State v. Yardley

95 Tenn. 546
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 9, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by67 cases

This text of 95 Tenn. 546 (State v. Yardley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee 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. Yardley, 95 Tenn. 546 (Tenn. 1895).

Opinion

Caldwell, J.

Sallie Yardley was indicted for [550]*550obtaining accommodations, as a boarder, in the boarding house of Amanda Smith, in Knoxville, and thereafter unlawfully and surreptitiously removing hex-baggage and property from said boarding house, without the consent of the proprietor thereof or the payment of her bill. On motion of the defendant the indictment was quashed, and the State appealed in error.

The substance of the motion to quash is as follows: That the Act upon which the indictment is based is unconstitutional (1) because its subject is not stated in the title; (2) because the title embraces moré than one subject; (3) because the Act seeks to repeal, amend, and revive former laws, and does not recite in its caption, or otherwise, the title or substance of the laws repealed, amended, or revived; and (4) because the Act’1 was intended to make the creation of certain debts a criminal offense, punishable by imprisonment.

The Court adjudged all the grounds of the motion well taken, and, therefore, held the indictment bad.

The Act in question is in the following words and figures:

“AN ACT to protect hotel, inn, and boarding- house keepers.
11 Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That persons who shall, at anjr hotel, inn, or boarding house, order and receive, or cause to be furnished, any food or accommodation, with intent to defraud the owner or [551]*551proprietor of such hotel, inn, or boarding house out of the value or price of such food or accommodation; and any person who shall obtain credit at any hotel, inn, or boarding house, by the use of any false pretense or device, or by fraudulently depositing at such hotel, inn, or boarding house any baggage or property of Jess value than the amount of such credit, or of the bill by such person incurred, unless credit be given by express agreement; and any person who, after obtaining credit or accommodation at any hotel, inn, or boarding house, and shall surreptitiously remove his or her baggage or property therefrom, shall, upon conviction, be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished accordingly.
££Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That proof that lodging, food, or other accommodation, was obtained by false pretense, or by false or fictitious .show or pretense of baggage; or that the party refused to pay for such food, lodging, or accommodation on demand; or that he absconded without paying, or offering to pay, for such food, lodging, or other accommodation; or that he surreptitiously removed, or attempted to remove, his or her baggage, shall be prima facie proof of the fraudulent intent mentioned in Section 1 of this Act.
££Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That at any time after thirty (30) days after the person incurring the debt or obligation has left the hotel, inn, or boarding house, and the debt or obligation being still due and unpaid, the owner or proprietor of said hotel, [552]*552inn, or boarding- house, may sell, at public auction, for cash, at hotel or boarding house office, any or all baggage or property, left at said hotel, inn, or boarding house, to satisfy said debt or obligation, without ’ any . process at law or equity; Provided, That said sale shall be advertised by written ox-printed posters for at least ten days before said sale.
‘ ‘ Siso. 4. Be it further enacted, That all laws, and parts of laws, in conflict with this Act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.” Acts 1895, Ch. 67.

It will be observed that the indictment before us is framed under the third clause of the first section of the Act, which we have indicated by italics. The Act is assailed as a whole, in its title and in its body, and as a whole we consider it, treating the objections made in the motion to quash in the order in which they are heretofore mentioned.

The first and second objections are directed at the title of the Act, and. are intended to invoke the second clause - of Section 17 of Article II. of the State Constitution, which clause declares that “no bill shall become a law which embraces more than one subject, that subject to be expressed in the title.” That requirement of the organic law is mandatory, and, unless obeyed in every instance, the legislation attempted is invalid and of no effect whatever. Cannon v. Mathes, 8 Heis., 518; Cole Manufacturing Co. v. Falls, 90 Tenn., 482.

1. The subject of the present Act is protection [553]*553to hotel, inn, and boarding house keepers, and that subject is plainly and unmistakably expressed in the title, which is as follows: £tAn Act to protect hotel, inn, and boarding house keepers.” It is a vain impeachment of the law to say that it is bad because the means or instrumentalities by which that protection is to be afforded are not recited in the title. Recitation of details in the title of an Act is not necessary to its validity. It is sufficient to state the object in the title, and the manner of its accomplishment in the body of the Act. Luerhman v. Taxing District, 2 Lea, 425; Ex parte Griffin, 88 Tenn., 547; Railroads v. Crider, 91 Tenn., 494.

A late author says: “In regard to the particularity required in the title of a statute, it is the accepted doctrine that it is sufficient if the title describes, with adeqiiate clearness, the general purpose and scope of the Act. It need not amount to an index or epitome of the statute, nor is it necessary that the title should set forth the modes, means, or instrumentalities provided in the law for its administration and enforcement.” Black’s Const. Law, Sec. 107.

It cannot be truly said, therefore, that the title .under consideration does not express the subject of legislation because it fails to indicate the particular provisions to be made. Nor can it be successfully contended that it fails to express the subject because of the general terms used for that purpose. Generality of title is not objectionable, so long as [554]*554it is not made to. cover legislation incongruous in itself, or which, by fair intendment, may not be considered as having a necessary or proper connection with the subject expressed. Cooley’s Const. Lim. (5th Ed.), p. 174; Cannon v. Muthes, 8 Heis., 519; Frazier v. Railway Co., 88 Tenn., 140; State v. Wilson, 12 Lea, 247; Greene v. State, 15 Lea, 711.

2. The title does not embrace more than one subject. That it names its proposed beneficiaries in three classes — as, hotel keepers, inn keepers, and boarding house keepers — does not make it double; and yet there is no other ground even so plausible as that upon which to rest the insistence that it embraces more than one subject. The number of persons or classes of persons or kinds of business to be affected by a particular Act has no bearing upon the question as to whether the title embraces one subject or more. The subject expressed in the title may be single, and still authorize legislation for every individual in the State, as in case of general assessment Acts, etc.

3.

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Bluebook (online)
95 Tenn. 546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-yardley-tenn-1895.