133 Minn. 178 | Minn. | 1916
For reasons satisfactory to the legislature, into which we have no right to inquire, it was deemed advisable and proper expressly to prescribe and limit the salary and fees of certain officers of the county of Otter Tail, and to that end chapter 423, p. 1032, Sp. Laws 1891, was enacted. By that act the salary of the county treasurer was fixed at $1,600 a year, and that of other county officers as therein prescribed. Relator herein was duly elected as county treasurer at the general election of 1910, re-elected in 1912, and again in 1914, and is now discharging the duties of his office under this last election. He accepted the salary as fixed by the special act during his entire term of service, except for the year 1915, and since the commencement of this proceeding. In August, 1915, he brought this proceeding to compel the issuance to him of county warrants, as and for his salary as county treasurer, upon the basis of the salary as prescribed by chapter 292, p. 686, Laws 1895, for the time served during the year 1915, and for the difference between what was paid under the special salary act and that prescribed by said chapter 292, for the years 1911 to 1914 inclusive. Relator’s right to the salary claimed was put in issue by respond_ent in his answer to the alternative writ. On the trial below the court held the special salary act valid and the exclusive measure of relator’s compensation, and the alternative writ was discharged and the proceeding dismissed. Judgment was entered accordingly and relator appealed.
It is contended by relator: (1) That the special salary act never became a law of the state, and is unconstitutional, inoperative and void; (2) that if the act be held valid and in force from the date of its approval by the Governor, it was repealed by implication by chapter 292, p. 686, Laws
While the questions presented are worthy of serious consideration,' and have been so considered, we are unable to concur in either of relator’s contentions. We consider the questions in their order.
1. The special act was duly passed by the legislature and was approved by the Governor on April 6, 1891. The act does not conclude with the usual declaration: “This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage,” but instead thereof concludes as follows: “This act shall not apply to the salary or fees of any officer named in sections one (1) and three (3) thereof until from and after the first Monday in January, 1893.” The act imposed upon the sheriff of the county certain duties to be performed by him during the years 1891 and 1893, in reference to keeping an account of the fees received by him and expenditures made in his official capacity. All inconsistent statutes were expressly repealed.
At the session of the legislature at which the statute was enacted, there was proposed for submission to the people for adoption or rejection at the November, 1893, general election, an amendment to the Constitution, the purpose of which among other things was to prohibit special legislation of the character of the special act here in question; it being therein provided that, after the adoption of the amendment, there should be no special statutes fixing the compensation of county officers. The amendment was adopted at the 1893 election, and became a part of the Constitution prior to the first Monday of January, 1893, the date on which relator contends the special salary act was designed by the legislature to become operative and in force. And it is claimed that by reason of this situation, the intervention of the constitutional amendment between the date of the passage of the act and the time it was to take effect, the special act was a violation thereof, because it deals with the prohibited subject, and is unconstitutional and void.
There is force and merit to relator’s contention, if his theory of the time the act took effect be conceded. But his claim in this respect cannot well be admitted. The special act has remained undisturbed for nearly a quarter of a century. It has been acted upon by the public, and by all who draing that period of time have held public office in Otter Tail county.
But there is another ground upon which the statute may well be upheld. As heretofore stated a part of the statute took effect immediately upon the approval by the Governor. That part, section 4, imposed certain specific duties upon the sheriff in respect to his accounts, and required him to make and file quarterly reports with the county auditor during the years 1891 and 1892. The operation of the statute in this particular was not postponed but took effect upon approval by the Governor. The rule
2. The second contention is that the act, conceding that it became effective as a law prior to January, 1893, was repealed by chapter 292, p. 686, Laws 1895. That was a general statute and prescribed the salary of the auditor and treasurer of every county in the state having a population of more than 40,000 and less than 100,000. It had no application to Otter Tail county at the time of its passage, for that county did not then have a population exceeding 40,000. It has since come into and is now within that class. The claim of relator that it now controls the question of his salary cannot be sustained, unless we are to overrule several decisions heretofore rendered in cases involving conflicting general and special statutes, where substantially the same question was passed upon. We have held, and the ruling is in accord with the authorities generally, that a subsequently enacted general statute will not operate as a repeal by implication of a prior special act, unless an intent to repeal is made manifest by the subsequent statute. The question first came before us, after the amendment of the Constitution, in State v. Egan, 64 Minn. 331, 67 N. W. 77, and the rule there stated was followed in State v. Baker, 114 Minn. 209, 130 N. W. 999; State v. Peter, 101 Minn. 462, 112 N. W. 866; and State v. Lindquist, 77 Minn. 540, 80 N. W. 701. In the first case referred to chapter 206, p. 343, Laws 1893, was under consideration in con
3. The last contention is that the special act was repealed by chapter 294, p. 518, Laws 1903. The point is not sustained. That statute dealt exclusively with the fees of sheriffs, and had no relation to the salary of other county officers. It repealed all inconsistent statutes, and the repeal of the special act in question insofar as it involves the fees of the sheriff may be conceded. But relator argues that the effect of chapter 294 was a modification of the special-act, in that it removed the sheriff from its provisions, and since by the Constitution special laws cannot be amended, extended or modified (section 33, art. 4), the whole of chapter 423 must fall as totally repealed. If counsel are right in the contention that the effect of chapter 294 was a modification of the special act, it would necessarily follow that that act,,rather than the special act, would fall, for as
Judgment affirmed.