268 Pa. 469 | Pa. | 1920
Opinion by
On the argument of this appeal it was suggested by the court to counsel that another question than that raised by the assignments of error, which challenges the constitutionality of the act entitled, “A supplement to
The appeal is from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Lawrence County, to which court an appeal had been taken from an award by the Workmen’s Compensation Board disallowing a claim of appellant for compensation for the injuries sustained by her husband while in the employ of the appellee, which injuries resulted in his death. From the opinion of the compensation hoard dismissing the claim we extract the following: “The avowed purpose of this appeal, as stated by counsel for the claimant, is for the purpose of challenging the constitutionality of the Act of June 3,1915, P. L. 777, exempting domestic and agricultural workers from the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act of June 2, 1915......One of the grounds of the appeal is as to the following language: ‘On November 12, 1918, Garrett H. Blake was employed by the husband of Effie M. Wilson, who was running the farm, to paint this silo, which Garrett H. Blake agreed to do for about $15,’ etc.
“Under the amended Compensation Act we will modify this finding of fact for the purposes of this appeal and find that Effie M. Wilson was the owner of the said farm, was operating it in her own behalf, and that her husband was her authorized agent in employing the said Garrett H. Blake to perform the said work. In other words, there is no question about the responsibility of Effie M. Wilson, as owning and operating her own farm, and liability if the exemption under consideration is unconstitutional.”
No other facts are needed than those we have here. The concluding sentence states a legal proposition, the affirmance of which would negative the suggested ques
The Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1915 by section 104 expressly excludes from the operation of its provisions “persons whose employment is casual in character and not in the regular course of the business of the employer.” The person injured was a workman in the employ of the appellee, a married woman, the owner of the farm upon which she resided and which she operated in her own behalf. Outside the operation of her farm she was engaged in no other business activity. She had begun the construction of a silo upon this farm, the work on which had been interrupted for some time. What remained to complete it was to roof the structure and paint it. She engaged the husband of the claimant to finish the job, and it was while he was so engaged that he met with the accident that caused his death. Was the employment in which he was so engaged casual in character and not in the regular course of the business of his employer? It may be conceded that the several terms in the exemption clause above quoted are so far ambiguous as to be fairly susceptible of more than one meaning. When such uncertainty arises in legislative enactments, the duty of interpreting the meaning of the legislature, as it may be derived from the language used, devolves upon the court. .The one rule which the court is allowed to apply in such case is limited to a consideration of the objects of the enactment, its purpose, and the appropriateness of the language used to the supposed purpose, in view of the legislature. There can be no two views as to the general purpose of the act in question. All will agree that its primary and general purpose was to substitute a method of accident insurance in place of common law rights and liabilities for substantially all employees, except such as are by express terms or necessary implication excluded from its operation. It corresponds, so far as general purpose is concerned, with a like act in Massachusetts, of which it has been said in
We pass to the question, — Is the language, used in denoting exceptions to the act, appropriate to the supposed purpose the legislature had in view? A primary and general purpose of the act was, as we have said, to afford a workman a measure of protection against injuries and relief in case of accident, which was denied under existing law. The exception of certain classes of labor in the act is conclusive that it was not intended by the act to extend its benefits to all of the laboring classes. It is only so much of the act as defines the exceptions that we are concerned with in the present inquiry, and the inquiry may be limited still further to only so much of the exceptions as have been held applicable to the present case, and this would limit the consideration to the words “exclusive of persons whose employment is casual in character and not in the regular course of the business of the employer.” We have said that the words here employed to designate the class excluded are so far ambiguous, that is to say, lacking in precise and definite meaning, as to be fairly susceptible of more than one meaning. But this does not answer the present inquiry. Whatever else by construction they may be made to embrace, the only question is: Do they with sufficient
The question remains, was the employment itself in the regular course of the employer’s business? In the case of Marsh v. Groner, 258 Pa. 473, we found occasion to place interpretation upon the phrase “in the regular course of the business of the employer,” as used in this act. The claim in that case was for compensation for injuries received by a person employed by a married woman who, as owner of her house, was engaged in remodelling it and had employed a workman to do some plastering in connection therewith. While the workman there was so engaged the scaffolding on which he was standing gave way and in the fall he sustained the injury he complained of. It was nowhere suggested that aside from the remodelling of her home the woman sought to be charged with liability had anything of a business character to engage her time and attention. It was contended that the mere circumstances of the owner being engaged in the work of enlarging her home, the time consumed in this work, — the best part of a year, — constituted her a person engaged in regular business and made her liable under the act to any employee who might be injured while engaged upon such work. In the opinion in that case, sustaining the rejection of the claim by the court below, we said: “What gives rise to the question is the indefiniteness and want of precision of meaning
“Statutes are presumed to employ words in their popular sense, and when the words used are susceptible of more than one meaning, the popular meaning will prevail. Where the meaning involves no absurdity and is not in conflict with the other parts of the act, it is the only one that can be presumed to have been intended and there is no room for construction: Cooley on Constitutional Limitations, pi. 68. There are few words more current in our speech than the word ‘business’; few that include a greater variety of subjects and yet none which, in popular speech, has greater or more marked singleness in denotement. When one’s business is the subject of common speech, no one can be in doubt as to the reference. It would be a very exceptional person — we do not know how to otherwise describe him— who would not understand that the reference is to the habitual or regular occupation that the party was engaged in with a view to winning a livelihood or some gain. These objects are necessarily implied when one’s business is spoken of......What we have said as to the popular understanding of the word ‘Business’ is just what Webster defines it, ‘Some particular occupation or employment habitually engaged in for livelihood or gain.’ The points of difference between the employment the defendant was engaged in and the business which is contemplated by the act and understood in common
With such understanding of the legislative meaning of the word “business” as it is here employed, it ought not to be difficult to interpret the true meaning of the phrase “in the regular course of the employer’s business.” With the particular object determined, the regular course of the business can only refer to the experience and custom in the conduct of the business as is of usual, if not daily, occurrence and observation. It is suggested that if such had been the meaning the legislature intended to convey, an apter expression would have been “in the course of the regular business of the employer.” We think, on the contrary, such change in phraseology would have made the thought obscure. Not only so, but there can be no warrant for transposition of the terms; the meaning, as it stands, is not doubtful when it is considered that the word “regular,” as it is used, does not qualify the word “business” but the course of the conduct of that business; when that is “regular” the condition of the act has been met.
Upon this further review of the act we see no reason why we should not adhere to the interpretation of the
Because of the views expressed in this opinion we have reached the conclusion that the claim for compensation in this case falls within the exceptions expressed in section 104 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1915, P. L. 736; because the employment in which the injury was sustained was casual, and not in the regular course of the employer’s business. It was therefore properly refused, and we now so decide. Even though we were to agree with appellant in the contention so vigorously pressed that the act entitled “A supplement to an act entitled ‘The Workman’s Compensation Act of 1915,’
Judgment is affirmed.
The foregoing opinion written by Mr. Justice Stewart was adopted by the court after his death and is now filed as its opinion. Per Curiam.