153 Va. 57 | Va. | 1929
delivered the opinion of the court.
The C. I. T. Corporation, hereinafter called thelienor, complains of a judgment forfeiting to the Commonwealth one Nash coupe, which was found in this-State transporting ardent spirits contrary to law.
The information against the' automobile having been, filed, the lienor obtained permission to intervene as a party defendant thereto, and filed its answer, in which it sought to set up a valid lien against the automobile. The attorney for the Commonwealth filed a demurrer-to the company’s answer, which the court sustained (under Code 1924, section 4675 (28) as amended), and entered the order confiscating the automobile which is-here complained of, upon the ground “that Hillary C. Davis, the owner of said automobile, was neither a.
The answer of the lienor avers that it is a corporation duly, organized under the laws of New York and authorized to deal in what is commonly known as automobile commercial paper; that for valuable consideration it became the assignee of a certain conditional sale contract and became also the assignee and legal holder of a negotiable note drawn by Hillary C. Davis, representing the deferred purchase price of the automobile; that before it became the assignee of the contract between the vendor and Davis it made inquiries for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not he had the reputation of violating the State and national prohibition laws, as the result of which it was not even intimated that he had ever violated those laws or had been suspected of doing so; that the conditional sale contract was duly recorded in Wyoming county, West Virginia, in accordance with the laws of that State pertaining to the recordation of conditional sale contracts, in order to preserve the lien retained and secured thereby; that pursuant to the contract the entire amount of the' note had been declared to be due; that D.avis was and is a citizen of West Virginia, where he has resided, for four years; that he had perfected and registered his license for the automobile in accordance with the laws of the State of West Virginia prior to its seizure in this State; that the lienor is authorized under the laws of Virginia to transact business in this State; that it was ignorant of the fact that the automobile was being used for illegal purposes; that its lien is bona fide; and the answer contained every other allegation necessary to show that it claimed to be a bona fide
The lienor excepted to this judgment of the court in sustaining the demurrer to its answer upon these grounds:
“(1) That section 4675 (28), 1928, Michie’s Supplement to the Virginia Code of 1924, is contrary to the Constitution of the United States, in that it—
“(a) . Denies to the company equal protection of the laws of the State of Virginia; and
“(b) Deprives the company of its property without due process of law; and
“(2) Is contrary to section 11 of the Constitution of Virginia, as
“(c) Depriving the company of its property without due process of law.”
So much of the statute referred to as it is necessary for us to consider is found in clauses “h” and “i”, amended Acts 1928, pages 990-995, chapter 374 (amending Code 1924, section 4675 (28), as amended).
Clause “h” refers to the claim of the owner, and provides that if he was “the actual bona fide owner of said conveyance at the time of seizure, that he was ignorant of such illegal use thereof, and that such illegal use was without his connivance or consent, express or implied, and that such innocent owner is a resident of the State of Virginia, or of the District of Columbia, and has perfected his title to the conveyance, if it be a motor vehicle, prior to its seizure, or within ten days from the time the same was acquired, and such owner a resident of Virginia, in the office of the division of motor vehicles of the State of Virginia, then the court shall relieve the conveyance from the
The clause pertinent to this case, the benefit of which the lienor here claims, is clause “i”, and so much of it as it is necessary to consider for present purposes-reads: “If any such claimant be a lienor, and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court that the owner of the conveyance is a resident of the State of Virginia, or of the District of Columbia, and has perfected his title to the conveyance, if it be a motor vehicle, prior to its seizure, or within ten days from the time same was acquired, and such owner a resident of Virginia, in the office of the division of motor vehicles of the State of Virginia, and that such lienor was ignorant of the fact that such conveyance was being used for illegal purposes when it was so seized; that such illegal use was without such lienor’s connivance or consent, express or implied; that at the time he acquired said lien he did not know, and had no reason to believe or suspect, that the owner of said conveyance had ever been guilty of, or was suspected of. violating any. prohibition law, or that such owner intended to use, or contemplated using, or permitting any other person to use such conveyance for any unlawful purposes, and that he held a bona fide lien on said property and had perfected the same in the manner prescribed by law prior to such seizure (if such conveyance be an automobile the memorandum, of lien on the certificate of title issued by the Motor Vehicle. Commissioner of Virginia on said automobile shall make any other recordation of same.unnecessary), the court shall, by an order entered of record, establish said lien upon satisfactory proof of the amount thereof.”
The question of law presented, then, is whether or not, in this case, the owner, Davis, not being a resident
The contention is that so much of the section as expressly recognizes the validity of the lien should the owner of the vehicle be a resident of the District of Columbia or the State of Virginia, and by necessary implication refuses to recognize the validity of the lien if the owner of the automobile should be a resident of the State of West Virginia, or any other State, is arbitrary and capricious and deprives the lienor of the equal protection of the laws of the State of Virginia, contrary to the fourteenth amendment, and that it takes its property without due process of law, conbrary to the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States and the eleventh section of the Virginia Constitution 1902.
So much has been said and written on such questions by the Supreme Court of the United States, and by many other courts, that the general rules applicable must be considered as determined. The only matter left for determination is the application of these rules to the facts of eases as they arise.
This general statement of the nature and purpose of the guaranty of the fourteenth amendment appears in 4 Ency. Sup. Ct. Rep., page 354: “The equality' of the rights of citizens is a principle of republicanism. Every republican government is in duty bound to protect all its citizens in the enjoyment of this principle, if within its power. The equal protection of the laws is a right now secured to every person
This language from Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U. S. 27, 5 S. Ct. 357, 359, 28 L. Ed. 923, has been frequently quoted with approval: “The fourteenth amendment, in declaring that no State ‘shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,’ undoubtedly intended, not only that there should be no arbitrary deprivation of life or liberty or arbitrary spoliation of property, but that equal protection and security should be given to all under like circumstances in the enjoyment of their personal and civil rights,;
There is no doubt whatever that corporations are entitled to the equal protection of the laws as persons, if within the jurisdiction of the State. Kentucky Finance Corp. v. Paramount Auto Exch. Corp., 262 U. S. 544, 43 S. Ct. 636, 67 L. Ed. 1112; Blake v. McClung, 172 U. S. 239, 19 Sup. Ct.165, 43 L. Ed. 432; Southern R. Co. v. Greene, 216 U. S. 400, 30 Sup. Ct. 287, 291, 54 L. Ed. 541, 17 Ann. Cas. 1247.
That this lienor, as a foreign corporation duly authorized to transact business within the State of Virginia, is entitled to the protection of these constitutional guaranties cannot be doubted.
These general propositions are not denied by the Commonwealth, but it is claimed that under the police power of the State reasonable classifications may nevertheless be made, and that the statute involved merely makes a classification which is reasonable; that all who fall within the classification are afforded equal protection of the law and are not deprived of their property without due process; and that those who fall without the classification have no right to complain.
In Connolly v. Union Sewer Pipe Company, 184 U. S. 540, 22 Sup. Ct. 431, 441, 46 L. Ed. 679, it appears that the State of Illinois had passed an antitrust law, regulating the operation of certain trusts and combinations, but excluding from the provisions of the act agricultural products and live stock while in the hands of the producer or raiser. In referring to this rule of
Mr. Justice Brewer, in Cotting v. Godard, 183 U. S. 111, 22 Sup. Ct. 30, 43, 46 L. Ed. 109, said this: “But while recognizing to the full extent the impossibility of an imposition of duties and obligations mathematically equal upon all and also recognizing the rights of classification ‘of industries and occupations, we must nevertheless always remember that the equal protection of the laws is guaranteed, and that such equal protection is denied when upon one of two parties engaged in the same kind of business and under the same conditions burdens are cast which are not cast upon the other.”
The conceded right of the State to make reasonable classifications in the exercise of its police power is thus stated in Lindsley v. Nutural Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U. S. 61, 31 S. Ct. 337, 340, 55 L. Ed. 377, Ann. Cas. 1912C, 160: “The rules by wnich this contention must be tested, as is shown by repeated
This clarifying expression from Southern Ry. Co. v. Greene, supra, is helpful: “While reasonable classification is permitted without doing violence to the equal protection of the laws, such classification must be based upon some real and substantial distinction, bearing a reasonable and just relation to the things in respect to which such classification is imposed; and classification cannot be arbitrarily made without any substantial basis. Arbitrary selection, it has been said, cannot be justified by calling it classification. Gulf, C. & S. F. R. Co. v. Ellis, 165 U. S. 150, 155, 165, 41 L. Ed. 666, 668, 671, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 255.”
That this classification in favor of those who hold liens on cars whose owners are residents of the District of Columbia and against those who hold liens on cars whose owners are residents of West Virginia is arbitrary cannot be doubted. When a classification is
We are told in the brief of the Commonwealth that the courts in Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Louisiana refuse to recognize the customary comity as to liens valid in other jurisdictions, and as there is no statute authorizing their recognition, foreign liens are not enforced in those States. We suppose there can hardly be any doubt that the State of Virginia could by statute do likewise and require its courts to refuse to enforce any foreign liens in such cases. It has, however, by statute, directed the courts to recognize and enforce such liens as are here involved, if the owner of the automobile happens to be a resident of the District of Columbia (or Commonwealth of Virginia). There is no suggestion that the residents of the other adjacent jurisdictions, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina are differently situated, or any less worthy of the favor which is by this statute extended to holders of liens on cars owned by residents of the District of Columbia. In its practical application, unconstitutional discriminations would necessarily result. Two citizens of Virginia, each the bona fide owner of separate liens against two automobiles, one of which is owned by a resident of the District of Columbia, and the other by his neighbor immediately across the line, a resident of the State of Maryland, and if this statute be constitutional as a valid classification, the owner of the lien on one of the automobiles would have his lien protected by the laws of Virginia and the owner of the other lien would be denied that protection.
Illustrations could be multiplied to show the
The judgment sustaining the demurrer to the answer of the lienor will, therefore, be reversed, and the ease remanded for such further proceedings as may be appropriate.
Reversed; remanded.