42 Minn. 129 | Minn. | 1889
That the legislature may prescribe such reasonable conditions upon the right to practise medicine or law as will exclude from the practice those who are unfitted for it, is so well settled by decisions of the courts as to be no longer an open question. The power rests on the right to protect the public against the injurious consequences likely to result from allowing persons to practise those professions who do not possess the special qualifications essential to enable the practitioner to practise the profession with safety to those who employ him. The same reasons apply with equal force to the profession of dentistry, which is but a branch of the medical profession. That, in the exercise of that power, the legislature may require, as a condition of the right to practise, that the person shall procure a license; may designate some officer or board to issue the license, and to determine whether an applicant possesses the qualifications required to entitle him to it; and may prescribe, so far as can be done by a general law, what qualifiea
In 1885 the legislature passed an act to regulate the practice of dentistry. Chapter 199, Laws 1885. This act continued in force until it was superseded and repealed by chapter 19, Laws 1889. The latter act is assailed as unconstitutional. Though the act of 1885 is not called in question, we think it well to refer to seine of its provisions. Section 1 made it unlawful for any person not at the passage of the act engaged in the practice of dentistr j in the state to commence such practice without a certificate as in the act provided. Section 5 provided for the certificate, which was to be issued by the board of examiners provided for in the act, upon a satisfactory examination. Section 4 made it the duty of every person at the time engaged in the practice of dentistry in the state to, within six months after the passage of the act, cause his name and residence or place of business to be registered with the board, in a book to be kept by it for that purpose, and provided that every person so registered as a practitioner of dentistry ftight continue to practise as sue!?. Chapter 19,
Section 5 of the act of 1889, the provisions of which furnish one of the grounds on which appellant assails the act as unconstitutional, provides that any person who shall desire to begin the practice of dentistry in the state after September 1,1889, shall make application for examination to the board of examiners, paying a fee of $10, and shall undergo an examination. The section further enacts: “In order to be eligible for such examination, such person shall present to Baid board his diploma from some dental college in good standing, and shall give satisfactory evidence of his rightful possession of the same: provided, also, that the board may in its discretion admit to examination such other persons as shall give satisfactory evidence of having been engaged in the practice of dentistry ten years prior to the date of passage of this act. Said board shall have the power to determine the good standing of any college or colleges from which such diplomas may have been granted.” It then goes on to prescribe the manner, extent, and subjects of the examination. What the particular objections of a constitutional character «the appellant makes
It is objected that it is left to the discretion of the board to determine whether 10 years’ practice, instead of a diploma, shall admit one to examination. On the score of expediency, some question might be made upon it. But, as the legislature might have left that provision out altogether, and made no exception to the requirement that an applicant for examination should have a diploma, we do not see that any question can be made of the power to fix the period of 10 years, nor of the power to leave it for the board to determine in each particular case whether the extent and character of the applicant’s practice during the period has been such as to be equal, as evidence of his qualifications, to the possession of a diploma.
Section 7 reads: “All persons shall be said to be practising dentistry within the meaning of this act who shall, for a fee or salary or other reward, paid either to himself or to another person for operations or parts of operations of any kind, treat diseases or lesions of the human teeth or jaws, or correct malpositions thereof. But nothing in this act contained shall be taken to apply to acts of bona fide students of dentistry, done in the pursuit of clinical advantages, under the direct supervision of a preceptor or a licensed dentist in this state, during the period of their enrolment in a dental college, and attendance upon a regular, uninterrupted course in such college.’’ It is claimed that this shows the law to be an arbitrary measure for the benefit of dentists, by giving them a monopoly to practise a branch of surgery which has heretofore been largely carried on by regular physicians and surgeons. It was proper, in order to give precision to the law, to define what was meant by practising dentistry. It is not, however, to be supposed the legislature intended to enlarge the sphere of the profession. There may be diseases of, hurts to, and operations upon, the jaws that are within the legitimate profession both of the general surgeon and of the dentist. We do not know how this is. But, if it be so, the licensed surgeon would be protected by his license in treating such. The act before us could hardly be so construed as to limit the right of the surgeon under his license. It
The interpretation of the clause under consideration, upon which appellant argues that it was intended to prefer schools of dentistry within the state, as against those out of it, is too narrow. We see no reason why a student in such a school in another state may not, during vacation, pursue his studies here under a licensed dentist, and be within the meaning of the clause. By “regular, uninterrupted course,” the act does not mean a course in which there are no vacations, such as all schools have. To hold that it does, would lead to this unreasonable result, — that the student, even in a school in this state, might during the term have the benefit of practice in operations under a licensed dentist, but would have to suspend as soon as the term should close. The provisions and requirements of the law are undoubtedly rigorous. They ought to be, in any law aiming to protect the public against ignorance, and incompetency in so important a profession as the medical profession, in any of its branches. We see nothing in the provisions of this law that was not clearly inserted by the legislature, in good faith, to effect the end in view. The law is valid.
Judgment affirmed.