State v. Cameron

89 Ohio St. (N.S.) 214
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 13, 1914
DocketNo. 14392
StatusPublished

This text of 89 Ohio St. (N.S.) 214 (State v. Cameron) 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 v. Cameron, 89 Ohio St. (N.S.) 214 (Ohio 1914).

Opinions

Wanamaker, J.

Isaac B. Cameron and Cyrus Huling were jointly indicted by the grand jury of Franklin county, Ohio, under favor of Revised [215]*215Statutes, Section 6841, as in force in the month of May, 1903, for the unlawful conversion of public money belonging to the state of Ohio.

To this indictment the defendants demurred, and were sustained by the court of common pleas. The state thereupon excepted to such ruling and brings •its exceptions to this court for a decision as to the law, under favor of Sections 13681 to 13684, inclusive, General Code.

Upon the filing of such bill of exceptions by the state of Ohio, counsel appointed by the court of common pleas to sustain its judgment upon the demurrer filed a motion to strike said bill of exceptions from the files upon the ground that the supreme court of Ohio is now without jurisdiction in the premises, claiming that, by the adoption of the new constitution, said statutes are by implication repealed.

The sole question, therefore, before this court is whether or not under the new constitution of 1912 the sections of the General Code above referred to, to-wit, 13681 to 13684, inclusive, are still in force, or, upon the contrary, have they been repealed by reason of the fact that they are repugnant to and inconsistent with the new constitution.

The schedule of the constitution of 1912 here applicable reads as follows:

“The several amendments passed and submitted by this convention when adopted at the election shall take effect on the first day of January, 1913, except as otherwise specifically provided by the schedule attached to any of said amendments. All laws then in force, not inconsistent therewith shall continue in force until amended or repealed.”

[216]*216It is conceded that these statutes in question have not been expressly amended or repealed, but it is claimed that they are impliedly repealed because of inconsistency with the plain provisions of the new constitutional amendment.

It is conceded upon all hands that, under the constitution of 1851', all appellate jurisdiction conferred upon the supreme court had to be conferred by an act of the general assembly of Ohio.

Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution of 185! reads as follows: “It shall have original jurisdiction in quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus and procedendo, and such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law.”

It is likewise' admitted on all hands that, under the new constitution, all appellate jurisdiction that the supreme court may exercise is conferred directly by the constitution itself. See Section 2, Article IV, as amended September 3, 1912. Of course, this does not include the revisory jurisdiction of administration boards.

And it must further be conceded that the new constitution confers on the supreme court all and absolute appellate jurisdiction in “cases of felony,” and that the only qualification upon such full and complete appellate jurisdiction under the new constitution “in cases of felony” is in the language “on leave first obtained.”

v Appellate jurisdiction under the new constitution is as comprehensive as any that the legislature might have conferred under the old constitution.

The legislature not having any authority under the new constitution to confer appellate jurisdiction, and it being contended that the statutes in [217]*217question whose survival is here denied do assume to confer jurisdiction, therefore, it is vigorously-contended that the legislature being without power in this behalf, its acts in this respect become at once null and void by reason of their being inconsistent with and repugnant to the present constitution; and hence that they are effectually repealed by implication.

Questions of this character frequently arose under the constitution of 1851. Judge Thurman, in the old case of Cass v. Dillon, 2 Ohio St., 607, lays down the correct rule for determining what statutes are preserved and what sections fall by reason of changes made in the state constitution. The syllabus of that case, so far as applicable here, is as follows:

“All laws in force when the latter [the new constitution] took effect, and which were not inconsistent with it, would have remained in force without an express provision to that effect; and all inconsistent laws fell simply because they were inconsistent; in other words, all repugnant laws were repealed by implication.

“The rule, that repeals by implication are not favored, is applicable to the inquiry whether any particular enactment has ceased to be in force on account of repugnancy to the new constitution. Ohio, ex rel. Evans, v. Dudley, 1 Ohio St., 437, approved.

“The repugnancy which must cause the law to fall, must be necessary and obvious; if by any fair course of reasoning, the law and the constitution can be reconciled, the law must stand.”

Now it has been determined by this court in a recent case, 87 Ohio St., 313, State of Ohio v. Cox, [218]*218that the sections in question did “confer appellate jurisdiction upon the supreme court in criminal cases to the extent and for the purposes specified in these sections.” In short, therefore, the court has held in the Cox case, supra, that jurisdiction to determine merely a question of law is proper appellate jurisdiction, though the procedure is largely ex parte, and though the judgment of the supreme court in such cases cannot' in any wise affect the parties below.

Now the sections in question, so far as they assume to confer appellate jurisdiction, confer a power upon this court that is already conferred by the constitution. But does that of itself make those sections inconsistent with or repugnant to the constitution according to the Judge Thurman rule ?

The mere fact that an act of the general assembly covers the identical subject-matter, even in the identical way that the constitution covers it, does not render such an act of the general assembly necessarily inconsistent with or obviously repugnant to the constitution. Upon the contrary, it is absolutely consistent with and conformable to the constitution. It is fairly reconcilable therewith because in phrase and fact it attempts to do the same thing that the constitution has already done.

In short, as a legislative provision, it is a sort of duplicate of the constitutional provision. How two things that are duplicates of each other can be necessarily and obviously repugnant to each other is beyond human reason. While a statutory [219]*219provision that attempts to do the same thing that a constitutional provision has theretofore done is wholly unnecessary and ineffectual, still it cannot be fairly said, therefore, to be necessarily inconsistent and obviously repugnant to and irreconcilable with the constitution.

If the statute exceeded the power conferred by the constitution, then to the degree of the excess clearly that must fall by reason of repugnance. If, however, the power conferred by the legislature be less than the power conferred by the constitution, so far as the same is conferred it is not unconstitutional, because it is in entire harmony with the constitution.

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Bluebook (online)
89 Ohio St. (N.S.) 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cameron-ohio-1914.