State v. Kline

93 P. 237, 50 Or. 426, 1907 Ore. LEXIS 221
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 93 P. 237 (State v. Kline) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon 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. Kline, 93 P. 237, 50 Or. 426, 1907 Ore. LEXIS 221 (Or. 1907).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Moore

delivered the opinion of the court.

The defendants, Charles M. Ivline and Merwin McMaines, were jointly convicted in a justice’s court of Benton County of the crime of selling and giving away intoxicating liquor with a purpose of evading the provisions of the local option law of Oregon, alleged to have been committed in that county, August 18, 1905. by then and there unlawfully selling and giving away, with such intent, intoxicating liquor to one Thomas Bell, at which time the sale of that kind of drink had been prohibited in the entire municipality, stating when and how the interdiction was effected, and further averring that the law was then and there in full force and effect. The defendants appealed from the sentences imposed upon them to the circuit court for that county, where the cause was tried anew, and McMaines acquitted ; but Kline was convicted, and, from the judgment which followed, he appeals to this court.

1. It is contended by his counsel that an error was committed in refusing to grant a change of venue. To secure a transfer of the cause to another county for trial, the defendant interposed a motion which states that it was based on affidavits filed therewith. A number of - affidavits, newspaper clippings and other papers were fastened together and sent up to this court, but they are not made a part of the bill of exceptions or identified in any manner by the trial judge. A motion to secure a change of venue in an action for a felony, when a transfer of the cause is objected to, raises an issue which must be determined by the court from an inspection of affidavits: B. & C. Comp. § 1250.

[430]*4302. These Avritten declarations under oath constitute the proof, which, like all other evidence, must be incorporated in a bill of exceptions and transmitted to this court, in order that the action of the trial court may be reviewed on appeal, if assigned as error. The affidavits referred to, though certified by the clerk, do not make them a part of the bill of exceptions, and hence the question suggested, even if the crime charged were a felony, is not before us for consideration: State v. Clements, 15 Or. 237 (14 Pac. 410); Roberts v. Parrish, 17 Or. 583 (22 Pac. 136); Craft v. Dalles City, 21 Or. 53 (27 Pac. 163); Fisher v. Kelly, 26 Or. 249 (38 Pac. 67); Farrell v. Oregon Gold Co. 31 Or. 463 (49 Pac. 876); Nosler v. Coos Bay Navigation Co. 40 Or. 305 (63 Pac. 1050, 64 Pac. 855); Multnomah County v. Willamette Towing Co. 49 Or. 204 (89 Pac. 389).

3. It is also maintained that the court erred in denying the defendants’ motion to grant separate trials. When two or more persons are jointly charged with the commission of a felony, any defendant requiring it must be tried separately, but in all other cases the granting of a separate trial is a matter of discretion : B. & C. Comp. § 1395. The crime charged in the case at bar is only a misdemeanor, and as the bill of exceptions does not show that the discretion reposed in the trial court Avas abused, its action in refusing to grant separate trials was not erroneous.

4. It is insisted that the local option liquor laAV, the proAdsions of which Kline is charged with having violated, was initiated by a petition and ratified by a vote of the electors of Oregon, but the enactment was not submitted to the Governor for his approval ox rejection, and for that reason it never became operative. The amendment of Section 1 of Article IV of the constitution of Oregon (B. & C. Comp. p. 72) contains the following clause: “The veto power of the Governor shall not extend to measures referred to the people.” As this amendment proAÜdes that the referendum may be ordered either by petition of the electors or by the legislative assembly, it might seem reasonably to be inferred from the limitation of the Governor’s authority, that he could annul any measure initiated by [431]*431petition. In a democratic form of government, the authority of an executive to set aside an. enactment of the legislative department is not an inherent power, and can be exercised only when sanctioned by a constitutional provision. The fundamental laws of Delaware, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island do not confer the veto power on the Governors of those states.

5. In this State, prior to the amendment referred to of the constitution, every bill which passed the legislative assembly was required to be presented to the Governor before it became a law: Const. Or. Article V, Section 15. This provision of the organic act was impliedly changed by the amendment unde? consideration, so as practically to insert in the original the following parenthetic clause, to-wit:

“Every bill which shall have passed the legislative assembly (except such as may, by order of' that body, be referred to the people for their sanction or rejection) shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor,” etc.

The amendment of Section 1 of Article IV of our constitution does not direct that a proposed law, when enacted by the people, pursuant to an exercise of the initiative power reserved, shall, before it becomes operative, be presented to the Governor; and hence the chief executive of this State is powerless either to approve or repudiate a measure passed in the manner indicated. The local option law of Oregon was proposed by initiative petitions, and approved by a majority vote of the electors, June 6, 1904, and took effect 18 days thereafter, conformable to the Governor’s proclamation and without his approval.

6. It is urged that an error was committed in .admitting the evidence, over objection and exception, a certified copy of the order of the County Court of Benton County, declaring the result of the election, held under the local option law, and absolutely prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors within that municipality, without first having introduced in evidence, as a foundation for such prescription, the petition initiating the right to call the election, the notices issued in pursuance of such call and the proof of posting the notices. A clause of the local [432]*432option law relating to the action of a county court in declaring the result of an election, held to determine whether or not the sale of intoxicating liquor should be prohibited, is as follows:

“The order thus made shall be held to be prima fade evidence that all the provisions of the law have been complied with in giving notice of and holding said election, and in counting and returning the votes and declaring the result thereof”: Laws 1905, p. 47, § 10.

Prima fade evidence is that degree of proof which, unexplained or uncontradicted, is alone sufficient to establish the truth of a legal principle asserted by a party: 1 Jones Ev. § 7.

7. The provision of the law quoted casts upon a party to a criminal action, who is charged with violating the terms of the local option enactment, the burden of overthrowing such prima fade proof, by introducing in evidence the writings which constitute the alleged irregularity of the proceedings, upon which the order of prohibition is primarily based, without which statutory declaration of the character of proof, it would have been incumbent upon the State to establish the validity of the several initiatory steps necessary to the making of an efficacious order declaring the result of the election, and prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors in the territory specified: Strode

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 P. 237, 50 Or. 426, 1907 Ore. LEXIS 221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kline-or-1907.