Medlen v. StateMedlen v. State
This is an appeal by the State of Louisiana and other defendants from a judgment declaring unconstitutional
Facts
The following facts were outlined by the trial judge and accepted by appellants:
“The Town of Plaquemine was created by Act 109 of 1878. Section 6 of this Act created a Mayor‘s Court and granted the Mayor the power of a committing magistrate in all cases arising under town ordinance, granted him the power to try cases involving violation of town ordinances, and gave him civil jurisdiction to the same extent as a Justice of the Peace. All fines imposed by the Mayor were to be paid into the town treasury at least once a month. Section 7 of this Act created the appointed position of Town Marshal. Section 9 of the Act gave the Town Marshal authority to attend on the Mayor‘s Court, the powers of a peace officer to execute warrants, writs, summons, and other orders of Court, and the power to make arrests for violations of state laws or local ordinances to the same extent as a Sheriff.
“By Act No. 32 of 1960, which was amended by Act No. 130 of 1964, (
`Notwithstanding the provisions of any laws of the state to the contrary, it shall not be mandatory upon said city to create the office of city judge, it being specifically herein provided that the city of Plaquemine shall have an option to create said office of city judge at such time as the mayor and board of selectmen of said city shall deem the creation thereof necessary and to the best interest of the city of Plaquemine.’
“Although the legislature had established general provisions governing the creation of City Courts, and although the City of Plaquemine had a population exceeding 5,000 persons and was the parish seat of Iberville Parish, in 1972 specific legislation was passed to create a City Court of Plaquemine. Act 455 of 1972 had the purpose of amending the legislative charter of the City of Plaquemine (Act 109 of 1878) by removing provisions pertaining to the Mayor‘s Court. Act 455 amended Section 6 of Act 109 of 1878 by deleting the last two sentences of the Section, which in effect withdrew the power of the Mayor to act as a Mayor‘s Court. Section 8 of Act 109 of 1878 was amended to provide that the Marshal shall attend the City Court of Plaquemine rather than the Mayor‘s Court, and Section 10 was amended to remove from the Secretary of the Board of Seleсtmen the power to certify copies of proceedings before the Mayor‘s Court. Unfortunately, Section 6 of Act 109 of 1878, as contained in Act 455, also provided that `The Mayor and Selectmen of said city shall hold their offices for one year, as herein provided, or until their successors are duly qualified....’ (Emphasis added.) The purpose of Act 456 of 1972 was to abolish the Mayor‘s Court in the City of Plaquemine and create in its place a City Court presided over by a Judge. (
“Shortly after Acts 455 and 456 went into effect, it was discovered that through error the terms of office of the Mayor and Selectmen of the City of Plaquemine were reduced from four years to one year. On July 27,1972, the Mayor and Board of Selectmen of the City of Plaquemine, pursuant to the authority of
“By opinion dated June 15, 1973, the Attorney General advised the Governor that there were more than five thousand people in the City of Plaquemine and that the mandatory provisions of
“On January 15,1980, the City of Plaquemine filed suits for writs of quo warranto directed against the Judge and Marshal of the City Court of Plaquemine requesting that they show by what authority they held their respective offices, claiming that the territorial jurisdiction of the Court was the city limits of Plaquemine and that, since the Judge and Marshal lived in the unincorporated area of the wards, they were not residing in the jurisdiction of the Court and could not hold office. Hearings were held on these applications on January 28, 1980. On February 28, 1980, this Court sustained exceptions of no right and no cause of action filed by the Judge and Mаrshal and dismissed the petitions of the City of Plaquemine. By supplemental judgment of this Court dated April 8, 1980, pursuant to the authority of Small v. Guste, 383 So.2d 1011, this Court also sustained the exception of the Judge to the jurisdiction of the Court. The City of Plaquemine appealed these rulings. The Court of Appeal for the First Circuit affirmed the ruling on the exception of lack of jurisdiction and dismissed the appeal with reference to Judge Dupont. City of Plaquemine v. Dupont, 388 So.2d 127 ([La.App.] 1st Cir. 1980). The Court of Appeal also affirmed the sustaining of the exceptions of no right and no cause of action filed by Marshal Medlen. City of Plaquemine v. Medlen, 393 So.2d 301 ([La.App.] 1st Cir. 1980).
“During the regular session of thе 1980 legislature, Act 498 was adopted. This Act was signed by the Governor on July 22, 1980, and became effective September 12, 1980.
The Marshal then filed this action for declaratory judgment, seeking to dеclare Act 498 of 1980 unconstitutional. Other parties intervened, and other issue were raised, and the trial judge commendably undertook to resolve all issues in one action.
The lawful existence of the City Court of Plaquemine and the validity of the elections of the Judge and Marshal of that court were called into question by the strange series of events related above. The trial court correctly decided that the City Court was validly created by Act 456 of 1972.
We are first faced with the conflict between the legislative creation of the City Court of Plaquemine by Act 456 of 1972 and the earlier grant by Act 201 of 1964 to the City of Plaquemine of the power to create the office of City Judgе. Even if the Legislature could validly vest this power in a municipality, this authority was revoked when the Legislature created the City Court of Plaquemine by Act 456 of 1972. The trial court correctly decided that the City Court of Plaquemine was validly created by Act 456 of 1972.
We next address the effort by the City of Plaquemine in Ordinance No. 847 to reinstate the Mayor‘s Court.
The next question is the validity of the election of the judge and marshal, after no election was held at the 1972 Congressional elections as required by Act 456 of 1972.
There was no objection made to the failure to call the election in 1972, as required by Act 456 of 1972, or to the proclamation and the election held in 1973 under the general election law. The present judge and marshal were elected in 1973, were reelected in 1978, and are presently serving their terms of office. At this point in time, it is far too late to challenge the failure to
Territorial Jurisdiction of the City Court
Perhaps the most difficult issue in the case is the territorial jurisdiction of the City Court of Plaquemine.
The City of Plaquemine (now and in 1972) lies within portions of Wards 2, 3, 6 and 8 of Iberville Parish. Act 456 of 1972, which created the City Court of Plaquemine and fixed the territorial jurisdiction as the area within the city limits, was enacted pursuant to
Defendants contend that if the court was validly created pursuant to Act 456 of 1972 (
Over the years, the several Constitutions have provided that judicial power is vested in a supreme court and in various inferior courts. The 1845 Constitution and subsequent ones (until 1921) have provided for justices of the peace as part of the Judiciary Department and defined their subject matter jurisdiction. The 1852 and 1864 Constitutions authorized the Legislature to establish other inferior courts, but that provision was not repeated in the 1879 Constitution, which vested judicial power “in a Supreme Court, in courts of appeal, in district courts and in justices of the peace“.2 See
The 1898 and 1913 Constitutions, after declaring that the judicial power is vested in “a Supreme Court, in Courts of Appeal, in District Courts, in justices of the peace, аnd in such other courts as are herein provided for“, authorized the Legislature to abolish justice of the peace courts in wards containing cities of more than 5,000 inhabitants and to create courts of limited jurisdiction in their stead.
The 1921 Constitution vested the judicial power “in a Supreme Court, in Courts of Appeal, in District Courts, and in such other courts as are hereinafter provided“, eliminating the reference to justices of the peace.
When the Town of Plaquemine was created in 1878, the 1868 Constitution, then in effect, provided in part:
“No judicial powers, except as committing-magistrates in criminal cases, shall be conferred on any officers other than those mentioned in this title, except such as may be necessary in towns and cities;”
La.Const.Art. 94 (1868) .
This prоvision has been held to be sufficient authority for creation of a mayor‘s court. Berry v. Bass, 157 La. 81, 102 So. 76 (1924).4
The Legislature may do everything which the Constitution does not prohibit. Joint Legislative Committee of Legislature v. Strain, 263 La. 488, 268 So.2d 629 (1972). While the Legislature could have abolished the Mayor‘s Court and the justice of the peace courts and created а court of limited jurisdiction with a territorial jurisdiction encompassing the entire four wards, the Legislature chose to abolish only the Mayor‘s Court and to create a City Court with a territorial jurisdiction only throughout the City of Plaquemine, which encompassed only portions of the four wards.5
The Constitution did not expressly fix the territorial jurisdiction of courts of limited jurisdiction created pursuant to Section 51 A of Article 7. Nothing in the Constitution required the Legislature to exercise the full extent of its power, and nothing prohibited the Legislature from abolishing only the Mayor‘s Court and leaving the offices of justices of the peace in existence in the four wards. Thus, there is no conflict between Act 456 of 1972 and
While
We conclude that Act 456 of 1972 validly fixed the territorial jurisdiction of the City Court of Plaquemine throughout the City of Plaquemine.
Constitutionality of Act 498 of 1980
Although Act 456 of 1972 fixed the territorial jurisdiction of the City Court of Plaquemine as the city boundary, the judge and marshal were elected by voters throughout the four wards.7 Since that time, the City Court has exercised jurisdiction over all of the unincorporated areas of Wards 2, 3, 6 and 8.
Act 498 of 1980 purported to restrict the territorial jurisdiction of the City Court to the city limits,8 to limit the number of court
We have decided not to pass upon the arguments that Act 498 is unconstitutional for failure to publish notice of a local or special law and other possibly meritorious technical contentions. Counsel for plaintiffs points out that Act 627 of 1981 practically reenacted Act 498 of 1980. In the interest of judicial economy and efficiency, we will address the substantive issues in the instant proceeding, rather than require the trial judge to readjudicate the issues in an already filed new proceeding and the parties to bring the same issues up on another appeal.
As to the compensation of the judge and marshal, Act 498 of 1980 reduced the salaries of the judge and marshal. The Act also required that all costs collected by the court be paid monthly into the city treasury, although costs and fees received from civil litigation form part of the judge‘s and marshal‘s compensation.
Compensation of a judge (and of an elected public official) cannot be decreased during the terms for which he is elected.
While conceding the correctness of the trial court‘s judgment in this regard, the State argues that we should afford Act 498 prospective application and rule that the Act is effective at the end of the present terms.
When Act 498 was enacted, the effective date of Act 498 was to be September 12, 1980.9 Since we cannot say that the Legislature would have voted in the same way on the bill if the effective date had been different, we decline to declare that the Act can be given prospective validity effective at the end of the present terms.
The other major attack on the validity of Act 498 involves the limitation of court personnel. The court personnel prior to Act 498 included a judge, a marshal, three deputy marshals, a clerk, a deputy clerk and a court reporter. Act 498 reduced the personnel to a judge, a marshal and a clerk, and the Act further prohibited the court‘s having any other personnel. The Act also reduced the salaries of the personnel.
The trial court held Act 498 of 1980 violated the constitutional concept of separation оf powers by reducing the number of personnel and the salaries to a level below that necessary for the operation of such courts.10 As a basis for the holding the court observed that one branch of government cannot constitutionally exercise its power so as to arbitrarily preclude another branch from performing its constitutional function.
Apparently in response to the trial court‘s decision, the Legislature enacted Act 627 of 1981, which amended the statute to provide for one additional employee and to delete the prohibition against employing any other personnel. The amendment essentially conforms with the findings of the trial court by allowing for the employment of a deputy clerk and by deleting the prohibition of employment of other personnel, thus allowing for employment of a court reporter when necessary pursuant to
The trial court, in extensive and exceptionally comprehensive reasons for judgment, decided many other issues raised in the proceedings. Although some of these other issues are discussed in the briefs of some parties, the brief of the only appellants does not raise these issues as assignments of error and does not argue the incorrectness of the judgment in respect to these issues.
Decree
The judgment of the trial court is set aside only insofar as the judgment declares Act 456 of 1972 unconstitutional in part and declares the territorial jurisdiction of the City Court of Plaquemine to be the entirety of Wards 2, 3, 6 and 8 of Iberville Parish. Judgment is rendered declaring that the territorial jurisdiction to be throughout the City of Plaquemine, pursuant to Act 456 of 1972. In all other respects, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Notes
“The legislature shall have the power to abolish justice of the peace courts in wards embracing the parish seat, or containing cities of more than five thousand inhabitants, and to create in their stead courts with such civil jurisdiction as is now vested in justices of the peace, provided that such courts in cities of not in excess of ten thousand inhabitants shall have civil jurisdiction, concurrent with that of the district court, where the amount in dispute or the value of the movable property involved does not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and attorney fees; and with criminal jurisdiction which shall not extend beyond the trial of offenses not punishable by imprisonment at hard labor under the laws of this state; and said courts shall have jurisdiction for holding of preliminary examinations in cases not capital, for the requiring of bonds to keep peace and for the trial of cases covering the violations of municipal and parochial ordinances; and the judges of such courts shall have authority to perform marriage ceremonies. (Emphasis supplied.)