155 Ga. 795 | Ga. | 1923
(After stating the foregoing facts.)
On August 12, 1914, the legislature passed “ an act to amend an act approved August 19th, 1913, entitled an act to provide for the holding of primary elections in the City of Savannah, Georgia, for the selection of mayor and aldermen of said city; to fix the rules and regulations under which such primaries shall be held, the qualification of voters therein, and for other purposes.” Section 8 of said act is as follows: “ Sec. 8. By adding after section 7, of said act, another section to. be known as section 8, reading as follows: ‘ Section 8. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the provisions of sections 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 of the act of the General Assembly of Georgia of 1914, entitled “ An act to provide for the registration of voters to vote at the municipal elections in the City of Savannah, and to fix, regulate, and determine the time, place, and manner in which such elections shall be held, and prescribe qualification of voters at all such elections, and to prescribe suitable penalties for all violations thereof, and for other purposes,” shall apply to and be of force in all elections held under the terms of this act, and said sections are hereby incorporated in and made a part of this act.’ ” Ga. Laws 1914, pp. 1172, 1177.
On August 12, 1914, the legislature passed the act the title of which is quoted in full in said section 8. This act we shall refer to as the “ general-election act ” of the City of Savannah. Section 19 of this act is as follows: “Sec. 19. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That any person who, without being legally and properly entitled to do so, votes or attempts to vote at any election for mayor and aldermen or recorder for the City of Savannah, or who in any way interferes with the orderly and peaceful conduct and management of the same, shall be held and deemed guilty of a misdemeanor under the laws of the State of Georgia; and punished as provided in section 1065 of the Penal Code of the State of Georgia.” Ga. Laws 1914, pp. 1162, 1168. The accusation in this case was based on section 8 of the above act of August 12, 1914, regulating the primary elections in the City of Savannah. One ground of the demurrer attacks this section as unconstitutional on the ground that it is in conflict
The title of the amended act is “ An act to provide for the holding of primary elections in the City of Savannah, Georgia, for the selection of mayor and aldermen of said city; to fix rules and regulations under which such primaries shall be held, the qualifications of voters therein, and for other purposes.” The title is broad; its purposes are sweeping. It refers to providing for these primary elections, to fixing the rules and regulations under which they shall be held, to prescribing the qualifications of the voters, and for other purposes. Under such a title, the legislature clearly could put in the body of the act a provision making it a misdemeanor for persons, without the prescribed qualifications of voters, to vote, or attempt to vote, in such elections, and to punish those who should vote or attempt to vote illegally therein. In an act, the title of which was “ An act to establish a Board of Dental Examiners, prescribe its powers and duties, and to regu
The act in question is different from the one considered in Corenblum, v. State, 153 Ga. 596 (113 S. E. 159). In that case the court had under consideration- the act of Aug. 16, 1919 (Acts 1919, p. 135) regulating banking in the State, creating the Department of Banking, -providing for the incorporation of banks, the amendment, renewal, and surrender of charters, penalties for the violation of laws with reference to banking and banking business, and for other purposes. This court held that section 34 of article 20 of that act, making it a misdemeanor for any person, with intent to defraud, to make, draw, utter, or .deliver any check, draft, or order for the payment of money upon any bank or other depository, knowing at the time that he had not sufficient funds or credit with such bank or depository to pay the same, is uncon
The accusation was further demurred to on the ground that section 19 of the general-election act of the City of Savannah can not be made a part of said primary-election act by mere reference to the title of said act and said section; and that in this respect it is violative of article 3, section 7, paragraph 17, of the constitution of this State, which declares that “No law, or section of the Code, shall be amended or repealed by mere reference to its title, or to the number of the section of the Code, but the amending or repealing act shall distinctly describe the law to be amended or repealed, as well as the alteration to be made.” Civil Code (1910), § 644-5. Counsel for the defendant contend that the primary-election act of 1914 attempts to amend the primary act of 1913 by reference to its title and date of approval, and by reference to certain sections of the general-election act of the city, passed the same day as the primary-election act, without stating what those sections are or what matter they contain. The specific point is made that the mere recital of the title and date of the amended act does not sufficiently describe it, and does not describe the alterations to be made. It is now well settled in this State, that an act of the legislature can be amended or repealed by a recital of its title and the date of its approval. Adam v. Wright, 84 Ga. 720 (11 S. E. 893); Fullington v. Williams, 98 Ga. 807 (27 S. E. 183); Town of Maysville v. Smith, 132 Ga. 316, 319 (64 S. E. 131). Are the alterations to be made in the act of 1913 sufficiently described? Where the title of an act puts every one on notice that a certain act is to be amended, this is sufficient for every one who may be affected to be on their guard as to all matters connected with the subject-matter of the act, which is recited in the
The peculiar feature of the section is that the act the sections of which are incorporated in, and made a part of, the amending act, became a law on the same day that the latter act took effect. This situation may have required the exercise by the legislature of prophetic power, but it does not render the' amending act void. When the amending act came into being, the act the sections of which were incorporated therein was law. These sections were then in existence. The fact that, the act in which these sections are found was in an inchoate condition when it was.passed by the legislature does not render uncertain and void the description of the alterations to be made in the act sought to be amended. The legislative intent is clear. It had before it both acts. Its purpose was to make parts of one act applicable to the other, when both became the law. Treating the former act as a full and complete statute before its approval by the Governor, does not make the latter void. Such misdescription, if.misdescription.it be, does, not
The other grounds of demurrer are not discussed and insisted upon in the briefs of counsel for the defendant, and are to be treated in this court as abandoned. For this reason we do not pass upon them. Judgment affirmed.