23 Or. 74 | Or. | 1892
The defendants were severally indicted for practicing medicine without having first obtained a license for that purpose, in violation of the act of the legislature regulating the practice of medicine and surgery in this state. Each defendant interposed a demurrer that the indictment did not state facts sufficient to constitute a crime, which the court below overruled, whereupon the defendants each entered a plea of not guilty, and subsequently, upon being tried by a jury, were found guilty and sentenced by the court to pay a fine of fifty dollars each, from which several judgments the defendants have prosecuted this appeal. The defendants challenge the validity of the act of 1889 (Sess. Laws, 1889, 144), and the amendments thereto (Sess. Laws, 1891, 153), regulating the practice of medicine and surgery in this state, as in violation of section 20, article I., of the
The objections are directed to that section of the act as unconstitutional which permits any person to obtain a certificate of qualification to practice medicine or surgery who was so engaged in the practice of his profession when the act took effect, upon making the registry re quired by its provisions. These objections are, (1) that the act discriminates between the citizens of this state by permitting one to practice medicine or surgery without examination, who was so engaged when the act took effect, while it denies the privilege to another who may wish to engage in the practice after the passage of the act; and (2) that it discriminates between residents and non-residents of the state, by permitting a physician who was a resident.and engaged in the practice when the act took effect to continue the pursuit of his profession with
Both these contentions involve the same principle, and the discussion of one necessarily includes the other, so that their separate consideration is not necessarily to be pursued. Both proceed upon the hypothesis that the act grants privileges or immunities to one class of persons while it denies the same privileges or immunities to another class. It is not thought that either of these contentions is tenable, or that the section referred to is in conflict with the constitution of the state or of the United States. The right of every person to pursue any lawful business, occupation, or profession he may choose to pursue, subject to such restrictions as the government may impose for the protection of the health, welfare, and safety of society, is unquestioned. This paramount right, inherent- in every government, to provide such regulations in regard to various avocations as the public welfare may require, is very broad and comprehensive. It has been said that “All laws for the protection of the lives, limbs, health, and quiet of persons, and the
Among the various occupations of life there are many which may be pursued by a person without danger to the public health or detriment to the public welfare, and need, therefore, no regulations to control them; but there are other occupations or callings which require special knowledge or training or experience to qualify a person to pursue them with safety to the public health and interests ; and when the occupation or calling is of this character no one can question the power of the state to impose such restrictions and to provide such regulations as it may deem proper for the protection of the health and welfare of its citizens from the evils resulting from ignorance and incapacity. ‘ ‘ The power of the state, ” said Mr. Justice Field, “to provide for the general welfare of its people, authorizes it to prescribe all such regulations as, in its judgment, will secure or tend to secure them against the consequences of ignorance and incapacity as.well as of deception and fraud”: Dent v. West Va. 129 U. S. 122 (9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 281).
There are few professions that require more careful
Section 13 of the act, in effect, only permits physicians that were engaged in the practice when the law took effect, upon registering as required by its proviso, to apply to the board and obtain a certificate of qualification authorizing them to practice medicine or surgery without an examination. In a word, it permits persons who were engaged in the practice when the law took
The error of the defendant’s contention consists in assuming that the act grants “privileges or immunities” to one class of citizens or physicians of this state which
Now the legislature saw fit in establishing this test to except from its provisions a certain class of physicians
But the case mainly relied upon in support of the contention by the defendants, is State v. Pennoyer, 65 N. H. 113 (18 Atl. 878; 5 L. R. A. 709). There the act discriminated in favor of one class of physicians to the detriment of another. It divided practitioners of medir cine into two classes: (1) those who have and- (2) those
The objection in the case at bar is that the act permits those who were engaged in the practice when the act took effect to continue to practice without examination, and challenges the validity of this rule or standard of quali
We think the act is valid in the particular objected to and must be upheld. It results, therefore, that there was no error and the judgment must be affirmed.