94 Neb. 780 | Neb. | 1913
In a prosecution by the state in the district court for Douglas county, Jules Althaus was convicted of violating' the legislative enactment providing that “A rate of interest not exceeding one per cent, per month may be charged by agreement on loans not exceeding $250, made for a period of one year or less, where such loans are secured
Defendant takes the position that the judgment below is erroneous, because the legislative act under which he was charged, convicted and sentenced is unconstitutional and void. A specific objection to the act is that it violates the constitutional provision prohibiting the legislature from passing local or special laws regulating the interest on money. Const., art. Ill, sec. 15. One purpose of the constitution is to require general laws operating alike upon similar rights and upon all persons of a class, and to prevent legislation affecting diversely property of like character and persons similarly situated. The wisdom of this constitutional provision is not open to controversy. Without it the equal protection of the laws to which all are entitled would be lost. To respect that part of the supreme law prohibiting special or class legislation and to allow the utmost legislative freedom consistent with constitutional limitations, the following doctrine was announced in an opinion by Judge Sullivan : “The rule established by the authorities is that, while it is competent for the legislature to classify, the classification, to be valid, must rest on some reason of public policy, some substantial difference of situation or circumstances, that would naturally suggest the justice or expediency of diverse legislation with respect to the objects classified.” State v. Farmers & Merchants Irrigation Co., 59 Neb. 1.
Tested by this rule, does the act legalizing a rate of interest not exceeding one per cent, a month on loans of $250 or less, where, they “are secured only by a chattel mortgage on household goods, musical instruments, wearing
The judgment of the district court is therefore reversed and the proceeding dismissed.
Reversed and dismissed.