142 Ga. 647 | Ga. | 1914
Lead Opinion
The General Assembly in 1912 (Acts 1912, p. 30) proposed a constitutional amendment to art. 6, see. 7, par. 1, of the constitution of this State by adding thereto a provision “that the General Assembly may, in its discretion, abolish Justice Courts and the office of Justice of the Peace and of Notary Public ex-officio Justices of the Peace in any City of this State having a population of over twenty thousand, except the City of Savannah, and establish in lieu thereof such Court or Courts or system of Courts as the General Assembly may in its discretion deem necessary, conferring upon such new Court or Courts or system of Courts, when so established, the jurisdiction as to subject-matter now exercised by Justice Courts and by Justices of the Peace and Notaries Public ex-officio Justices of the Peace; together with such additional jurisdiction, either as to amount or subject-matter, as may be provided by law, whereof some other Court has not exclusive jurisdiction under this Constitution; together also with such provisions as to rules and procedure in such Courts, and as to new trials and the correction of errors in and by said Courts, and with such further provisions for the correction of errors by the Superior Court, or the Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court, as the General Assembly may from time to time, in its discretion, provide or authorize. Any Court so established shall not be subject to the rules of uniformity laid down in Paragraph 1 of Section 9 of Article 6 of the Constitution of Georgia.” This amendment was submitted to the people at
The word “ordinance” was anciently used to distinguish between certain forms of statutes. “Where the proceeding consisted only of a petition from parliament and an answer from the king, these were entered on the parliament roll; and if the matter was of a public nature, the whole was then styled an ordinance: if, however, the petition and answer were not only of a public but a novel nature, they were then formed into an act by the king, with the aid of his council and judges, and entered on the statute roll'.” Bacon’s Abridgment (A), Bouvier’s Dictionary. ' In Webster’s New International Dictionary, it is said to be “An authoritative decree or direction; specif., any public enactment, rule, or law promulgated by
A proposal by the legislature of amendments to the constitution is not the exercise of ordinary legislative functions, and is not subject to constitutional provisions regulating the introduction and passage of ordinary legislative enactments. It has been held that no title is necessary to a proposed amendment, and if one is inserted it may be disregarded. 6 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2d ed.), 906; In Re Senate File No. 31, 25 Neb. 864 (41 N. W. 981); Nesbit v. People, 19 Colo. 441 (36 Pac. 221); Julius v. Callahan, 63 Minn. 154 (65 N. W. 267); Hays v. Hays, 5 Idaho, 154 (47 Pac. 732); People ex rel. Elder v. Sours, 31 Colo. 369 (74 Pac. 167, 102 Am. St. R. 34). We conclude, therefore, that the word “ordinance” in the constitutional provision first above referred to, comprehends any statute or resolution which the General Assembly may constitutionally enact, and does not apply to proposals for amendments to the constitution as initiated by the legislature, pursuant to article 13 of the constitution.
Concurrence Opinion
I concur in the ruling that the constitutional requirement that no law or ordinance shall pass which refers to more than one subject-matter, or contains matter different from what is expressed in the title thereof, does not apply to a constitutional amendment, so as to invalidate it after it has been proposed by the necessary vote in the legislature, has been duly published, and has been adopted by the people. But I think some of the discussion is broader than the necessity of the case requires. I accordingly concur in the judgment.