32 N.W.2d 773 | Iowa | 1948
Plaintiff, a Minnesota corporation, operates motor trucks transporting freight over established routes and between fixed terminals both within and without the state of Iowa. Some *890 of its trucks are Iowa licensed. Some bear Minnesota registrations. Plaintiff alleges that it has complied with Iowa registration statutes, as construed by the Motor Vehicle Department of Iowa. That the defendants, claiming that plaintiff's trucks which bear the Minnesota registrations are improperly licensed, are charging plaintiff's drivers with violating the motor vehicle statutes and issuing summonses to them on account thereof. It asks that defendants' rights, status and authority, relative to the enforcement of the motor vehicle statutes be declared to be limited to size, weight and load and that defendants be enjoined from acting beyond that limitation.
Defendants assert that the plaintiff's trucks are improperly licensed; that they should bear Iowa licenses, and that under the Iowa statutes the Commission is charged with the duty of enforcing the motor vehicle statutes as to registration as well as to size, weight and load; that plaintiff, being a law violator, is not entitled to equitable relief.
The trial court held the question of whether plaintiff's trucks were properly licensed or not was immaterial and limited the hearing to the sole question of authority to enforce the motor vehicle statutes of this state. It held this authority was limited to size, weight and load, and granted an injunction. Defendants appeal.
[1] I. All Iowa rules and regulations governing motor traffic on the state highways are based upon statutes. Both the Iowa State Highway Commission and the Motor Vehicle Department are creatures of statute and but agents of the state in the carrying out of the legislative provisions governing highways and their use. Except as authorized by statute, these agencies are without authority to act, and an analysis of our various statutes is necessary in determining this basic question. State v. F.W. Fitch Co.,
Chapters 307 and 313 create the State Highway Commission and designate its duties, generally. In neither chapter is found authority to in any manner supervise or be concerned with traffic on the highways. If such authority exists it must be found in other chapters of the Code. (All references are to the Code of 1946 unless stated otherwise.) *891
[2] Chapter 80 provides for a Department of Public Safety. Section
"It shall be the duty of the department of public safety to prevent crime, to detect and apprehend criminals and to enforce such other laws as are hereinafter specified."
Section
"All other departments and bureaus of the state are hereby prohibited from employing special peace officers or conferring upon regular employees any police powers to enforce provisions of the statutes, which are specifically reserved by this act [48 GA, ch 120] to this department."
Chapter 321 pertains to Motor Vehicles and Law of Road. Section
"The department of public safety, under the commissioner thereof, shall constitute the motor vehicle department for the administration and enforcement of this chapter."
Thus it is clear that the statutory duty to enforce the motor vehicle laws is specifically reserved to the department of public safety, and under section
Sections
"Authority is hereby given to the state highway commission to stop any motor vehicle or trailer on the highways for the purposes of weighing and inspection, to weigh and inspect the same and to enforce the provisions of the motor vehicle laws relating to the size, weight, and load of motor vehicles and trailers."
This section grants the authority for the highway commission to enforce the provisions of this chapter as to size, weight and load, and limits it to those matters. Section
"The state highway commission may designate by resolution certain of its employees upon each of whom there is hereby conferred the authority of a peace officer to control, direct, and weigh traffic on the highways, and to make arrests for violations of the motor vehicle laws relating to the size, weight, and load of motor vehicles."
This section, which must be considered in conjunction with section
[3] Appellants contend that by using the word "control" in section
[4] II. Appellants state that even though no statutory authorization exists for enforcing the motor vehicle laws as to license and registration, a violation thereof constitutes a misdemeanor, section
[5] III. Appellants contend that a declaratory action does not lie because the record shows that appellee's alleged rights have been interfered with and the question is a moot one. While it is true a declaratory judgment is usually obtained before there has been an interference with the rights of a party, this is not necessarily a bar to such an action. As stated in 1 C.J.S., Actions, section 18, such an action may be invoked where the state of facts indicates "threatened litigation, in the immediate future, which seems unavoidable, concerning the respective legal rights of the parties." 16 Am. Jur., Declaratory Judgments, section 10 states: *894
"Generally speaking, a controversy which will justify a court in entertaining a suit under a declaratory judgment must be something more than a mere difference of opinion * * *. It must be justiciable, and this implies a state of facts involving persons adversely interested in matters in respect of which a declaration is sought. * * * It must be a substantial present interest in the relief sought and such that the judgment or decree will operate as res judicata as to them and be of practical help in terminating the controversy."
[6] While the record discloses that upon several occasions appellee's drivers have been charged with a violation of the motor vehicle statutes by appellants on account of illegal registration, it also shows that the question presented involves a continuing situation in which future conduct and relations of the parties are involved. What has gone before is immaterial except as it tends to illuminate the future. Where, as we have stated, the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the motor vehicle statutes are, by statute, placed in certain departments of government, the determination of which department of government one must look to and rely upon in framing one's future conduct is a live, vital question and is clearly within the province of a declaratory judgment. As stated in Ostrander v. Linn,
"`One of the principal purposes of the declaratory action is the removal of clouds from legal relations. By dissipating peril and insecurity and thus stabilizing legal relations, it avoids the destruction of the status quo, and assures a construction or interpretation of the law before rather than after breach or violence.'"
The fact that appellee asks, in addition to the declaratory judgment, relief by injunction is not, as claimed by appellants, a bar to the action. Rule 261, Rules of Civil Procedure, provides: "Courts of record within their respective jurisdictions shall declare rights, status, and other legal relations whether or not further relief is or could be claimed." Appellants' contention is without merit. *895
[7] IV. It is further contended by appellants that appellee is not entitled to equitable relief because it is a law violator, and that equity will not interfere with the enforcement of the criminal statutes. As to the latter proposition, appellee is not asking for interference with the enforcement of the criminal laws by those authorized to enforce the same. It merely asks that injunction issue if the defendants are not authorized to act, and to leave the enforcement in the hands of those charged therewith, under the statutes. That an injunction will issue under such circumstances, see Thede v. Thornburg,
As to the former contention — that equity will not act, as appellee is a law violator — this rule does not apply. Under this record past events are past events and are not material here. If appellants are acting beyond their authority and will do so in the future, the fact that appellee may have in the past been charged with a law violation or is even now violating the law will not prevent the kind of relief here asked.
As stated in 1 Pomeroy's Equity Jurisprudence, Fourth Ed., 714, section 385:
"* * * the court will give the plaintiff the relief to which he is entitled, only upon condition that he has given, or consents to give, the defendant such corresponding rights as he also may be entitled to in respect of [to] the subject-matter of the suit."
Appellee in effect says, if appellants are authorized to arrest for violations of the motor vehicle statutes, all right; if not, then stop them by injunction.
V. Appellants further contend that appellee, a foreign corporation, must comply with the registration requirements to the same extent as residents. Appellee does not deny this. It admits that each is governed by statute and alleges it has *896 complied therewith. While appellants attempt to show as a fact that appellee has not complied with the statutes, the trial court ruled this out as immaterial to the issue raised by appellee. In this we find no error.
Finding no error, the decree of the trial court should be and is affirmed. — Affirmed.
All JUSTICES concur.