176 Ga. 125 | Ga. | 1932
Lead Opinion
Mrs. Ruth Blocker and Mrs. Lola McKee brought an equitable petition against C. A. Morrison, H. W. Kitchens, and P. A. Meyer, as the State Board of Barber Examiners, R. C. Coleman, general secretary of examining boards of Georgia, John Wilson, secretary of State of Georgia, alleging, among other things, that plaintiffs will suffer a loss of time and incur burdensome expenses in their business and will be deprived of the opportunity of complying with their contracts with their employers to perform their services, and the loss to the plaintiffs will be irreparable, unless the defendants are enjoined; and they pray that the defendants be enjoined from enforcing or taking any steps whatsoever to enforce the provisions of the barbers act of 1931. as applied to the plaintiffs, the rules and regulations promulgated by the board of barber examiners of Georgia, and from levying tax executions, or from arresting the plaintiffs or their employees and all others similarly situated, or from prosecuting the plaintiffs or their employees, or from interfering with the operations of plaintiffs and their employees in any manner whatsoever; and that the barbers act of 1931 be declared to be unconstitutional and void, etc. A general demurrer to the petition was overruled by the court, and the defendants excepted.
The first act passed by the legislature of Georgia regulating the occupation of “barbering” was in 1914 (Ga. L. 1914, p. 75). The
In arriving at the meaning of the words of an act we must ascertain, if possible, the legislative intent. This legislative intent by amending the act of 1914 appears to be to remove any doubt, if any existed, as to hairdressing and any other feature of barbering which is a specialized branch of that vocation. What other purpose or intent could the legislature have had than to put beyond question what the language of the act of 1914 meant? In Central of Georgia Ry. Co. v. State, 104 Ga. 831 (31 S. E. 531, 43 L. R. A. 518), this court said: “A legislative body should always be presumed to mean something by the passage of an act. . . It would be difficult to conceive how language could more clearly or forcibly express the real intent of the legislature in this matter than the words used in the title . . of this act. If it means anything, it means a purpose of the legislature to adopt and make of force a code of laws, and hence to breathe into every provision in that code the vitality of a legislative enactment. Any other construction would ascribe to the legislature the folly of declaring, in effect, ‘We adopt as law in this code everything which would be law any way without further sanction/ It would be just as reasonable for that body to re-enact verbatim et literatim a statute which it recognized and knew to be already of force.” And so we must ascribe to the legislature in passing the act of 1931, amending the act of 1914, some meaning in changing the definition of a barber; and unless we give to the legislature an intention to include persons engaged in work such as the plaintiffs allege that they perform, we “ascribe to the legislature the folly of declaring, in effect, ‘We adopt as law . . everything which would be law any way/” In paragraph 8 of the petition the nature and kind of work performed by the plaintiffs is set out as fol
The plaintiffs contend that the title of the act of 1931 contains no reference to the words “beautician, beauty-culture specialist, beauty culturist, or hairdresser.” They insist that they are not “barbers,” but “beauticians,” and that the legislature can not regulate their occupation as beauticians unless the title of the act refers to them. It is true that the title of the act does not in terms contain the words “beautician,” etc., as quoted above, and in fact Webster’s New International Dictionary does not contain the listing of any of these words. In paragraph 9 of the petition the plaintiffs allege that they are, first, beauticians, second, beauty eulturists, third, beauty-culture specialists, fourth, hairdressers, and fifth, op
Concurrence Opinion
concurring specially. This concurrence is based upon the facts alleged in the petition. These facts must be construed most strongly against the pleader. The petition shows that the petitioners for the harsh remedy of injunction have not been molested in any way, either as to their person or property. The suit is instituted plainly and solely for the purpose of restraining a criminal prosecution, expressly inhibited by the Code of 1910, § 5491, and numerous decisions of this court. See dissenting opinion in Dasher v. Valdosta, 172 Ga. 539, 541 (158 S. E. 34); Montgomery & Atlanta Motor Freight Lines v. Georgia Public Service Commission, 175 Ga. 826 (166 S. E. 200). Petitioners allege that they have been given notice that they should report to the Board of Barber Examiners for physical examination and should make application for certificates of registration and otherwise comply with the statute; and that unless these requisites are complied with, petitioners would be prosecuted for misdemeanor under the barbers act of 1931. They then allege "that the plaintiffs will be detained by the defendants under threat of arrest and prosecution, and that plaintiffs will suffer a loss of time and incur burdensome expenses in their business, and will be deprived of the opportunity of complying with their contracts with their employees to perform their services, and the loss to the plaintiffs will be irreparable, unless the defendants are enjoined as hereinafter prayed; that the threats and acts of defendants aforementioned are predicated upon the- enforcement as against the plaintiffs by reason of the barbers act of 1931.” Thus it will be seen that no property rights are threatened or in any way affected. Of course it is obvious that if they violate a penal statute, and the statute is valid, they should be prosecuted. It is just as plain that any person who is indicted and prosecuted will be “detained,” and that such prosecution will necessarily cause loss of time and the burden of more or less expense. These things, we must assume, were known to the General Assembly as necessary results of a criminal prosecution when they enacted the statute forbidding courts of equity to enjoin criminal prosecutions.