional powers in appointing the committee. ^

The broad claim is made for the relator that the right to gather information in its own way, for the .purposes of legislation, inheres in the Senate as a legislative body; and that it is “a right fundamental to legislation and not denied by the Constitution.” But whatever inherent power the General Assembly in its entirety may possess by virtue of its being the repository of the whole legislative power of the state, we do not think that it follows as a conclusion that one of its constituent parts must likewise possess the same inherent powers. It may be conceded that either branch of the General Assembly has all such powers as are necessarily implied in the express grant of powers to it by the Constitution; [44]*44but under the system of distribution of powers in the American Constitutions, and especially under the Constitution of Ohio, which is explicit in excluding from the legislative department the exercise of any power which is not delegated in the Constitution (Article I, Section 20), the authority of a single branch of the Legislature to act separately must be found in express terms or by necessary implication in the Constitution.

" It is clear that “the legislative power,” whatever may be the extent of that power which is conferred upon the General Assembly, is not expressly delegated to a part of the General Assembly. Nor is it inrpliedly so delegated. The Constitution explicitly grants and defines the separate powers of each branch of the General Assemblyand all powers which are not delegated to each house are expressly reserved to the people. The powers of each house are not general and subject only to limitation in the'' Constitution, as is the legislative power of the entire General Assembly; but they are specific or enumerated powers. As to these, the provisions of the Constitution are grants of power limited by the reservations of Article I, Section 20. We therefore must look to the enumerated powers alone to determine this question; and it were just as sane to claim that either branch of the Legislature might, by itself, enact a law, as to claim that by “inherent power” it could independently exercise any legislative power outside of those specifically delegated in the Constitution.

Precedents and usages drawn from English parliamentary practice can not safely guide us; because, as has been often pointed out, the Par[45]*45liament was originally a high court of judicature and both houses thereof still retain many of their ancient judicial functions; and Parliament is in no manner restrained by the limitations of a written Constitution. Nor should the remarks or rulings of courts in cases where the questions now under discussion were not distinctly in issue and carefully considered, be followed without caution, and especially so where the constitutional and statutory provisions vary from those of this state. We may say, however, that the doctrine of inherent powers, as laid down in Anderson v. Dunn, 6 Wheat., 204, and followed many times in this country, has been very much weakened if not entirely overturned by the principles established in Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U. S. Reports, 168.

The latter case, in a remarkable opinion by Mr. Justice Miller, established the following propositions from which the judgment in that case was reached: 1. The powers of either house of Congress must be found in some express grant in the Constitution, or be such as are necessary to carry into effect such powers as are expressly granted. 2. That the theory of inherent powers announced in Anderson v. Dunn, supra, is unsound and should be rejected, and 3. “that the resolution of the House of Representatives authorizing the investigation was in excess of the power conferred on that body by the Constitution.” That such is the effect of Kilbourn v. Thompson, was recognized by this court in Ex parte Dalton, 44 Ohio St., 142, in the opinion by Owen, C. J., at page 151. It is true that all of these cases involved the question of the power of a legislative body to punish for contempt, and it [46]*46is also true that the Supreme Court of the United States in Kilbourn v. Thompson expressly declined to pass upon the existence or non-existence of a power in either house of Congress in aid of legislation, because it was not necessary to a decision of the case; but it nevertheless remains true as the doctrine of that case that any power claimed by Congress, or either branch of it, must be found in the Constitution or necessarily implied from it. The same principle must apply to the General Assembly of Ohio and its constituent branches, because all powers not delegated in the Constitution of Ohio, remain with the people. Article I, Section 20.

Therefore, looking into the Constitution for the authority claimed here, what do we find? The whole legislative power of the state, whatever that may include, is vested in the General Assembly,, consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives (Article II, Section 1); and it is provided that the General Assembly shall not exercise any judicial power which is not expressly conferred in the Constitution (Article II, Section 32). Assuming that the power which is claimed here is conferred by these sections of the Constitution upon the General Assembly as a whole, does it follow that the same power is conferred upon each of its constituent parts? Certainly not. A substantive legislative act, that is, one which is not merely a matter of procedure, must be performed by the General Assembly and not by some of its constituent parts. For that reason the Constitution proceeds to define the powers of each branch of the General Assembly. These provisions need not be quoted here. They are found in Article [47]*47II, Sections 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17 and 23. Here, and here only, are found the powers granted to the Senate or House acting separately. The power of seeking information for general legislative purposes is not found here, and it is not implied unless it be necessary to the proper exercise of the special jurisdiction which is expressly granted to either branch of the General Assembly, as, for example, the judging of the election, returns and qualifications of its own members, the expulsion of a member, etc.

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Related

Anderson v. Dunn
19 U.S. 204 (Supreme Court, 1821)
People, Ex Rel. McDonald v. . Keeler
2 N.E. 615 (New York Court of Appeals, 1885)

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Bluebook (online)
75 Ohio St. (N.S.) 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-robertson-realty-co-v-guilbert-ohio-1906.