State v. Emerson

10 A.2d 515, 40 Del. 328, 1 Terry 328, 1939 Del. LEXIS 51
Superior Court of Delaware·Decided December 29, 1939·No. No. 266·Published·Cited by 23 cases

Opinion

Rodney, J.,

delivering the opinion of the Court:

We shall consider these questions in their order, as presented by the Relator. The Relator contends:

1 (a) That under Art. II, Sec. 19 of the Delaware Constitution of 1897 the Act required an affirmative vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House of the General Assembly, and

(b) That under Art. VIII, Sec. 3 of the Constitution the Act required an affirmative vote of three-fourths of all the members of each House.

The Relator contends that the Act in question did not receive either the two-thirds vote required under one provision, nor the three-fourths vote required under the other, and therefore was not validly enacted.

The defendants claim that the Court may not examine into the quantum of votes as shown by the Legislative Journals, for they claim that the Enrolled Bill Doctrine has been [334]*334adopted by Constitutional Amendment as the law of the State of Delaware, and that under that doctrine the enrollment of the Bill has determined the validity of its passage.

The Relator denies that the Courts are precluded from considering the legislative vote where the issue is whether or not a Bill was passed by the majority prescribed by the Constitution.

It is unnecessary in this case to determine the applicability of the Enrolled Bill Doctrine, for it is conceded by both sides to this controversy that the Act in question was passed in the first instance by a majority of votes in each House of Assembly and, after veto by the Governor, by three-fifths of all the members elected to each House. We must first then determine whether there be any constitutional provision requiring in the first instance a greater vote for this Act than a majority vote, and this inquiry leads us directly to the Relator’s contentions, which will be considered in their order.

(a) The Relator contends that, for the passage of the Bill, it was required by Art. II, Sec. 19, that such Bill should receive a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House. The provision is as follows:

“The General Assembly shall not pass any local or special law relating to fences; the straying of livestock; ditches; the creation or changing the boundaries of school districts; or the laying out, opening, alteration, maintenance or vacation, in whole or in part of any road, highway, street, lane or alley; [provided, however, that the General Assembly may by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House pass laws relating to the laying out, opening, alteration or maintenance of any road or highway which forms a continuous road or highway extending through at least a portion of the three counties of the State.]”

The first part of the section, and down to the word “provided”, was the original section as adopted in 1897. The concluding portion of the section, commencing with the word “provided” and included in the square brackets, [335]*335was proposed as an amendment in 1911 (Vol. 26, c. 2, Laws of Delaware), and adopted in 1913 (Vol. 27, c. 2).

Prior to 1897 the Legislature had plenary power to enact local and special legislation on almost any subject, and our Session Laws are replete with instances of the exercise of that right. Many States, however, at an early date perceived that unlimited special or local legislation encouraged legislative trading, log-rolling, and the advancement of private rather than public or general interests. Most jurisdictions have, today, constitutional provisions limiting the power of the Legislature to enact special or local laws. 25 R. C. L. 820; Note, 93 Am. St. Rep. 106. This was the origin and the reason for Art. II, Sec. 19 of the Delaware Constitution. By this section the Legislature was absolutely prohibited from passing special or local laws with reference to a number of subjects — of which we are now only interested in roads and highways. By the section the Legislature was absolutely prohibited from passing local or special laws with reference to “the laying out, opening, alteration, maintenance or vacation, in whole or in part of any road, highway, street, lane or alley.”

It mattered not whether such local or special legislation was passed by a majority vote, by two-thirds majority, or passed unanimously. The Legislature from 1897 and until 1918 was absolutely prohibited from enacting such local or special legislation. At no timé, however, was the Legislature prevented from affecting such subjects by general law. As to this they had unlimited authority.

Such was the situation when the amendment to the Constitution was adopted March 17, 1913 (Vol. 27, c. 2). The defendants suggest that the amendment proposed in 1911 was a step in the development of the duPont Highway, which had been inaugurated in 1911, and that the amendment was designed as a means to permit, if neces[336]*336sary, special legislation with reference to that highway. Some of the history of that road may be found in Clendaniel v. Conrad, 3 Boyce (26 Del.) 549, 83 A. 1036, Ann. Cas. 1915B, 968. The relation of the dates lends some plausibility to the suggestion, but we are not concerned with the origin but rather with the effect of the amendment.

The defendants deny that Art. II, Sec. 19 of the Constitution has any bearing whatever on the present Act. The present Act, they contend, has nothing whatever to do with the “laying out, opening, alteration, maintenance or vacation, in whole or in part of any road, highway, street, lane or alley”; that the present Act merely provides for the reorganization of the Highway Department as to its membership and such other modifications as are made necessary by the change of personnel. Passing this question for the moment, we come directly to the Constitutional Amendment.

The defendants contend that both the purpose and effect of the Amendment was solely to allow the Legislature by a two-thirds vote of each House to adopt special or local legislation with reference to the “laying out, opening, alteration or maintenance of any road or highway which forms a continuous road or highway extending through at least a portion of the three counties of the State.” In other words, the defendants claim that prior to the Amendment the Legislature could pass any general law with reference to roads or highways, but could pass no special or local law, whatever, pertaining to that subject; that after the Amendment the Legislature could still, as previously, pass any general law with reference to roads or highways, and could by the required vote of two-thirds of each House pass local or special laws with reference to continuous roads or highways which ran at least in some portion of each of the three counties of the State.

[337]*337It is conceded that the Act under discussion is a general Act.

The Relator concedes that prior to the Amendment the Legislature could pass any general Act with relation to roads or highways, and could pass no local or special laws, whatever, with reference to that subject. The Relator also concedes that the

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State v. Emerson, 10 A.2d 515, 40 Del. 328, 1 Terry 328, 1939 Del. LEXIS 51 (Del. Ct. App. 1939).

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