54 S.E.2d 267 | Ga. | 1949
Section 1 of the act of 1943 (Ga. L. 1943, p. 538) — which provides: "No court, commission, or quasi-judicial body shall discriminate against any person because of his illegitimate birth" — does not amend § 105-1302 of the Code of 1933, so as to authorize an illegitimate child or children to recover damages for the tortious death of the father.
We may state at the outset that such a right did not exist at common law, and if an illegitimate child may now maintain an action in this State to recover damages in such a case, the right to do so must be found in our statutes. Robinson v. Ga. R. Bkg. Co.,
As we view that section of the act relied upon in the present case, it does not purport to amend any existing law and amounts only to an effort on the part of the legislature to perform a judicial function in violation of article 1, section 1, paragraph 23, of the Constitution of 1945, by directing the judiciary concerning the construction which it should place upon the law. Accordingly, the question certified is answered in the negative.
Question answered. All the Justices concur. Atkinson, P. J.,concurs in the result, but not in all that is said in theopinion.