Title: Bowden v. DAVIS

State: oregon

Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court

Document:

Reargued October 25, 1955.
Affirmed November 9, 1955.
*422 Harold Banta argued the cause for appellants. On the brief were Banta, Silven & Horton, of Baker.
W.F. Schroeder argued the cause for respondent. On the brief were Lytle, Kilpatrick & Schroeder, of Vale.
Robert Y. Thornton, Attorney General, and John D. Nichols, Assistant Attorney General, both of Salem, filed a brief as amicus curiae, urging reversal.
AFFIRMED.
TOOZE, J.
This is an appeal by defendants Oscar Davis and Buck Parmele from a judgment in favor of plaintiff Walter Bowden in an action to replevin 17 head of branded horses, 2 unbranded colts, and 2 branded mules, alleged to be of the reasonable value of $2,625.
The complaint, filed February 28, 1952, contains *423 the usual allegations of ownership and right to immediate possession of the animals in question, particularly describing them, and also the wrongful and unlawful taking of possession thereof by defendants, and the withholding possession from plaintiff "under claim that the animals were running at large and were gathered under contract with the Bureau of Land Management". The complaint also alleges a demand for possession by plaintiff and a refusal to deliver possession by defendants.
By their answer defendants admitted "that plaintiff is the owner of the horses therein described, subject to the rights of defendants therein as hereinafter set forth"; admitted "that the defendants took possession of said horses and held the same until retaken by the plaintiff under claim and delivery proceedings herein, and that defendants' holding thereof was based upon the claim that the animals were running at large and were gathered under contract with the Bureau of Land Management"; alleged "that prior to being rounded up, the said horses had been running at large on the public domain for several weeks at least"; admitted "that after being rounded up, the said horses were held by defendants and in their possession, within what is known as the Cochran Ranch corral and that plaintiff was so advised"; admitted their refusal to deliver possession of the animals to plaintiff upon his demand "with the qualification that defendants' refusal to deliver the said horses to the plaintiff was not absolute, but merely until the roundup charges had been paid"; and alleged affirmatively that said property was held for an assessment pursuant to statute; that is to say, the roundup charges fixed for gathering said animals. Except as admitted, defendants denied the allegations of the complaint.
*424 For a further and separate answer and defense, defendants affirmatively alleged the following:
Plaintiff's demurrer to the affirmative defense of defendants, based upon the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a defense to plaintiff's cause of action, was sustained by the trial court. No amended answer having been filed by defendants, plaintiff's motion for judgment in his favor upon the pleadings was allowed, and judgment was entered accordingly. It is from this judgment that defendants appeal.
The affirmative defense pleaded by defendants is based entirely upon the provisions of ch 211, Oregon Laws 1951 (ORS 607.405 to 607.435), known as the horse roundup statute. By his demurrer plaintiff asserted and, on argument, contended that the statute is unconstitutional and void. The trial court so held. Therefore, the only question for decision on this appeal is whether the roundup statute is constitutional.
The material sections of that statute provide:
Does this statute violate the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the constitution of the United States? Does it violate the provisions of Art. 1, § 18, Constitution of Oregon? In a word, does it deprive plaintiff of his property without due process of law?
Article 1, Section 18, Constitution of Oregon, so far as material, provides:
*430 Amendment Fourteen, U.S. Constitution, in part provides:
As a background for our consideration of the issue before us, defendants contend that we should take judicial notice of certain physical and geographical conditions which exist in southeastern Oregon where the situation which the statute was designed to remedy prevails, as well as the nature and propensities of the animals involved. The trial court took such notice, and we believe properly so. Hill v. Tualatin Academy, 61 Or 190, 121 P 901; ORS 41.410. We adopt the following statement from defendants' brief:
Prior to the passage of the Taylor Grazing Act, owners of livestock made free use of the public domain for grazing purposes. After the Act became effective, it frequently happened that privately owned livestock, for which license or permit had not been obtained, would be found grazing upon the lands in question, some of which had escaped from the owner's enclosure, and perhaps some of which had been intentionally placed there by the owner in violation of the statute.
It was in the light of all these conditions that ch 211, Oregon Laws 1951, was enacted.
Section 315n, Title 43, USCA, provides:
This statute recognizes a long-standing rule of law. It has been uniformly held that in matters concerning the use of range upon government lands lying within a state, the police power of the state extends to the same extent to which it could be exercised over lands in private ownership. In other words, the police power of the state extends over the federal public domain within the state unless Congress has determined to deal exclusively with the subject. Mendiola v. Graham, 139 Or 592, 601, 10 P2d 911; Big Butte H. & C. Ass'n v. Anderson, 133 Or 171, 182, 289 P 503; Omaechevarria v. Idaho, 246 US 343, 38 S Ct 323, 62 L ed 763; U.S. v. Hatahley, 220 F2d 666.
Under the provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act, the Secretary of Interior is empowered and directed to make rules and regulations respecting the occupancy and use of the grazing lands within the established districts, and to issue or cause to be issued permits to graze livestock thereon. §§ 315a, 315b, Title 43, USCA. Any willful violation of the provisions of the Act or of such rules and regulations thereunder after actual notice thereof is punishable by a fine of not more than $500. § 315a, Title 43, USCA.
There is no provision in the Act requiring that permits be issued only for the grazing of branded animals, nor is there any state law making it mandatory for privately owned livestock to be branded.
However, there is nothing in the Taylor Grazing Act which indicates that Congress intended that any local police measure that does not conflict with the provisions of the Act or the regulations promulgated thereunder should be suspended; on the contrary, the *433 Act specifically provides otherwise. § 315n, Title 43, USCA, supra.
It follows, therefore, that the legislature of this state has the power to enact legislation in the field undertaken to be covered by ch 211, Oregon Laws 1951. However, that does not mean that in exercising the power the legislature did not go beyond constitutional bounds in enacting this particular statute.
1. It is elementary that every reasonable presumption is in favor of the validity of a statute and the court will not declare a law unconstitutional except in clear cases. The court cannot and will not concern itself with the policy of the law, its wisdom, or expediency, but only with the power of the legislature to enact it. Yet, as we said in Christian et al. v. La Forge, 194 Or 450, 462, 242 P2d 797:
2, 3. The police power is very broad and far-reaching, and it is difficult, if not impossible, definitely to fix its bounds. It embraces the whole sum of inherent sovereign power which the state possesses, and, within constitutional limitations, may exercise for the promotion of the order, safety, health, morals, and general welfare of the public. However, the legislature is not *434 the final judge of the limitations of the police power, and, since the legislative action must be reasonably necessary for the public benefit, the validity of all police regulations depends upon whether they can ultimately pass the judicial test of reasonableness. Constitutional limitations must always be observed.
Constitutional limitations upon the power of the state have for their primary purpose the protection of the individual. Under our theory of government, individual rights are sacred rights; rights that rise above all unreasonable attempts by government to interfere therewith. It is only when the interests and welfare of the public in general are clearly threatened by the unrestricted exercise of the individual right that the individual right must give way to reasonable limitation and regulation for the public good. It is the duty of the courts ever to be watchful to protect the personal rights guaranteed by state and federal constitutions, and to prevent encroachment thereon by legislative fiat, unless actually essential to the protection of the public welfare.
"Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation", nor shall any person be deprived of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" are the constitutional mandates. "Life", "liberty", and "property" stand upon the same footing under this constitutional limitation upon the power of the state. Property is property, whether it consists of much or little, or is of large or small value. If it is owned by an individual and has a lawful use, the individual is entitled to the constitutional protection, and it should not be denied him by the courts.
The term "due process of law" is not susceptible *435 of exact or comprehensive definition. It is not defined in the constitution itself. Any definition "must depend upon the relation which the particular law bears to the fundamental law which limits the legislative power". In 16 CJS 1141, Constitutional Law, § 567, it is stated:
In Weinacht et ux. v. Bower, 140 Or 527, 533, 14 P2d 622, Mr. Justice BELT, speaking for the court, said:
There can be no question but that the animals involved in this litigation constitute private property within the meaning of the constitutional provisions, property having a lawful and most important use. Even in this day of the airplane and automobile, the horse still plays an important part in our economic life. In the wide-open, extensive, largely arid, rough *436 and roadless areas of southeastern Oregon, the horse is an indispensible means of transportation for man, as it always has been. Its value cannot always be measured in dollars and cents, any more than it was so measured in those early days of the West when summary hanging was the usual fate of the horse thief. It is a species of property to which the constitutional mandate applies with full force, and that without regard to its actual monetary value.
Defendants contend that inasmuch as the horses in question were found running at large upon the public domain without license or permit, they were trespassing in violation of the provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act, and by reason thereof might properly be classed as a nuisance. They then say, "that if the animals in question are properly declared a nuisance, they may, in the lawful exercise of the police power, be summarily disposed of by the state without notice or compensation to the owner." In support of their contention, defendants cite a number of authorities. Among them is Hofer v. Carson et al., 102 Or 545, 551, 203 P 323. This case dealt with a state statute respecting dogs running at large. It provided that all dogs running at large should have a shepherd's muzzle made of wire or metal and properly fastened around the nose and neck sufficiently strong to prevent them from biting or injuring any person, sheep, goat or other domestic animal; it also provided that any dog found running at large without such muzzle properly fastened, should be summarily killed by the police.
Mr. Justice RAND, speaking for the court, said (p 548):
In discussing the prior case of Rose v. Salem, 77 Or 77, 150 P 276, Mr. Justice RAND said:
However, dogs have generally been considered from a standpoint different from that applying to cattle, horses, sheep, and the like. The propensities of dogs set them in a class by themselves. Justice RAND recognized this difference in the Hofer case when, in concluding, he stated:
*438 In a note to the case of Randall v. Patch, 118 Me 303, 108 A 97, 8 ALR 65, the author, at page 67, makes this statement:
Many cases are discussed in the note, with a special discussion relating to statutes respecting dogs. In the principal case, Randall v. Patch, the Maine court held that the owner of an animal is deprived of his property without due process of law by its destruction, upon condemnation by a citizen as injured or diseased beyond recovery, without notice to or opportunity for hearing by the owner. The Maine court said:
Defendants also cite in support of their contention the case of State v. Schriber, 185 Or 615, 639, 205 P2d 149. This case concerns itself with a state statute enacted for the purpose of controlling and eradicating Bang's disease in cattle. Under the Act cattle which are found to be infected with the disease must be slaughtered. In discussing the contention that the law violated the due process clause of the constitution, Mr. Chief Justice LUSK, speaking for the court, said:
There is little, if any, dissent from the principle announced in the Schriber case. The same rule applies to statutes for the protection of vegetation against disease or infection. Bowman v. Virginia State Entomologist, 128 Va 351, 105 SE 141, 12 ALR 1121, and note commencing at page 1136. Moreover, it is universally held that buildings privately owned that are in the path of a fire may be summarily destroyed to prevent a spread of the conflagration. There are many other instances where privately owned property may be summarily disposed of to prevent the spread of contagion, or where a danger to the public health or safety is imminent therefrom, without violating the due process clause. These are cases where absolute necessity for the protection of the public welfare demands immediate action, but such summary destruction of private and lawful property without notice and hearing cannot ever be justified upon the basis of mere expediency, and when it is not reasonably necessary. Lawton v. Steele, 152 US 133, 14 S Ct 499, 38 L ed 385, King v. Hayes, 80 Me 206, 13 A 882; Dunn v. Burleigh, 62 Me 24; McConnell v. McKillip, 71 Neb 712, 99 NW 505, 65 LRA 610, 115 Am St Rep 614; Greer v. Downey, 8 Ariz 164, 71 P 900.
Those cases, however, are a far cry from the situation of the horse whose only offense is eating some of the grass on the open range that might otherwise be eaten by animals that have been certified by license or permit as authorized to graze.
We will briefly note some of the other authorities cited by defendants. In Baldwin v. Ensign, 49 Conn *440 113, 44 Am Rep 205, it was held that a horse unlawfully at large on a highway is a nuisance, and its owner is liable for any damage done by it, whether or not the animal is vicious. In City of Waco v. Powell, 32 Tex 258, a city ordinance declaring hogs running at large to be a public nuisance, and providing for their impoundment and sale after due notice, and a right of the owner to claim the proceeds of the sale, less expenses, was upheld. In Stickley v. Givens, 176 Va 548, 11 SE2d 631, a statute providing for prevention, control, and eradication of contagious and infectious diseases in livestock and poultry was upheld. In Rowland v. Morris, 152 Ga 842, 111 SE 389, the statute provided for state-wide tick eradication. In Atkinson v. City and County of Denver, 118 Colo 322, 195 P2d 977, an ordinance providing for the eradication of squirrels as nuisances was held to be a valid exercise of the police power. In Graham v. Kingwell, 218 Cal 658, 24 P2d 488, a state statute relating to diseases of bees was held constitutional. In Aguiar & Bello v. Brock, 24 F Supp 692, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California upheld a California statute that provided for the application of tuberculin test to cattle and for the destruction of such cattle as react positively to the test. In North American Cold Storage Company v. City of Chicago, 211 US 306, 29 S Ct 101, 53 L ed 195, the United States Supreme Court held that due process of law is not denied the owner or custodian of food in cold storage by a municipal ordinance under which such food, when unfit for human consumption, may summarily be seized, condemned, and destroyed by municipal officers without a preliminary hearing. The court pointed out, however, that if in fact the food was not unfit for human consumption, the owner had his right to sue for damages.
*441 Those decisions in no way aid in solving the problem now before this court. The decided differences between the enactments involved in them and the Oregon horse roundup statute are obvious.
We are not concerned with the validity of this statute as applied to the wild horses roaming the ranges of southeastern Oregon. Like all other wild animals, they are recognized as being the property of the state, and the state can dispose of them as it sees fit. No private individual has any right in them that is entitled to protection against the superior right of the state. This ownership right of the state in wild animals forms the basis of our fish and game laws. 3 CJS 1087, Animals, § 5. The state may declare such wild horses to be public nuisances and direct or permit their complete elimination by killing or otherwise. There is scarcely any limit upon the power of the state with respect to them, but different rules apply when we are dealing with privately owned horses. As to such horses, the validity of all police regulations must pass the judicial test of reasonableness.
The basis for the other sections of the roundup statute is found in § 1. The remaining sections of the Act merely spell out the manner and procedure for the disposal of the horses after they have been rounded up, except § 6, which provides for a notice prior to the roundup.
Section 1 applies to all horses running at large upon any public lands within the state without license or permit. We find no law of this state, nor of the United States, that requires a license or permit for horses to run at large upon the public domain, outside of forest reserves, except in those limited number of grazing districts formed pursuant to the provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act and the provisions of §§ 32-1307 *442 to 32-1319, incl., OCLA (ORS 606.010 to 606.120). The Act itself does not specifically make it unlawful for horses to run at large upon public lands, nor does it provide for licenses or permits. The Taylor Grazing Act does require such license or permit and makes it unlawful and punishable by fine for one to permit horses to run at large within the districts formed under that law without such license or permit, but the districts formed under the Taylor Grazing Act are limited in number and cover only a small portion of the state. The roundup statute applies state-wide, although it may have been designed for particular use in southeastern Oregon. Furthermore, we find no general statute of this state making it unlawful to permit horses to run at large upon unenclosed public lands. Nor is there any general federal law to that effect. The federal government has long acquiesced in the use of the public domain by livestock owners for grazing purposes. As we said in Big Butte H. & C. Ass'n v. Anderson, supra, at page 182:
We take judicial notice of the fact that there are vast areas of public lands within the state lying outside established grazing districts and forest reserves.
By § 1 of the Act the legislature has delegated to *443 any agency of the state of Oregon or of the United States having management or control of the public lands the authority to round up, impound, and dispose of all horses running at large without license or permit. It may, by contract with a competent person, authorize such person to round up, impound, and dispose of the horses. Sections 2, 3, and 4 then provide the details respecting the disposal of the horses collected in the roundup, both as to the wild horses and those privately owned.
By § 2 of the Act, all unbranded horses rounded up are arbitrarily declared to be abandoned or wild horses and, as such, a public nuisance, and the ownership thereof vested in the state of Oregon. The agency causing such animals to be rounded up is given carte blanche authority to sell or otherwise dispose of them; all this without any hearing or investigation to determine whether the horse is, in fact, a wild horse or a privately owned animal. As we have before observed, a brand on a horse is not made a condition to the issuance of a permit to graze under the Taylor Grazing Act. We have no state statute that makes it mandatory to brand horses or other livestock. We do have statutes that provide for the recording of brands and prohibiting any person using a brand unless it is recorded, and making recorded brands evidence of ownership, but none of those statutes makes it unlawful for one to own or possess an unbranded animal. §§ 32-1111 to 32-1124, OCLA (ORS 604.110 to 604.220).
It is obvious that the absence of a brand mark on a horse could have nothing whatever to do with the question of whether such horse is, in fact, an abandoned or wild horse. Nor does the presence or absence of a brand mark have anything to do with the question of whether an animal is, in truth, a public nuisance. *444 Yet, under § 2, solely because of the absence of a brand mark, the horse is declared to be an abandoned or wild horse, a public nuisance, and the property of the state.
Two of the animals involved in this litigation were described as unbranded colts, one pinto colored and one roan colored. Under § 2 of the Act, these animals, when rounded up, became the property of the state. They were abandoned and wild horses and public nuisances, according to the statutory mandate. The record does not disclose the age of these colts, but they may have been three or four years old. A colt is "an animal of the horse species, whether male or female, not more than four years old." 11 CJ 1228. Some of our most valuable horses are colts. Horse racing fans in particular will testify to that.
In 39 Am Jur 285, Nuisances, § 8, it is stated:
A legislative declaration that a certain thing constitutes a public nuisance is not final. It has no power to declare that to be a public nuisance which in fact is not. What constitutes a public nuisance is a judicial question. Houston v. Lurie, 148 Tex 391, 224 SW2d *445 871, 14 ALR2d 61, 66, and note commencing at page 73; 39 Am Jur 294, Nuisances, § 13.
It is manifest that the mere absence of a brand on a horse constitutes no menace to the safety, health, welfare, or morals of the public. Declaring an unbranded horse, as distinguished from a branded horse, a public nuisance is an arbitrary and unreasonable exercise of the police power; such distinction has no basis in fact or in law.
It will be observed that the statute does not declare that all horses running at large without license or permit, whether branded or unbranded, shall be deemed public nuisances; it makes such declaration only as to unbranded animals. Moreover, nowhere in the act do we find any specific declaration that grazing without license or permit constitutes a public nuisance. It is plain that such grazing does not constitute a nuisance per se. 39 Am Jur 289, Nuisances, § 11.
Sections 3 and 4 of the Act relate to branded horses that are caught in the roundup, § 3 dealing with the recorded brands, and § 4 with unrecorded brands. Section 3 would apply to the 17 head of branded horses owned by plaintiff.
Under § 3, if a branded horse is caught in the roundup, bearing a brand recorded with the State Department of Agriculture of the state of Oregon, then the owner must be notified by registered letter, or by actual notice, that the horse is in the possession of the agency or its agent. If the animal is not claimed within two days after receipt of such notice by the owner and the roundup charge paid, then the horse is deemed abandoned and subject to disposal as provided in § 2.
No opportunity is given an owner to be heard upon the questions of (1) whether in fact the horse was *446 running at large within the meaning of the statute or (2) whether the owner had a license or permit for it to graze upon the public domain. Upon expiration of two days after he receives his registered letter or actual notice, if the owner fails to reclaim possession, or fails to pay the fee fixed in the contract as the roundup charge, his horse immediately becomes an abandoned horse and subject to being disposed of in the same manner applicable to wild horses.
In passing, we note that the Act makes no provision for the disposal of the funds received upon the sale of the animals that are rounded up. Do those funds go to the federal government, to the state, to the county, or to the contractor? Some of the horses gathered up, those privately owned, might well sell for more than the $25 roundup charge. In most statutes providing for the impoundment and sale of animals running at large, provision is made for the payment to the owner of the money received on the sale, less the expenses incident to impoundment, sale, and care; but the statute now under consideration is wholly silent as to those matters.
It is obvious that if the horse is sold for more than the roundup charge, the retention of the overplus by the contractor, the Federal government, the state, the county, or any agency, rather than its return to the owner, would in effect constitute the imposition of a penalty against the owner. We must keep in mind that when unlicensed and privately owned horses are permitted to graze on the public domain in violation of the provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act, the offense is that of the owner, for which he may be punished criminally. Yet under no circumstances can his guilt be established or a penalty imposed without a judicial hearing. In Lawton v. Steele, 119 NY 226, 23 NE 878, *447 7 LRA 134, 138, 16 ASR 813 (Aff. 152 US 133, 38 L ed 385, 14 S Ct 499), the court said:
In the Lawton case, fish nets worth about $15 each and used in illegal fishing were seized and destroyed. The New York court upheld the validity of the statute that authorized the summary abatement of the nuisance and the destruction of the nets. The United States Supreme Court affirmed, but in doing so stressed the small value of the nets. Three justices dissented, including Chief Justice Fuller. Lawton v. Steele, 152 US 133, 144, 38 L ed 385, 14 S Ct 499, supra. The decision of the majority has been criticised: Freund, Police Power 559, § 527. However, the statute of this state now under consideration will not meet the test announced by the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Lawton case. After inviting attention to statutes authorizing the condemnation of property used for illegal purposes by judicial proceedings, the Supreme Court said: (152 US 140)
Privately owned horses could hardly be deemed of "trifling value", nor is their destruction necessary to effect the object of the roundup statute. The primary object of the statute is to remove these unlicensed, as well as the truly wild, horses from the range.
The summary seizure and sale of fish nets used in violation of the statute was condemned by this court in Nicklas v. Rathburn, 69 Or 483, 488, 139 P 567, as constituting a denial of due process.
*449 The sale of a privately owned horse found running at large in violation of the law, or its destruction, as provided under the roundup statute, deprives the owner of his property. If it sells for a sum in excess of the reasonable expenses incident to rounding up, corralling, and caring for it (the roundup charge), and the overplus is not paid to the owner, there occurs a complete forfeiture of the property. If it is summarily killed, it is clear that a forfeiture also occurs, although the statute does not use the term "forfeiture". In State v. 1920 Studebaker Touring Car et al., 120 Or 254, 269, 251 P 701, there was involved a statute of this state providing for the forfeiture of vehicles found transporting intoxicating liquor in violation of the law. The Act authorized any circuit court of the state to which a return of seizure was made to try, without a jury, the question whether such vehicle was subject to forfeiture under the statute. The court held the statute invalid insofar as it denied a jury trial. In deciding the issues, Mr. Justice RAND, speaking for the court, used the following significant language:
Defendants claim that "reasonable notice to the owner prior to the sale of the animal running at large is all that is required to sustain the validity of estray statutes", citing 2 Am Jur 797-799, Animals, § 143, *450 147, and Howell v. Daughet, 148 Ark 450, 230 SW 559, 18 ALR 63. We agree with defendants, but in doing so, we wish to emphasize the word "reasonable". The provisions of the Arkansas statute, and particularly the notices therein provided for, have nothing in common with the notice provided for by this roundup statute. We also have an estray statute: §§ 32-1401 to 32-1408, OCLA (ORS 607.305 to 607.340). The procedure provided for in the Oregon statute is quite similar to that of the statute of Arkansas. The discussion of the Arkansas court might well apply to the Oregon law. Yet there is nothing in the Arkansas decision that can be interpreted as approving a notice (without any hearing whatsoever) such as that provided in § 3, nor do we find any support for such a notice in the citations from American Jurisprudence.
In arguing that the two days' notice provided for in § 3 is reasonable, defendants, in their brief, say:
The conditions outlined by defendants demonstrate almost conclusively that a mere two days' notice is unreasonable. Of what use is a motor vehicle (other than a Jeep or construction equipment) in a rough, roadless area, or in an area where the roads are "well nigh impassable"? The corral where the horses are gathered may be located anywhere within the district, far from human habitation. If motor transportation is impracticable, then just how would an owner get to the corral, or later transport his animals to their home range? It is manifest that in most instances, the owner's sole recourse would be riding horses, the time immemorial and usual means of transportation in livestock grazing areas; a comparatively slow, but sure, method of travel. It is obvious that a reasonable notice after impoundment would be necessary for the owner's protection. The statute itself recognizes the necessity of such notice. The fault in the statute rests in the fact that the notice provided is not reasonable under the circumstances.
4. Mere convenience, expediency, danger of losing a profit (whose profit?), or added expense will never *452 justify a denial of an individual's constitutional right to due process,  reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard before his lawful property is taken by the state. Summary action is never justified in cases involving property having a lawful use, unless absolute necessity for the immediate protection of the public health, safety, or welfare demands it. No such necessity exists with respect to these comparatively few privately owned animals, even though they were trespassing upon the public domain.
If in fact or in law they constituted a public nuisance while grazing upon the public domain without a license or permit, the nuisance was abated by their being rounded up and corralled. Corralled, they presented no further menace to the public welfare. Immediate sale or destruction was not necessary for any reasonable purpose. Obviously, to enable the roundup agencies to make a profit on the sale is not such a purpose.
In Adams v. Milwaukee, 144 Wis 371, 129 NW 518, 43 LRA NS 1066, 1079 (Aff. by U.S. Supreme Court in 228 US 572, 57 L ed 971, 35 S Ct 610), there was involved the validity of an ordinance of the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, providing for the summary seizure and destruction of milk brought into the city, which had been produced by cows that had not been subjected to tuberculin tests and found free from tuberculosis or other contagious diseases. The court upheld the validity of the ordinance. It pointed out the considerations making it necessary to act summarily in the protection of the public health and safety. In passing upon the question, the court said:
Under § 3 of the roundup statute, branded horses belonging to a known owner are involved. To deprive the owner of his property in the same, either by sale or destruction, after only two days' prior notice, would indeed be a drastic and unusual method of enforcing the law, a method clearly not justified by necessity in the protection of the public health, safety, or welfare.
In 39 Am Jur 455, Nuisances, § 184, it is stated:
*454 In 39 Am Jur 459, Nuisances, § 186, it is further stated:
There is no doubt but that the state may regulate or prohibit the running at large of livestock and authorize their being taken up and sold to pay the reasonable costs and expenses of impounding, keeping, and selling, upon reasonable and proper notice to the owner. But all such regulations must be reasonable. Estray statutes are of this type of legislation. There is some conflict among the authorities respecting the necessity of a judicial hearing before such livestock found running at large in violation of the law is sold or destroyed, but there is no conflict as to the necessity of reasonable notice to the owner prior to such sale or destruction. 16 CJS 1487, Constitutional Law, § 706b.
In McConnell v. McKillip, 71 Neb 712, 99 NW 505, *455 65 LRA 610, 615, 115 Am St Rep 614, 2 Ann Cas 898, the Nebraska court considered a statute similar to that involved in the case of Nicklas v. Rathburn, supra, and arrived at the same conclusion we did. In the McConnell case the deputy game warden seized three shotguns being used in violation of the game laws. The Nebraska statute authorized such summary seizure and an immediate disposal of the property. The court held that portion of the Act unconstitutional as amounting to a denial of due process. In passing upon the question, the court said:
Freund, in his work on Police Power, p 557, § 525, states the following rules:
And on page 558, § 526, Freund further says:
Section 4 deals with branded horses whose brand has not been recorded with the State Department of Agriculture. If the state brand inspector present at the roundup does not personally know the owner of such horses so branded, then they become subject to the provisions of § 2. If he does know the owner, then § 3 applies. In other words, it is left solely to the personal knowledge of an individual whether a given horse is immediately declared to be an abandoned or wild horse and the property of the state, subject to summary sale, killing, or other disposal, or whether it is to be treated as a branded horse whose brand has *457 been recorded as provided in § 3. It is to be noted that no investigation or hearing is provided for to determine the facts. The arbitrary determination of the brand inspector based solely upon what he may or may not know personally is final. This clearly amounts to an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority in violation of Art 3, § 1, of the Oregon Constitution, as well as a denial of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. LaForge v. Ellis, 175 Or 545, 154 P2d 844; 42 Am Jur 342, Public Administrative Law, § 45.
We have given attention to all of the numerous authorities cited and quoted from by the parties in their several briefs, but find it unnecessary to refer to any more of them. The recent case of U.S. v. Hatahley, supra, involving the provisions of the Utah "abandoned horse" statute, is not in point, particularly because of the decided differences between the Utah statute and that of this state now under consideration. Furthermore, no constitutional question was raised or discussed in that case.
We agree with the able trial judge that the several sections of the Act are not separable, and that the law constitutes an unreasonable and arbitrary interference with rights to private property without due process of law. The rule as to separability is stated in 2 Sutherland, Statutory Construction 3d ed 178, § 2404, as follows:
5. Although this court is always reluctant to hold an act of the legislative assembly invalid, nevertheless, we do not hesitate in declaring ch 211, Oregon Laws 1951, unconstitutional and void insofar as it may affect privately owned horses.
The judgment is affirmed.
WARNER, C.J., and LUSK and BRAND, JJ., dissent.
ROSSMAN, J., specially concurring.
1-4. I concur in the result reached by the foregoing decision and, likewise, in the principles of constitutional law which it employs, but I prefer to rest my opinion upon the grounds which I will now state.
Section 6 of the statute under attack (Oregon Laws, 1951, ch 211, ORS 607.405 to 607.435) makes provision for a notice which must be published before the agency begins a roundup. The notice is intended to apprise owners of horses which may be within the area where *459 the roundup will occur that, unless they remove their horses from the area, the process contemplated by the statute will take its course. Manifestly, the provision for notice was prompted by a belief that a horse which is trespassing upon the public range should not be forfeited unless the owner was first afforded an opportunity to recover it. Trespass by the horse alone does not suffice, under the challenged statute, to forfeit the owner's title to his horse.
ORS 607.430 (Section 6) follows:
It will be observed that ORS 607.430 requires that the notice shall include these three items of information: (1) "The date the roundup is to begin"; (2) "The place where horses collected in the roundup are to be held"; and (3) "That persons claiming ownership of any such horses may retake possession * * * upon payment of the established roundup charge". The statute does not require the notice to include anything else. Presumably, if the notice appeared among the *460 classified ads of a newspaper it would meet the statute's demands.
It will be observed that the statute does not require that the published notice shall state the boundaries of the roundup area. Likewise, it does not demand that the published notice shall indicate the period within which the roundup will be conducted, say, three months or a half year, and confine the length of the roundup to that term. In the case at bar, the horses which are mentioned in the complaint were captured about three months after the publication occurred, and the contract afforded the men who conducted the operation one year within which to rid the range of horses.
Let us now consider the significance of the statute's omission to direct that the published notice shall specify the locale where the roundup will occur. The statute requires the published notice to state "The place where horses collected in the roundup are to be held". It may be that a designation of the place where the corral is located would afford horse owners an inkling as to the area from which the agency will remove horses. By resort to the notice which was employed in the instance out of which this case developed, we may be able to determine whether mention of the location of the corral gives an impression of the area where the roundup will be conducted.
The published notice began with the word "Notice". Then came a salutation which read as follows: "To the State of Oregon, Malheur County, and all owners of horses running at large on open range lands." That salutation is so general that it cannot be deemed valid unless a notice which employed no salutation whatever would have been valid. It will be observed that the *461 seventh and eighth words of the notice are "Malheur County". Approximately one half of the area described in the published notice lies in Harney county, which is not mentioned in the notice at all. Hence, horse owners in Harney county could readily have been misled by the notice. We suggested the question a moment ago as to whether mention in the notice of "The place where horses collected in the roundup are to be held" might give an impression of the area where the roundup operations would take place. The notice which was published stated that the horses would be held at "the Craig Cochran ranch south of Rome and the Gene L. Krueger ranch four miles north of Crane." Rome is a tiny place on the easterly line of the roundup border and Crane is a small site upon the area's westerly line. One who knew nothing about the place of the impending roundup except that the latter would use corrals near Crane and Rome would not know whether the operations would be conducted north, south, east or west of those places. Hence, designation in the published notice of "the place where horses collected in the roundup are to be held" would afford inadequate notice. Moreover, the statute does not require that "the place where horses collected in the roundup are to be held" must be located within the roundup area. If the corral is located outside the roundup area, the statute would not be violated, and, of course, mention of such a place would give no indication of the locale of the contemplated roundup.
During the oral argument, counsel stated that Malheur county is approximately the size of the state of Maryland. Harney county is about the same in area as Malheur county. The south boundary line of the roundup area extended one fourth across Harney county and all the way across Malheur county to the *462 Idaho line. North and south, the area did not include the entire length of the two counties. Nevertheless, the seat of operations was large, and a year was allotted to the men who, under contract, gathered in the animals. The statute, as we have seen, affords notice to horse owners only through the provisions of ORS 607.430 which require nothing more than that a notice shall be published twice, not less than ten days before the roundup begins. The publication, so the statute reads, is to appear "in a newspaper of general circulation in the area in which the roundup is to be held." That requirement exacts little and can readily be met. U.S. Mortgage & Trust Co. v. Marquam, 41 Or 391, 69 P 41. The fact that those who drafted the notice included in it more than required (a description of the roundup area) cannot lend validity to the statute. The administrative officials can never round out a defective statute by doing something more than it demands.
I have resorted to the published notice only for the purpose of showing what was done in the case at bar. The small piece of paper which was published ten days before the roundup began was the solitary notice under the statute's terms to all owners of horses within the vast area covered by the impending roundup that, unless they returned their horses to their own ranches, they might forfeit them to the state. The roundup could have continued for a year, yet the few lines of the published notice would have been the sole means whereby horse owners would have been apprised that unless they brought in their horses the latter might be forever lost. Although, in the instant case, the notice designated the roundup area, the statute did not exact the description. It seems inconceivable that a published notice to horse owners could serve the purposes of this statute unless it included a description *463 of the roundup area. Very likely the draftsmen of the statute inadvertently omitted the requirement.
In determining the validity of the challenged statute, we must bear in mind the fact that it governs, not only the fate of wild horses which are owned by no individual, but also that operations authorized by it may affect adversely horses owned by ranchers. For example, estrays may be included among the animals that are driven into the roundup corral. Possibly the draftsmen of the act did not intend to sweep within its ambit estrays, but the latter can be excepted from the act's embrace only by resort to unauthorized interpretation. It is clear that the author of the act foresaw that branded horses which are in private ownership may also be included in the roundup. The owners of such horses can obtain their return only by prompt action and the payment of the roundup charge if the horses were not licensed to enter upon the public range. Obviously, the low-flying airplanes which drive the animals toward the corral cannot distinguish between the licensed and the unlicensed horse, and, accordingly, licensed horses may be herded into the corral. It is true that the roundup contractors have no lawful right to include licensed horses in the herd, and that they render themselves liable to the owners whenever they do so, but, nevertheless, the owners are adversely affected whenever a licensed horse is rounded up and put to death. When that occurs the owner, instead of having a horse, has a claim against the contractors who conducted the roundup.
The foregoing indicates that when the act made provision for notice, the legislature must have realized that a notice, adequate to the situation which we have described, should be published. A notice which *464 fails to indicate place and time appears to be inadequate.
5. The statute under attack contemplates that owners should be afforded an opportunity to remove their estrays and other trespassing horses from the public range before a roundup begins. It seems fair to assume that the legislature had in mind a notice which is adequate to its purpose. See Merrill on Notice, § 757, and Mott, Due Process of Law, pages 208-240. By failing to require that the published notice should specify the area, and through the further failure to limit the time for conducting the roundup to some specified period, ORS 607.430, in my opinion, is invalid.