1 N.Y.2d 74 | NY | 1956
Lead Opinion
Plaintiffs have appealed directly to our court from a judgment of a • Special Term of the Supreme Court, Ulster County, entered upon an order dismissing the complaint in an action brought by them as taxpayers to restrain the defendant officers of the County of Albany from carrying out the provisions of chapter 305 of the Laws of 1954, as amended by chapter 864 of the Laws of 1955, which laws relate to the selecting, drawing, summoning or empaneling of jurors, on the ground that certain provisions of the New York State Constitution have been violated. Plaintiffs and defendants, in Special Term, had moved for judgment on the pleadings. The motion of defendants was granted dismissing the complaint, and the statute, as amended, was declared to be constitutional. The Attorney-General of the State of New York intervened as a party pursuant to stipulation and order. Plaintiffs (hereinafter
The Legislature, by chapter 305 of the Laws of 1954, to take effect July 1, 1955, established a uniform jury system for all the counties of the State except counties within cities having a population of 1,000,000 or more. The five counties within the City of New York, which have a uniform jury system of their own (L. 1940, ch. 202), were thus excepted, and the 1954 act applied to the remaining 57 counties of the State. Chapter 864 of the Laws of 1955, however, to take effect on July 1, 1955 (the same effective date as the 1954 act), amended the 1954 act by providing that such jury laws should apply to all counties of the State except counties within cities having a population of 1,000,000 or more (the five counties in the City of New York) and except those counties having a population of less than 100,000 which elect to come under the provisions of a newly added article 16 of the Judiciary Law. In other words (except for the five counties in the City of New York) the jury laws of 1954, as a result of the 1955 amendment, thenceforth mandatorily apply only to those counties of the State with a population of 100,000 or more. According to the census figures of 1950, there are 15 such counties: Albany, Broome, Chautauqua, Dutchess, Erie, Monroe, Nassau, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orange, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Suffolk and Westchester. The 1954 jury laws still apply to the remaining 42 counties, i.e., those with a population of less than 100,000, except that, if any of them so desire, by appropriate county governmental action, it could elect not to be governed by such 1954 jury laws.
It is appellants’ contention that the 1954 statute, as amended in 1955, violates section 17 of article III, and subdivision (b) of section 1 of article IX of the New York State Constitution.
Section 17 of article III provides that: ‘ ‘ The legislature shall not pass a private or local bill in any of the following cases: * * * Selecting, drawing, summoning or empaneling grand or petit jurors. * * * The legislature shall pass general laws providing for the cases enumerated in this section * *
Subdivision (b) of section 1 of article IX provides that: “ The legislature shall provide by law for the organization and
We shall first treat of article III (§ 17). The issue is simply whether the statute in the instant case is a local or general law.
At the outset, it should be noted that, in a case of this nature, “ we must keep in view the salutary rule, often reiterated, that nothing but a clear violation of the Constitution will justify a court in overruling the legislative will. Every statute is presumed to be constitutional, and every intendment is in favor of its validity.” (Matter of New York Elevated R. R. Co., 70 N. Y. 327, 342; see, also, Kittinger v. Buffalo Traction Co., 160 N. Y. 377, 393-394; McKinney's Cons. Laws of N. Y., Book 1, Statutes, § 150.)
It has many times been said that there is difficulty in laying down any definite or general rule by which the question of whether a law is local or general may be determined (Matter of Henneberger, 155 N. Y. 420, 425; Matter of Church, 92 N. Y. 1, 4; Matter of New York Elevated R. R. Co., 70 N. Y. 327, 350, supra; People ex rel. Clauson v. Newburgh & Shawangunk Plank Road Co., 86 N. Y. 1, 6), and “ it has been found expedient to leave the matter to a considerable extent open, to be determined upon the special circumstances of each case.” (Ferguson v. Ross, 126 N. Y. 459, 464.)
It cannot be doubted that a law which applies to all persons, places or things in the State is general. An act, however, which, by its terms, applies only to a named person, place or thing is clearly local. Between these two extremes there lies a field which has long been a source of anxiety to the courts. Early was it said that an act need not apply to all persons, places or things in the State to be deemed general, if it apply to a class, entry into which was governed by conformity or compliance with specified conditions. Thus was born the theory of “ classifi
An early line of cases (Matter of Church, 92 N. Y. 1, supra; People ex rel. New York Elec. Lines Co. v. Squire, 107 N. Y. 593, affd. 145 U. S. 175) involved statutes which were held constitutional as general laws on the sole ground that the acts, by their terms, applied to all members of a class. The court failed to take cognizance of the true effect of the purported classification. Subsequently, however, the court, in Matter of Henneberger (155 N. Y. 420, supra) refused to be deluded by this aura of generality and struck down an act which created a class, entry into which, however, was governed by compliance with at least seven conditions. Our court said, at page 425: “ That the present act is expressed in general terms is not, and should not be, decisive of the question of its constitutionality.” And, in considering the words of generality in which the act was clothed, the court declared, at page 426: ‘ ‘ Although this act is drawn in general terms, if its provisions are such in number and in character as unduly * * * to restrict its operation and, to all intents, to confine it to a particular locality, then, I think, it comes as much under condemnation, as though it designated the locality by name.”
In speaking of Matter of Henneberger (supra) Chief Judge Cakdozo, in Matter of Mayor of City of New York (246 N. Y. 72, 76), stated: “ There was here [in the Eenneberger case] * * * the germ of a doctrine more adapted to realities.” In Matter of Mayor of City of New York (supra) the court was confronted with a statute which purported to revive entitlement to condemnation awards which had been barred by a Statute of Limitations. The act, in substance, provided that where an award in condemnation proceedings relating to the alteration or opening of a street in any city had been confirmed by the court, but had not been paid, and was adjudged by a court to have been barred sometime within the previous year, then the collection of the award could be enforced within one year. In strildng down this statute as a local law in violation of the City Home Rule provision (now art. IX, § 11) of the Constitution, our court declared, at pages 77-78: “ We close our eyes to realities if we do not see in this act the marks of legislation
The stage was thus set for Stapleton v. Pinckney (293 N. Y. 330), decided in 1944, in which our court considered the validity of a statute under section 17 of article III of the State Constitution, which statute, similar to the one in the instant case, related to the selection of jurors. The act was applicable to counties with a population of not less than 200,000 and not more than 250,000 and containing a city with a population of at least 125,000. The court pointed out that the County of Albany alone fitted into the pattern. In declaring the statute unconstitutional as a local law, our court said, at pages 335-336: u We find it difficult, however, to discern in the circumstance that Albany County has a population of over 200,000 and less than 250,000 and contains a city with a population of over 125,000, any reasonable ground for the creation of a separate class * * * applicable only to Albany County. * * * We assume * * * that reason for the procedure formulated in the statute may be found in local conditions existing in Albany, but it cannot be argued that such local conditions are in any way related to the circumstance that Albany County has a population of more than 200,000 and less than 250,000 and contains a city with a population of 125,000. * * * The Act is local if the references to population in the Act serve only to identify the county of Albany * *
A reading of the Henneberger, Mayor and Stapleton decisions (supra) discloses that the act under consideration here—both in its terms and in its effect—bears no resemblance to the statutes involved in those eases. However, those decisions are helpful to the extent that they do lay down certain general principles which we may use as a guide in this case. Briefly, the pertinent principles to be learned from them are as follows: In order to be deemed general, unless the act applies to all places in the State (e.g., all the counties), it must create a class. The class constructed by the act may be based on population, and will be upheld, if conditions, because of such population, can be
Bearing in mind the foregoing principles, we shall now treat of the statute under consideration. It has been urged that the breaking figure of 100,000 was arbitrary. With this we hasten to disagree. Let us, populationwise, consider the various counties of the State, as of 1950, and according to the census figures of that year. The State of New York has a population of 14,830,192. The City of New York, containing the Counties of Kings, Queens, New York, Bronx and Richmond, has a population of 7,891,957. It is thus evident that the City of New York has a greater population than the rest of the State. The 57 counties outside the City of New York, together, have a population of 6,938,235. The 15 of such counties, with a population of 100,000 or more, together, have a population which is greater than that of the remaining 42 counties combined. The 15 counties (over 100,000) have a total population of 4,839,559. The 42 counties (under 100,000) have a total population of 2,098,676. The average population of the 15 counties (over 100,000) is 322,637. The average population of the 42 counties (under 100,000) is 49,968. Of the 15 counties (over 100,000) Erie County has the greatest number with 899,238, while the least populated is the County of Rensselaer with 132,607. However, 10 of the 15 counties (over 100,000), i.e., 66%% of them, have á population ranging from Broome County’s 184,698 to Erie County’s 899,238. Of the 42 counties (under 100,000) St. Lawrence County has the greatest number with 98,897, while the least populated is the County of Hamilton with 4,105. However, 30 of the 42 counties (under 100,000), i.e., 71 3/7% of them, have a population ranging from Montgomery County’s 59,594 to Hamilton County’s 4,105. The foregoing figures speak for themselves. We may fairly say that the breaking figure of 100,000 was not arbitrary. It was a mode of separating the small counties from the middle-sized counties,
Appellants contend that the aim of the 1954 Legislature was uniformity of jury laws throughout all the up-State counties, and that, by virtue of the 1955 amendment, this uniformity was destroyed. This cannot conceivably be of help to the appellants. Admittedly, the 1954 Legislature sought to effectuate uniformity. It does not follow, however, that a subsequent Legislature is precluded from modifying that policy except at the risk of having its acts characterized as arbitrary. With the Legislature resides the power and discretion to shape policy. This is so, even if, as claimed, one Legislature violently disagrees with its predecessor. If the 1955 Legislature erred, it is for subsequent Legislatures to cure the error and not for the judiciary to undertake to do it. As is succinctly stated in McKinney’s Consolidated Laws of New York (Book 1, Statutes, § 2): “ The power to enact necessarily implies the power to repeal, and one Legislature cannot be limited or bound by the actions of a previous one. Hence every Legislature may modify or abolish its predecessor’s acts, unless restricted by the Constitution, and the wisdom of doing so is a matter of legislative discretion.” (See cases therein cited.)
It is claimed that the 1954 act effected a momentous and fundamental change in public policy with respect to the jury systems of all up-State counties, and that the 1955 amendment, by the creation of separate classes, modified such policy. Suffice it to say, in this respect, that “ Public policy is necessarily variable. It changes with changing conditions. It is evidenced by the expression of the will of the Legislature contained in statutory enactments. * * * The power to determine what the policy of the law shall be rests with the Legislature within constitutional limitations, and when it has expressed its will and established a new policy, courts, are -required to give effect to such policy.” (Straus & Co. v. Canadian Pacific Ry. Co., 254 N. Y. 407, 413-414). Thus, just as the Legislature of 1954 had the power to, and did, as it is claimed, effect a change in public policy, the Legislature of 1955 likewise had the power to, and did, modify the apparent change in policy made by its predecessor.
It is urged that there is no official record concerning the factual background and history of the 1955 act, and that there is
What we have said up to this point presupposes the fact that the 1955 Legislature had the power, in the face of section 17 of article III of the Constitution, to create the classification whereby counties with a population of less than 100,000 were given the option to be or not to be governed by the provisions of the 1954 law. We shall now consider whether or not such power existed.
Distinction by classification, populationwise, is grounded in good sense. It has been said that “ the complexity of community regulation increases directly in proportion to increases in population, and that statutes necessary for a large community would be too burdensome for a smaller community.*’ (2 Sutherland on Statutory Construction [3d ed., 1943], § 2109, p. 39.) In Matter of Henneberger (155 N. Y. 420, 429-430, supra), we said, as reiterated in People v. Dunn (157 N. Y. 528, 541), that “ good reasons exist why, in a general law, reference may be had to conditions of population, whether in counties, cities, towns or villages, or with respect to a proximity to cities of a certain growth.” Judge Werner, speaking for our court in
The classification system created by the 1955 amendment was adequate. The amendment did not remove any counties from the classes created by the 1954 act. It merely permitted any county, with a population of less than 100,000, to leave its class and subject itself to a newly created article of the Judiciary Law only if and when, by appropriate county governmental action (pursuant to Judiciary Law, § 501), it evidenced its desire to do so. Thus an affirmative act indicative of its desire to leave its class was necessary before a county could remove itself from one of the classes set up by the 1954 jury law. This was an additional check to the customary classification system where a line is drawn, and, according to its population, a given county will find itself either on one side or the other. In such a situation, a change in the line of demarcation would be impossible except by act of the State Legislature, unless and until, of course, a given county achieved the requisite population.
The 1955 amendment in effect created three separate classes. It caused the requirements of the 1954 law to mandatorily apply to the 15 counties with a population of 100,000 or more; it caused them to optionally apply to the 42 counties with a population of less than 100,000; and, similar to the 1954 act itself, it excepted and excluded the five counties in the City of New York from its operation. It and similar classification systems, are not novel, unusual or revolutionary in our law — fundamental or statutory. A perusal of the Constitution and statutes of our State discloses a host of provisions which differentiate, or have differentiated, among and between the densely populated City of New York with its five large counties, the middle-size counties and cities, the small counties and cities, and some, in addition, provide for the very small counties and cities. (Relating to county and city classification, based on population, see e.g.: N. Y. Const. [1894], art. XII, § 2; art. XII, § 2, as amd. in 1907; N. Y. Const. [1938], art. VIII, § 10; N. Y. Const., art. VI, § 13; N. Y. Const.
It might be well at this time to trace the background of the 1954 jury law here under consideration. The Judicial Council of the State of New York recommended to the Legislature that which ultimately became, when adopted by the Legislature (L. 1940, ch. 202), a system of uniform jury laws applicable to the City of New York. Thereafter, in 1941 and 1942, the Judicial Council recommended uniform jury laws for all counties (outside of the City of New York) with a population of 48,000 or more. In this respect, the Judicial Council wrote: “ By Chapter 202 of the Laws of 1940, a complete revision of the jury system within the city of New York was enacted. * * * The Council now, in the following proposed new Article 18 of the Judiciary
The record before us discloses an allegation of appellants’ complaint to the effect that compliance by the officers of Albany County (population of 239,386) with the requirements of the 1954 jury law would be a burden upon the taxpayers of said county because of the necessity of the hiring of and payment
But, we are told, the 1954 jury law rendered special consideration to small counties, when, in recommending what subsequently became the 1954 act, the Judicial Council stated: “Recommended new section 653 permits the appointment of the county clerk as the commissioner of jurors within the discretion of the county jury board. However, this is intended to meet the situation in counties which are very small or not financially able to provide for a full time commissioner.” (Twentieth Annual Report of N. T. Judicial Council, 1954, p. 162; emphasis added.) The answer to this is simply that the 1955 Legislature, in creating a separate class for the small counties, apparently felt that that provision alone was not adequate to take care, for each and every of the small counties, as to its population or financial difficulties as envisioned by the Judicial Council.
We shall now treat of whether the class created by the 1955 amendment was arbitrary, or whether it was based on conditions which could be recognized as possibly common to the class and reasonably related to the subject of the statute. It should be emphasized that we need not be absolutely certain as to the motive and intent of the 1955 Legislature. We need only find some reasonable and possible basis for the classification created. Viewed in that light, we cannot say that the classification system created by the 1955 Legislature was arbitrary. It cannot be doubted that small counties (under 100,000) have a more limited financial capacity, potential and economic make-up than the middle-sized counties (over 100,000). Because of that disparity, it follows that similar laws would affect them differently. We may fairly conclude that compliance with the requirements of
In view of what has been said, we may reasonably discern the fact that the 1955 Legislature, acting with sufficient knowledge of the requisite facts and acting with reason rather than from caprice, in creating a separate class for counties having a population of less than 100,000 believed that those counties, because of their small population, had such a limited financial capacity, potential and economic make-up, that mandatory compliance with the requirements of the 1954 law would be unduly burdensome. Thus we conclude that the class created by the
It is also urged that, in reliance on certain language found in Stapleton v. Pinckney (293 N. Y. 330, 336, supra), the 1955 amendment did not really create a “ class ” but was merely a device in terms applicable to a class of counties defined solely by reference to population, though the conditions intended to be remedied had no apparent relation to the basis of the classification. Equating and particularizing this language to the instant case, appellants avouM seem to contend that the exemption of the 42 counties (under 100,000) had no apparent relation to remedying the conditions intended to be remedied by a uniform jury system.
At the outset, it cannot be said that the statute which confronted the court in the Stapleton case (supra) bears any resemblance whatever to the statute under consideration here. In that case, the jury law applied to counties having a population of not less than 200,000 and not more than 250,000 and containing a city with a population of 125,000 or more. This act, was, of course, general in its terms in that it was applicable to all counties which fitted into the population pattern. However, at that time, 1944, the act could apply only to the County of Albany. As of 1950, according to the census figures for that year, it could still have applied only to the County of Albany. (The population of Albany County, as of 1950, was 239,386, and contained a city [Albany] whose population was 134,995.) A ‘1 class ’ ’, to be workable, must, of necessity, serve the purpose of identifying the localities which are to be affected by the act. This is done by reference to certain population factors, within A\rhich or outside Avhich a given locality will fall. The statute creating a class in such manner will be condemned, however, if the references to population are used solely to identify the locality which is to be affected. That was the vice of the statute in the Stapleton case. It was so hedged and restricted with population factors that it could apply only to the County of Albany, and, as we said thereWe find it difficult * * * to discern in the circumstance that Albany County has a population of over 200,000 and less than 250,000 and contains a city with a population of over 125,000, any reasonable ground for
With respect to the assertion that the classification of the 42 counties (under 100,000) had no apparent relation to remedying the conditions intended to be remedied by a uniform jury system, it must be said that the difficulty with such statement is that the Legislature of 1955 (as distinguished from the one of 1954) was not concerned with unifying the jury laws in all 57 up-State counties. Its aim, as appears from the face of the act itself, was to accord separate treatment to the small counties, i.e., the 1955 Legislature created a new article of the Judiciary Law especially for those small counties which, because of their respective needs, desires and financial capacities, as evidenced by appropriate county governmental action, elected not to be governed by the provisions of the 1954 act. The classification of the 42 counties
We feel that the following quoted matter from Stapleton v. Pinckney (293 N. Y. 330, 335, supra) left the door open for a statute with a classification system such as that in the present case: “ In many cases since Matter of Henneberger (supra) beginning with People v. Dunn (157 N. Y. 528) this court has sustained classifications based on population though such statutes could at the time apply only to counties within the city of New York or to Brie County or to Monroe County. The court has recognized that classification may be reasonable which separates New York City, with its population of 6,000,000 and upwards, from all other cities of the State, or which places Brie County, containing the city of Buffalo, or Monroe County, containing the city of Rochester, in separate classes based on population. In all those cases it could be said that conditions due to difference in population might reasonably require differentiation in laws applicable there. ’ ’ It should be noted that the court below in the instant case was correct, when, in its opinion, it stated in part: ‘ ‘ Differentiation in the treatment of municipal corporations according to their population is consonant with our history and traditions. There are many reasons for so doing, and their differing financial capacities furnish but one of them. The Legislature has not stated the reasons which motivated it to exclude the smaller counties from the mandatory operation of the uniform jury law. Whatever its personal preference, this court may not say that such reasons do not exist. The wisdom of the statute is not a subject of judicial concern.”
The 1954 jury law, as amended by the 1955 act was, of course, general in its terms in that it was applicable to 42 counties which fitted into a population pattern. Because it created a true class, based on population, for the various reasons hereinbefore stated, it was also, in the sense of the Constitution, general in its effect. It is thus not subject to the condemnation of section 17 of article III of the State Constitution.
We shall now treat of the validity of the statute under subdivision (b) of section 1 of article IX of the Constitution. Under that provision, the Legislature may not enact a law, which is local in its terms or in its effect, where the subject of such law
The judgment should be affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I dissent. If the language of section 17 of article III and subdivision (b) of section 1 of article IX of our State Constitution has meaning, this law is unconstitutional.
In 1954, as chapter 305 of the Laws of that year, there was enacted and signed by the Governor a bill which became article IS of the Judiciary Law? and established for the first time &
In 1955, before the 1954 law could go into effect, the Legislature enacted, and there was later signed by the Governor, a law which destroyed the symmetry accomplished by the 1954 act. The 1955 bill (ch. 864 of that year eff. July 1, 1955, and to be known as Judiciary Law, art. 16) revoked the earlier mandate that every one of the up-State counties must have the same methods of bringing jurors to court and administering jury laws. Instead, it made it optional with each county of less than 100,000 population to elect that “ the selection of trial jurors in such county” shall be governed by the new procedures. In other words, the revised and uniform system was made obligatory on the 15 up-State counties with more than 100,000 population, and optional with the 42 counties which have populations under 100,000 each. Uniformity disappeared. Any or all of the less-than-100,000 counties could stick to the old discredited way of ‘1 inadequate lists prepared by local officials from assessment rolls ” (Governor’s memorandum approving 1954 bill). Thereafter to be binding on 15 up-State counties only was the centralized jury system under the supervision of a county jury board consisting of a Justice of the Supreme
Plaintiffs, two Albany County taxpayers, brought the present suit for a judgment that would declare to be violative of section 17 of article III and subdivision (b) of section 1 of article IX of the New York State Constitution both the 1954 and 1955 laws above described. An injunction was prayed for to restrain the enforcement of those laws in Albany County. On motion, judgment on the pleadings in favor of defendant, dismissing the complaint, was granted at Special Term, and from that judgment plaintiffs appeal directly to this court (Civ. Prac. Act, § 588, subd. 4).
The two laws construed together (Judiciary Law, arts. 16, 18) violate both provisions (stipra) of the State Constitution. The following parts of this opinion contain separate treatment of those two provisions.
First we deal with section 17 of article III of the New York State Constitution: “ The legislature shall not pass a private or local bill in any of the following cases: * * * Selecting, drawing, summoning or empaneling grand or petit jurors.” The general purpose of the whole list of prohibitions in section 17 of article III was to eliminate the practice of burdening the Legislature and the Governor with numerous proposals for special, nonuniform laws concerning counties, towns and villages (see 2 Lincoln’s Constitutional History of New York, p. 499). The ban against the enactment of such laws with respect to jurors was recommended by the Constitutional Commission of 1872 and appeared first in the Constitution in 1874 (similar prohibitions as to local bills with other subject matter were con-
For reasons different but equally cogent, article 16 (the 1955 change) must be held to amount to a separate violation of subdivision (b) of section 1 of article IX of the New York State Constitution. That 11 County Home Rule ” section states first the requirement that “ The legislature shall provide by law for the organization and government of counties.” Next appears a prohibition. “ No law which shall be special or local in its terms or in its effect, or which shall relate specially to one county only, shall be enacted by the legislature ” unless “ upon the request of the board of supervisors or other elective governing body of each county to be affected ” or “ upon a certificate of necessity by the governor to the legislature ” and “ the concurrence of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the legislature.” It is conceded that neither of these conditions (request by supervisors or certificate of necessity by the Governor) were met in connection with the passage of either the 1954 or 1955 jury bills. The question then is: was the 1955 enactment (exempting the 42 counties) “ local * * * in its effect”? How can it be doubted that the effect was “ local ” as to the included counties as well as to those given the right to elect? As to the 42 counties, it required the setting up of a county jury board and the creation of the office of jury commissioner. Of course, if we are right as to the violation of section 17 of article III (supra), we never really get to any question as to article IX. If any and every truly “ local”
The long list of statutes cited at pages 85-86 of the majority opinion has no bearing on this case, since none of those cited statutes fall within the prohibitions of section 17 of article III and subdivision (b) of section 1 of article IX of the State Constitution.
The judgment appealed from should be reversed, plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the pleadings granted and judgment entered for plaintiffs as demanded in the complaint.
Fuld, Van Voobhis and Bubke, JJ., concur with Conway, Ch. J.; Desmond, J., dissents in an opinion; Dye and Fboessel, JJ., taking no part.
Judgment affirmed.