146 Mo. App. 358 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1910
This action originated in the circuit court. Its purpose is to enforce a mechanic’s lien for an amount less than fifty dollars; that is to say, for the sum of thirteen dollars and fifty cents. The court proceeded with the case as though it were possessed of jurisdiction over the subject-matter, notwithstanding all of the parties are residents of Cape Girardeau county. The finding and judgment were for the plaintiff and defendant appeals.
The identical question involved here was presented to, and ruled upon by, our Supreme Court in Stamps v. Bridwell, 57 Mo. 22, under different constitutional and statutory provisions than those which now obtain. In that case, which was an action to enforce a mechanic’s lien for an amount less than fifty dollars, the Supreme Court adjudged that the circuit court was without either original or concurrent jurisdiction over the subject-matter. That case was subsequently cited and relied upon to support the proposition that the circuit •court of Jefferson county was without original jurisdiction under the charter provision of Kansas City to enforce the lien of a small taxbill. See Williams v. Payne, 80 Mo. 409. Later the identical question involved in the case last cited came before the Supreme Court a second time. This was an action on a small taxbill which originated in the circuit court of Jackson county and the Supreme Court overruled its former decision in Williams v. Payne, supra, and it may be overruled the principle of Stamps v. Bridwell, supra, as well. At any rate, in this case the Supreme Court announced the doctrine that where it appeared a court had •once been possessed of jurisdiction over a subject-matter, the same would continue to reside therein unless words of limitation are used in a subsequent law which is relied upon to divest the jurisdiction or the prior law is repealed. It is said substantially when subsequent legislation is relied upon to divest a court of a jurisdiction which it once exercised, there must be words of limitation contained in the subsequent act relied upon either by using the word “exclusive” or by repealing the former aet giving jurisdiction, by which it may appear that the Legislature intended not only to confer
It may be under the rule announced in Tackett v. Vogler, 85 Mo. 480, and invoked by the plaintiff that under the Constitutions and statutes above referred to the circuit, court of Cape Girardeau still retained original jurisdiction over mechanics’ liens notwithstanding the amounts involved. That is to say it may be the-act of March 30, 1872, did not operate to 'divest the circuit court of such jurisdiction as it theretofore had with respect to mechanics’ liens for two reasons: First, because no words of limitation such as “exclusive” or otherwise expressive of the legislative intent to confer exclusive original jurisdiction on justices of the peace in such cases involving less than ninety dollars appeared in the act; and, second, because the prior law was not repealed. However this may be, the subsequent Consti
“The circuit court shall have jurisdiction over all criminal cases not otherwise provided for by law; exclusive original jurisdiction in all civil cases not otherwise provided for; and such concurrent jurisdiction with and appellate jurisdiction from, inferior tribunals and justices of the peace as is or may be provided by. law. It shall hold its terms at such times and places in each county as may be by law directed; but at least two terms shall be held every year in each county.” [Sec. 22, Art. 6, Constitution of 1875.]
It will be observed that the constitutional provision above quoted confers upon the circuit courts “exclusive original jurisdiction in all civil cases not otherwise provided for.” Now, it is certain that this provision does not confer “exclusive original jurisdiction” upon the circuit court in all mechanics’ lien actions notwithstanding the amount involved, for the very simple reason that it expressly purports to convey “exclusive original jurisdiction” on such courts in all cases not otherwise provided for, and the. matter of jurisdiction touching mechanics’ liens for small amounts had theretofore been provided for by competent legislative authority in the act of March 30, 1872, heretofore cited. This act of the Legislature conferring authority upon justices of the peace in certain mechanics’ lien cases continued to remain a parcel of our law at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of 1875, and so far as im
Although the circuit court may have possessed exclusive original jurisdiction with respect to mechanics* liens for any and all amounts between the dates of the adoption of the Constitution of 1820 and the enactment of the statute of March 30, 1872, which no doubt conferred concurrent authority on justices of the peace in-certain cases, it is obvious that from and after the adoption of the Constitution of 1875 an exclusive original jurisdiction touching these matters no longer obtained in the circuit court. Indeed, such exclusive original jurisdiction did not reside in the circuit court after the-statute of March 30,1872, and the only original jurisdiction in civil cases which the Constitution of 1875 purports to confer upon the circuit court is that not otherwise provided for. The matter of jurisdiction over-mechanics’ liens for amounts such as that involved here-had been theretofore conferred upon justices of the-peace and has continued ever since.
The argument of the plaintiff concedes that justices-of the peace have jurisdiction over mechanics’ lien cases such as that involved here and is to the effect that the circuit court has concurrent jurisdiction thereof as well, for the reason that such jurisdiction was vested in it under the Constitution of 1820 and has never been taken-away by competent words or enactment to that effect. We do not understand the Supreme Court ruled -in the case of Tackett v. Vogler, 85 Mo. 480, that a jurisdiction which once resided in a court could not be taken away
“There must be words of limitation to take it away; either by using the word ‘exclusive,’ or by repealing the former act giving jurisdiction, by which it may appear that the Legislature intended not only to confer jurisdiction on justices of the peace, but also to take away the other jurisdiction.” (Italics are our own.)
It is true the law does not favor repeals by implication and the legislative intent to that effect is not prima facie presumed. Such repeals are not adjudged to occur except where they are inevitable, or it is obvious the Legislature intended that result. [State v. Dalton, 134 Mo. App. 517; Bishop’s Statutory Crimes (3 Ed.), sec. 151; Pac. R. R. Co. v. Cass Co., 53 Mo. 17.] In the more recent case of Lackland v. Walker, 151 Mo. 210, 263, the Supreme Court clearly recognizes that a prior jurisdiction may be repealed and divested as well by necessary implication negativing the powers and jurisdiction of the class of courts to which our circuit court belongs as by unequivocal terms to that effect.
With these principles before us, we come now to examine as to whether the jurisdiction of the circuit court which obtained between 1820 and 1872 in respeet of mechanics’- liens for an amount such as involved here has been divested by subsequent law. It is entirely clear from the Constitution of 1875 and legislation thereunder that the matter of jurisdiction of the circuit court has been entirely revised with an obvious intention to substitute the later law on the subject for the former.
We have pointed out that under the Constitution of 1875 the present case does not fall within the “exclusive original jurisdiction” of the circuit court. Now,
It thus appears that at the time the Constitution of 1875 was adopted, the statutes mentioned expressly defined the concurrent original jurisdiction of the circuit court with justices of the peace. Prom this fact we ascertain the framers of the Constitution of 1875 contemplated a continuation of such concurrent jurisdiction in the circuit court as had theretofore been expressly declared until it should be otherwise provided by law. It seems clear that when the Constitution declares the circuit court shall have “such concurrent jurisdiction with . . . justices of the peace as is . . . provided by law” such instances of concurrent jurisdiction in the circuit court only as had theretofore been expressly established and then existed were contemplated and referred to, for it related to “concurrent jurisdiction” then “provided by law.” The concurrent jurisdiction authorized is such as “is or may be provided by law.” The word “is” thus employed signifies an intention on the part of the framers of the Constitution
Under the authority thus vested in the Legislature to define the concurrent jurisdiction of the circuit court, that body contributed the following enactment to our law, as may be ascertained by reference to section 1674, R. S. Mo. 1899; An. St. 1906, sec. 1674. So much of that statute as is relevant here is as follows :
“The circuit courts in the respective counties in which they may be held shall have power and jurisdiction as follows: Concurrent original jurisdiction with justices of the peace in all counties and cities, in all civil actions for the recovery of money, whether such actions be founded upon contract or tort, or upon bond or undertaking given in pursuance of law, in any civil action or proceeding, or for any penalty or forfeiture given by any statute of this State, when the sum demanded, exclusive of interests and costs, shall exceed fifty dollars, and does not exceed the maximum jurisdiction of justices of the peace in like cases in any such county or city; and also in all such cases where the sum demanded, exclusive of interests and costs, is less than fifty dollars, and wherein there are two or more defendants, not all of whom reside in the same county.”
The judgment should be reversed. It is so ordered.
Judge Reynolds deems the opinion in conflict with the opinions of the Supreme Court in Tackett v. Vogler, 85 Mo. 480; Lackland v. Walker, 151 Mo. 210; St. Louis v. Hollrah, 175 Mo. 79, and requests the case to be certified to that court for final determination. It is so ordered.