39 Pa. Super. 454 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1909
Opinion by
Taking up the objections urged against the validity of the Act of June 27, 1895, P. L. 395, in the order in which they are set forth in the brief of the appellees’ counsel, the first question to be considered is whether the act violates sec. 3, art. Ill of the constitution which declares that no bill, except general appropriation bills, shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title. The title reads: “An act to prevent the wearing in the public schools of this commonwealth, by any of the teachers thereof, of any dress, insignia, marks or emblems indicating the fact that such teacher is an adherent or member of any religious order, sect or denomination, and imposing a fine upon the board of directors of any public school permitting the same.” As the subject clearly ex
The objection that the title is misleading, and therefore defective, because no mention is made therein of the purpose to fine individual directors, or to deprive them of their offices or to render them ineligible to appointment or election if they violate the law, is next to be considered. It is to be noticed that the provisions of the act relating to the deprivation of a school director of his office, and to his ineligibility to appointment or election do not come into operation until after a second conviction. They are not necessarily involved in the present case, and their validity need not be discussed. Even if they be invalid— a point we do not decide — the invalidity of the provision subjecting the offending directors to indictment and fine would by no means follow. The other punitive provisions are separable
But, it is claimed that the title, even as to the imposition of a fine, is misleading, because, as argued by appellees’ counsel, it indicates that the fine is to be imposed on “the board of directors,” whereas the penal provision contained in the body of the act is directed against the director or directors who offend. If in framing the title the intention had been to indicate that the fine was to be imposed upon a corporate or quasi corporate body, as distinguished from the individuals who compose it or the officers who direct its affairs, it is reasonable to suppose that some other form of expression would have been used than “board of school directors.” Under our common school system a “board” of school directors is not such a legal entity as can be made to' respond, to civil or criminal process. As used in this connection, it must be regarded as a mere name or form of expression to indicate a number of persons appointed or elected to sit in council for the management or direction of the affairs of a school district, the latter and not the board being the corporate entity. It is impossible to conceive of the imposition of a fine upon a board of school directors apart from the directors personally. And, surely, no one reading this title could reasonably infer therefrom that the intention was to do the vain thing of imposing a fine which could not be enforced against any person, natural or artificial. On the contrary, the plain and natural inference to be drawn from the words of the title would be that the body of the bill contained a penal provision calculated to deter the members of the governing body from permitting the forbidden act. This seems to be an appropriate occasion for quoting again the apt language of Allegheny County Home’s App., 77 Pa. 77: “It will not do, therefore, to impale the legislation of the state upon the sharp points of criticism, but we must give each title as it comes before us, a reasonable interpretation, ut res magis valeat quam pereat.” Without further elaboration, we conclude, that the title is sufficiently compre
The next objection urged against the act is that it violates the fifth and fourteenth amendments of the constitution of the United States, in that it subjects the individual school director to punishment for the acts of his associates as a body when he may not be in any way responsible for them. It is obvious, we think, upon a mere reading of this objection in connection with the clause of the statute to which it relates that the objection is based on an erroneous interpretation of the clause. It is “the public school director failing to comply with the provisions of this act,” who is made subject to indictment and fine. It would require a very strained and indeed wholly unwarranted interpretation of these words in a penal statute to hold that a director, who in good faith has done what he could officially to comply with the provisions of the act, but has been outvoted by his associates, has failed to comply with them. One of the elementary rules in the construction of statutes is to adopt such construction, if it be fairly possible, as will avoid a conclusion that would make it unconstitutional. The presumption always is that the legislature does not intend to violate the constitution, and this controls in doubtful cases. Besides this, the act furnishes very satisfactory evidence that the legislature did not intend to punish such a director as we have spoken of. It first declares that, “it shall be the duty of said school board to permanently suspend such teacher,” etc., and then that, “any public school director failing to comply with the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,” etc. The law does not confer the power, nor impose the duty, on a single director, to suspend a teacher. He must, however, do his duty as a member of the board and when he has done that, he has complied with the provisions of the law. This is evidently what the legislature meant, not that he must do that which he cannot do himself. If the legislature had intended the absurdity and injustice of punishing a director who has done his duty and exhausted the power the legislature gave him, it would not have used language which reasonably imports that each director is punishable by fine for his own dereliction only.
Sec. 3. “All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; .... no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience, and no preferences shall ever be given by law to any religious establishments or modes of worship.”
Sec. 4. “No person who acknowledges the being of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold any office or place of trust or profit under this commonwealth.”
The inhibition of the act is thus expressed: “That no teacher in any public school of this commonwealth shall wear in said school or whilst engaged in the performance of his or her duty as such teacher any dress, mark, emblem or insignia indicating the fact that such teacher is a member or adherent of any religious order, sect or denomination.” A violation of the foregoing provision subjects the teacher to suspension from employment in the district for one year, and a second offense to permanent disqualification to teach in the district. If the question for our decision were whether the act prohibited by this legislation is contrary to the letter or the true intent and meaning of the sections of the constitution above quoted, or of the constitutional prohibition against the appropriation or use of public school money for the support of any sectarian school, it would be sufficient for us to say that it has been authoritatively and conclusively answered in the negative by the Supreme Court in Hysong v. Gallitzin Borough School Dist. et al., 164 Pa. 629. So also if the question for our decision were whether the legislation was necessary in order to carry into effect, in the administration of the public schools, these constitutional provisions, the answer would have to be in the negative. The question is not, what do these sections empower the legislature to do, but what limitations do they impose upon the general legislative power vested in the general assembly by sec. 1, art. II of the constitution. This question did not arise in the case cited,
We cannot assent to the proposition that the intent or the effect of the legislation is to disqualify any person from employment as a teacher “ on account of his religious sentiments.” It is directed against acts, not beliefs, and only against acts of the teacher whilst engaged in the performance of his or her duties as such teacher. It is true the acts prohibited are those which may indicate, and indeed may be dictated by, the religious sentiments of the teacher. Therefore we are led to the broader inquiry whether this constitutes an infringement of the “natural and indefeasible right of all men to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences,” or contravenes the accompanying declaration that “no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience.” No man’s religious belief may be interfered with by law. As was said by Justice Williams in Hysong v. Gallitzin Boro. School District, 164 Pa. 629, the rights of conscience are no less sacred than the rights of property; test oaths and religious disqualifications belong to a period further back
The system of common school education in this commonwealth is the creature of the state, and its perpetuity and freedom from sectarian control are guaranteed by express constitutional provisions. Subject to these, the power to support and maintain an efficient system of public schools, wherein all the children of the commonwealth above the age of six years may be educated, is vested in the legislature. This carries with it the authority to determine what shall be the qualifications of the teachers, but in prescribing them the legislature may not make religious belief or church affiliation a test. Nevertheless, the power of the legislature to make reasonable regulations for the government of their conduct whilst engaged in the performance of their duties must be conceded. Primarily it is the province of the legislature to determine what regulations will promote the efficiency of the system and tend to the accomplishment of the object for which it was established. It is only where such regulations are clearly shown to be. in violation of the funda
The judgment is reversed, the demurrer overruled with leave ' to the defendant to plead the general issue and the record is remitted with a procedendo.