2 S.D. 32 | S.D. | 1891
An information was filed in the county court of McCook county by the state’s attorney, charging the plaintiff in error with a violation of the provisions of Chapter 54 of the Laws of the legislature of the State of South Dakota of 1890. A trial was had at the July, 1890, term of that court, before a jury, and a verdict of guilty rendered. A fine of $250 and costs was imposed by the court. To that judgment this writ of error is taken. From the record in the case it appears that plaintiff in error was arrested at Salem, McCook county, on July 1, 1890, while acting as a special agent of R. G. Dun & Co., a mercantile agency doing business as such in Chicago, New York and other large cities of the United States and Canada. He came to this place for the purpose of investigating the mercantile standing,of G. H. Grannis & Son, merchants doing business in Salem, S. D.; the information to be used for the benefit of the customers of R. G. Dun &. Co. On the trial the only witness called for the state was G. W. Grannis, and Charles A. Morgan testified on his own behalf. From the testimony it appeared, without contradiction, that the mercantile agency of R. G. Dun & Co. is a commercial agency, within the meaning of Chapter 54, Sess. Laws 1890; that R. G. Dun & Co. had not complied with the provisions of that act, and were not entitled to transact business in this state under its provisions; that plaintiff in error was acting as agent of R. G. Dun & Co. in receiving and procuring reports, and that he had obtained
Section 21 of Article 3 of the constitution of the State of South Dakota provides: “No law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title.” The title of Chapter 54 of the Session Laws of 1890 is “An act to authorize and regulate within the state the business of commercial agencies, credit companies, and guaranty associations. ” The plaintiff in error contends that this act violates the constitutional provision in two particulars: First, it embraces not one, but three, distinct subjects, commercial agencies, credit companies, and guaranty associations; second, the subject of the bill is not expressed in its title, and the act not only attempts to authorize and regulate the business of commercial agencies, etc., but also attempts to impose upon them a gross earnings tax.
Chapter 54 of the Session Laws of 1890 provides that no company, association, individual, or association of individuals, formed under the laws of this or any other state or foreign government, shall transact the business of a commercial agency, without first receiving a certificate from the state auditor. The act also provides that the state auditor shail issue no certificate unless a deposit of $50,000 be made with the state treasurer, and other formalities complied with. The hct further provides that the individual, company or association transacting the business of a commercial agency within this state shall make a sworn statement of their financial condition, and pay into the hands of the state treasurer a specific tax of 2 per cent on the total amount received from all sources growing out of the business transacted in the state. The act makes it unlawful for any person to act within the state, as agent or otherwise, in receiving or procuring reports, etc., without having procured from the state auditor a certificate of authority therefor, and imposes as a penalty for the violation of any of its provisions a fine of not less than $250. The question involved in this case has been ably and thoroughly discussed by learned
The provisions of our constitution in relation to the title af enactments of the legislature are found contained in the constitutions of 27 of the states of the union. The variation^ are
In view of these citations, and many more to the same effect that might be quoted, the object of the constitutional limit ation and restriction is plain, and clearly defined. The object of this constitutional pi o vision, and the mischief intended to be remedied, having been ascertained, it then becomes necessary, for its proper construction, to know whether it is mandatory or merely directory. It would seem, in a general sense, to be a dangerous doctrine to announce that any of the provisions of the constitution may be obeyed or disregarded at the mere will or pleasure of the legislature, unless it is clear beyond all question that such was the intention of the framers of that instrument. The fundamental law is paramount to all others, and to say that any of its provisions are unessential, and of no particular importance, would seem to be lowering the dignity of the ground work upon which all law is based. If it should be looked upon as directory, and so treated by the legislature, the moral obligation resting upon them to faithfully support the
It will thus be seen that the courts, with great unanimity, enforce the constitutional provision in all cases falling within the mischiefs intended to be remedied. Upon a critical exam-nation of these cases, however, it will be seen that, while it is necessary to construe this provision so as to prevent the evils intended to be met, yet it is desirable to avoid the opposite extreme, so as not to embarrass the legislature in the legitimate exercise of its powers, and compel a needless multiplication of bills, designed to meet the same object. The court says, in the case of State v. Miller, 45 Mo. 497: ‘ ‘The courts, in all the states where a like or similar provision exists, have given a liberal interpretation, and have endeavored to construe it so as not to limit or cripple legislative enactments any further than what was necessary by the absolute requirements of the law.” The objections to an act upon the ground that it embraced more than one subject, and that it was not sufficiently expressed in its title, should be grave, and the conflict between the stat
The constitutional requirement in our constitution is addressed to the subject. This subject must be single. The provisions of the act must all relate directly to the same subject, have a natural connection, and not be foreign to the subject as stated íd the title. The title must state the subject of the act for the information, not only of the legislature, bub of the' public generally. When the title of a legislative act expresses a general subject or purpose which is single, all matters which are naturally and reasonably connected with it, and all measures which will or may facilitate the accomplishment of the purpose so stated, are germane to its title. There is no constitutional restriction as to the scope or magnitude of the single subject of a legislative act. It has been held that an act to establish the government of the state embraces but a single subject or object, yet it includes all its institutions, — all its statutes. In Bowman v. Cockrill, 6 Kan. 311, the court says: ‘ ‘The unity, of such an act, covering the multiform concerns of a commonwealth, is the congruity of all the details as parts of one ‘stupendous whole, ’ of one government. That is the grand subject of such a statute or system of laws; it is equally the object of all ito varied titles of chapters and' sections.” Such is an act creating municipal corporations. Such a statute creates the corporate entity; invests it with and regulates the exercise of the necessary legislative, taxing, judicial, and police powers. It embraces but one subject. The separate provisions, granting, defining and regulating these powers, are but parts of a whole, and essential to make a whole, a municipality.
Having thus briefly stated some of the general principles and rules of construction relating to this constitutional provision, let us endeavor to apply them to the statute before us. We have said that the provision of the constitution is mandatory; than is, that no law shall embrace but one subject, which shall be expressed in its title. Yet in cases not clearly within
But objection is urged that the act has a plurality of subjects, because Section 3 imposes a gross earnings tax of 2 per cent, and provides for the method of its payment, and because Section 6 imposes penalties for the violation of its provisions. The subject of an act expressed in the title includes not only all matters which are constituent parts of it, but all matters directly incidental to it. Plank Road Co. v. Hannaman, 22 Ind. 484; City of St. Louis v. Green, 7 Mo. App. 468; Canal Co. v. Bright, 8 Colo. 144, 6 Pac. Rep. 142; English v. State, 7 Tex. App. 171. “An act concerning drainage” includes, for this reason, assessments upon lands benefitted to pay the expense. Wishmier v. State, 97 Ind. 160. So a grant of lands in aid of public improvements may contain a provision exempting the land from taxation for a limited term. Prescott v. Bebee, 17 Kan. 32. An act to regulate a specific business may prescribe penalties for violation of the act. Insurance Co. v. Commissioners, 70 Mich. 485, 38 N. W. Rep. 474; Will v. State, 46 Ohio St. 450, 21 N. E. Rep. 643; Sykes v. People, 127 Ill. 177, 19 N. E. Rep. 705; State v. Stunkle, 41 Kan. 457, 21 Pac. Rep. 675. A statute embracing only one general subject, indicated by its title, is constitutional, no matter how fully it may enter into the details of that subject. Turnpike Co. v. Fletcher, 104 Ind. 97, 2 N. E. Rep. 243; Canal Co. v. Bright, 8 Colo. 144, 6 Pac. Rep. 142; People v. Goddard, 8 Colo. 432, 7 Pac. Rep. 301. As a means of enforcing a law for regulating and licensing the sale of intoxicating liquors, it may provide that a house where such liquors are sold, if kept in a disorderly manner, may be deemed a common nuisance; that so keeping it shall cause a forfeiture of the license, and subject the offender to a fine Fletcher v. State, 54 Ind. 462; O’Kane v. State, 69 Ind. 183 As a means of enforcing the payment of a special tax on deal
It can readily be seen from the authorities above cited that the constitutional provision permits an announcement of the subject of an act in its title, in general terms, but, in order to facilitate legislation, a very liberal construction will be given to all matters which are pertinent or germane to the subject of the enactment. The controlling purpose of the act under consideration is the regulating the companies or associations named in the title. Incidental to the purpose is the imposition of the tax, and the penalties imposed for doing business in violation of its provisions. These are subsidary details, which are means for carrying into effect the object or purpose of the act disclosed in the subject, and do not create a plurality of subjects.
The third objection urged against the validity of the law is that it is in violation of Section 2, Article 11, of the constitution, which provides that “all taxes to be raised in this state shall be uniform on all real and personal property, according to its value.” We think the plaintiff in error is not in a position to raise this question at this time. The information under which he was arrested and tried states that he did wilfully and unlawfully act within the- State of South Dakota as an agent for R. G. Dun & Co., in securing and procuring reports upon the financial resources and standing, personal credit, honesty, and business methods of one G. H. Grannis & Son, for R. G. Dun & Co., * * * the said R. G. Dun & Co. being then and there an association; * * * and did then and there so receive and procure such reports, without having-procured from the state auditor a certificate of authority therefor, * * * contrary to the statute in such case made and provided.” It was admitted on the trial that R. G. Dun & Co. is a mercantile agency, within the meaning of the statute under consideration. The offense charged was non-compliance with the law in not procuring from the state auditor a certifi
The remaining objection, and the one most strenuously urged for a reversal of the judgment, is that the statute under consideration is a regulation of commerce and commercial intercourse, and is an assumption of power by the state legislature which alone rests in. congress, by reason of Article 1, Sec-" tion 8, of the constitution of the United States. This clause of the United States constitution has been so often before the courts, and has been so frequently discussed by eminent jurists, that, in arriving at a proper construction of it, our chief duty consists in ascertaining precisely what points are to be considered as definitely settled by a series of prior adjudications. We do not propose to go into a critical analysis of these decisions, nor of the reasoning on which they are founded, but will only state what we understand to be the propositions enunciated as settled as law upon this subject. In doing so, we will state we have examined all the authorities cited in the able brief of the plaintiff in error, and many more bearing more or less upon the question. From these we may deduce the following propositions, as-having been definitely settled by state and United States courts: (1) That the term “commerce,” as employed in the clause of Section 8 of Article 1 of the constitution of the United States, which is under consideration, consists of intercouse and traffic, including in these terms navigation; the transportation and transit of persons and property;
Since the case of Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, it has never been doubted that commercial intercourse is, an element of commerce which also comes within the regulating power of congress, and that Article 1, Section 8, of the constitution, extends to all matters involving subjects which pertain to or affect commerce. In view of these propositions of law relating to commerce and commercial intercourse, the question for de- . termination is, are mercantile agencies such legitimate and useful instruments of commerce as to put them exclusively under the regulation of congress, and free 'from state control? Mercantile commercial agencies, as we understand them, are'establishments which make a business of collecting information relating to the credit, character, responsibility, general reputation, and other matters affecting persons, firms, and corporations engaged in business, for the purpose of furnishing this information to its customers for a cash consideration. These agencies have become recognized and permanent adjuncts to the world of trade. Their rise and progress are of but recent date. According to a little work entitled ‘ ‘The Law Relating