61 Pa. Super. 555 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1915
Opinion by
The questions involved in this case arise on an appeal of the complainants from the action of the Public Service Commission of the Commonwealth on the objections of the complainants to an increase of freight rates proposed to be charged by the railroad companies above named for the transportation of pulp wood between points within the State, which proposed rates were alleged to be unjust, unreasonable, and unjustly discriminatory. After a hearing the prayer of the petitioners was refused and the complaint dismissed. An appeal from this order was taken to the Superior Court-under the Act of June 3,1915. Thereupon the intervening companies moved the court to quash the appeal. The principal reason assigned in support of the motion was that the act referred to is unconstitutional in three respects: (a) that it is within the prohibition of Section 7, of Article III, of the Constitution, in that it is special legislation regulating the practice and jurisdiction of the Superior Court and of Section 26, of Article V, which provides that all laws relating to courts shall be general and of uniform operation and the organization, jurisdiction and powers of all courts of the same class or grade so far as regulated by law and the force and effect of the process and judgment of such courts shall be uniform, etc.; (b) that- the act is repugnant to Section 6, of Article III, of the Constitution, which provides that no law shall be revived and amended or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only, but so much thereof as is revived, amended, ex
Objection is also made to the act on the ground that the amendments contained therein make the amended act “incongruous and unworkable.” The argument in support of the first proposition is that by the letter and spirit of the Constitution courts of this Commonwealth are divided into two general classes: appellate courts and courts of original jurisdiction, that the Supreme Court and the (Superior Court are the appellate courts of the Commonwealth, that the Constitution has designated what original jurisdiction may be exercised by the Supreme Court, as provided in Section 3, of Article V; that the Superior Court was established by the Act of June 24, 1895, as amended by the Act of May 5, 1899, as an “Intermediate Court of Appeal,” the jurisdiction of which was established by the said acts. The status of the Superior Court it is contended is thereby fixed, in one of the constitutional classes of courts, as a court of appeal without any original jurisdiction, except as conferred by the statute, notwithstanding which by the amendment under consideration, the legislature has attempted to confer on the Superior Court an entirely new and different- kind of jurisdiction in a special class of cases, the class of cases referred to being the orders made by the Public Service Commission. Pursuant to the powers vested by law in that body, the jurisdiction thus conferred is, it is contended, original jurisdiction and to confer such jurisdiction on an appellate court- is contrary “to the spirit of our Constitution,” and when limited to a special class of appeals is violative of the constitutional provision above recited. A
Questions with regard to the propriety of legislation or the judicious exercise of discretion by the legislature are not matters of concern to the courts so long as the action of that body does not transgress the limits clearly prescribed by the Constitution. There is much discussion and often a wide difference of opinion as to the wisdom of many enactments, but the views of the court are not affected by considerations of this character, in determining the constitutionality of a statute. Applying the principles above stated to the objections presented in support of the motion to quash the appeal, does it clearly appear that the statute complained of regulates the practice and jurisdiction of the Superior Court in a special manner and is, therefore, a special law? It is not contended that this court is not a lawfully constituted tribunal, but because the Constitution has divided the courts into two general classes, namely, appellate courts, and courts of original jurisdiction, and the Superior
Nor can we find greater support to the objection that the legislation is not of general and uniform operation. There .being but one court of the class whose jurisdiction extends throughout the state with relation to a class of cases resting on real distinction from all other cases in which appeals are allowed to the Superior Court, the requirement of uniformity is met. A law is general and uniform if it affect in like manner all persons in the same circumstances. It is not to be understood that to be uniform and general it must operate upon every person- in- the State. All that is required is that every person brought within the relations provided for it in the statute is within its provisions: Winston v. Moore, 244 Pa. 447; Gottschall v. Campbell, 234 Pa. 347.
It is further contended that the act is in violation of Section 6, of Article III, of the Constitution, which forbids that a law be revived or amended or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only, in that it amends the Act of 1895 creating the Superior Court and the Act of 1897 extending its jurisdiction without expressly amending the statutes. It is a sufficient answer to this objection that this provision of the Constitution only refers to statutes containing amending clauses and does not relate to those acts the effect of which is to amend preceding legislation. Where an act is complete in itself and where the purpose and meaning are apparent on its face, it is not repugnant to the constitutional provision in question although it may have the effect to alter, extend or repeal a prior act. Progressive legislation would become practically impossible if it Avere necessary that every act recite all other acts that its operation might incidentally affect by way of repeal, modification or extension. The provision was not intended as a limitation of the power of the legisla
It is also objected that the Act of 1913 as amended by the Act of 1915 offends against Sections 6 and 9, of Article I, and Section 8, of Article XVI, securing the right of trial by jury. These provisions apply to proceedings according to the course of the common law and have no reference to new jurisdictions created by statute and clothed with no common law powers. The purpose Avas to preserve the trial by jury wherever the common law gave it and in all other cases to let the people through the legislature provide as their judgment might suggest for the orderly administration of justice. Whatever was a subject of jury trial at the date of the Constitution is to remain inviolate but matters which were not at that time subjects of such trial and those arising under subsequent statute prescribing a different proceeding are not included: Van Swartow v. Commonwealth, 24 Pa. 131; Rhines v. Clark, 51 Pa. 96; Wynkoop v. Cooch, 89 Pa. 450; Smith v. Times Publishing Co., 178 Pa. 481. As to the cases within the constitutional provision referred to Section .29, of the Act of 1913 as amended by the Act of 1915, secures to any party the right to trial by jury of any issue of fact raised thereby or therein where such right is secured either by
Criticism is made of the statute because no amendment is made of the eighteenth section of the Act of 1913, which provides that in case of appeal the commission shall certify the record of its proceedings to the proper Court of Common Pleas as hereinabove provided and of the nineteenth section which provides that an al-' lowance shall be necessary from the proper Court of Common Pleas in order that an appeal shall operate as a supersedeas of the order appealed from. The omission to strike out of these sections the words “common pleas” was evidently an oversight, but when we read the title of the act and the third section amending Section 17 of the Act of 1913 we have no doubt that the intention of the legislature is manifest to make the amendments apply to the whole statute so far as necessary. The act recites certain sections to be amended in certain respects and proceeds “and to provide for the taking of. appeals from the findings, determinations or orders of the commission to the Superior Court instead of to the