Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/218/57/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 04:03:58+00:00

Document:
Where the purpose of a state statute does not depend upon the inseparableness of its punishments the fact that a statute provides both double damages and fine and imprisonment does not necessarily prevent a construction that the provisions are independent.
There must be a first jeopardy before there can be a second, and on the first, the defense of second jeopardy cannot be raised in anticipation of deprivation of the constitutional immunity on a subsequent trial.
Quaere, whether a state statute which inflicts two punishments in separate proceedings for the same act is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The mere fact that a state police statute punishes an offense actually committed without regard to intent does not render the statute unconstitutional under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Constitution declares the principle upon which the public welfare is to be promoted and opposing ones cannot be substituted. Connolly v. Union Sewer Pipe Co., 184 U. S. 540, 184 U. S. 558.
A state does not offend the equality clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by taking as a basis of classification the ways by which a law may be defeated. St. John v. New York, 201 U. S. 633.
Innocence cannot be asserted as to an action which violates existing law, and ignorance of law will not excuse.
Courts cannot set aside legislation simply because it is harsh.
The statute of Minnesota punishing the cutting and removal of timber on state lands and imposing double or triple damages and fine and imprisonment for violation, whether the offense be willful or not, is not unconstitutional under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment either as putting one violating it in second jeopardy or because inflicting the penalties upon him regardless of his intent.
The facts, which involve the constitutionality of a statute of Minnesota regulating cutting timber on the public lands of the state and fixing penalties therefor, are stated in the opinion.
the state "without a valid and existing permit." The question in the case revolves around this permit and the extensions of it alleged by plaintiffs in error to have been given.
The findings of the court show the following facts: the state sold at public auction, in accordance with the statute, the timber on the lands to John F. Irwin, one of the plaintiffs in error, acting for himself and as agent of the Shevlin-Carpenter Company, and a permit was issued by the auditor and land commissioners of the state, which contained the following clause: "That no extension of time of this permit shall be granted except as provided in section 24, chapter 163, General Laws 1895." The section provides that no permit shall be issued to cover more than two seasons, and no permit shall be extended except by unanimous consent of the board of timber commissioners, and under no circumstances shall an extension be granted for more than one year, and then only for good and sufficient reasons. Irwin gave bond as required by law. On the seventh of May, 1902, the permit was extended until the first of June, 1903. At the time the permit was extended, the sum of $1,307, as required by law, was paid by plaintiffs in error into the treasury of the state, that sum being twenty-five percent of the appraised value of the timber. In the winter of the years 1903-1904, plaintiffs in error, knowing that there had been one extension of the permit, and that that extension had expired, entered upon the land and cut and removed therefrom 2,444,020 feet of timber, which it was agreed was worth $6 per thousand feet, board measure. After the timber was cut, the surveyor general of the lumber district scaled and returned the amount of the same to the auditor of the state, which officer erroneously computed the amount due from the plaintiffs in error at the contract price of stumpage value thereof, as if the permit were still in force, finding the same to be $18,574.39.
This amount was paid to the state, and no part of it has been returned.
"The finding of the trial court that appellant was guilty of a willful trespass is not sustained by the evidence. On the contrary, the record conclusively shows that appellant had reasonable ground for believing authority had been granted, and honestly acted on such belief. The court hence decided that the judgment should only have been for double, not treble, damages, saying:"
"Being of opinion that, in this action the state is limited to a recovery of double damages, and the timber cut having been paid for, the judgment is necessarily to the value as found."
The case was remanded with directions to reduce the judgment to $14,664.12. In all other respects, it was affirmed.
"On a former appeal upon demurrer to the complaint, State v. Shevlin-Carpenter Company, 99 Minn. 158, the constitutional questions were raised, and it was there held that the act was constitutional, and that in case of trespass the state might recover either the double value of the property taken, or treble its value, according to whether the facts constituted a casual or involuntary, or a willful and unlawful trespass. We adhere to that decision, and for the reasons set forth in the opinion then filed."
This statement of the facts and the rulings of the courts of Minnesota exhibit the controversy, the state contending that the penalties of the statute are incurred by a casual or involuntary trespass, the plaintiffs in error insisting that to attach that consequence to acts done in good faith violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
Another contention is made by plaintiffs in error. The statute makes one who cuts or removes timber contrary to the provisions of the act, or "without conforming in each and every respect thereto," guilty of a felony, and prescribes a fine or imprisonment, or both, in case the trespass is adjudged to have been willful. To avail themselves of an objection to these provisions, plaintiffs in error insist that they are not separable from the provision for double and treble damages, and the statute becomes therefore unconstitutional, for under it the plaintiffs in error are subject to be put twice in jeopardy for the same offense.
such, and intended to be inseparable, and that the statute therefore subjects an offender to a double jeopardy. And this though the two punishments "may be inflicted in different proceedings," it being contended that "it is immaterial that one of the proceedings is civil in form." This being the consequence of the statute, it is insisted that it "does not satisfy the requirements of due process of law," and deprives plaintiffs in error "of a privilege and immunity guaranteed under the federal Constitution."
court intimated that they were independent. Replying to the contention that to sustain this action would subject plaintiffs in error to the jeopardy of a second punishment, the court said that plaintiffs in error were "probably a little premature in raising the point." And further said, "it might come with some force if presented in a criminal prosecution after recovery in a civil action." In this we concur. In other words, plaintiffs in error cannot base a defense upon an anticipation of what may never occur. To permit this would discharge them from all liability, for the defense, if good at all, would be good against whatever action might be brought. Necessarily there must be a first jeopardy before there can be a second, and only when a second is sought is the constitutional immunity from double punishment threatened to be taken away. An occasion for the defense of double jeopardy may occur if the State of Minnesota should proceed criminally against plaintiffs in error. We do not mean to say, however, that it will be justified. We do not mean to say that the state law subjects an offender against its provisions to a double jeopardy. Nor do we mean to imply that, even if it have such effect, the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States may be invoked against it. Of that question we reserve opinion.
"both the provisions of section 7 make a casual and involuntary trespasser liable to the state in double damages, and that declaring his act a felony violates the Fourteenth Amendment,"
which this Court will give effect even though it be not expressly enunciated by the Constitution."
"where so-called criminal negligence supplies a place of criminal intent, or where, in a few instances, the public welfare has made it necessary to declare a crime, irrespective of the actor's intent."
A concession of exceptions would seem to destroy the principle. If the principle gets its life or its protection from the Fourteenth Amendment, it cannot be destroyed by the legislature upon any conception of the public welfare. The Constitution declares the principle upon which the public welfare is to be promoted, and opposing ones cannot be substituted. Connolly v. Union Sewer Pipe Co., 184 U. S. 540, 184 U. S. 558.
was committed, and a trespass is a legal wrong, not an innocent act. There is no element of deception or surprise in the law. When the permit was issued, plaintiffs in error knew the limitations of it, and they took it at the risk and consequences of transgression. The state sought to guard against its willful or accidental abuse. Permits had been abused and the lands of the state despoiled of their timber. The offenders were difficult to detect, or, if detected, the character of their acts, whether willful, accidental, or involuntary, equally difficult to establish, and the state, the supreme court said, had been "defrauded and robbed of large sums of money." Double and treble damages and a criminal prosecution were provided to meet the situation. It would be strange, indeed, if it were not within the competency of the legislature. To hold otherwise would take from the legislature the power to adjust legislation to evils as they arise and to the ways by which they may be effected. We held in St John v. New York, 201 U. S. 633, that a state did not offend the equality clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by taking as a basis of classification the ways by which a law may be defeated. That case was applied in District of Columbia v. Brooke, 214 U. S. 138, to sustain a statute which provided a criminal proceeding against resident owners of property for neglecting to connect their property with sewers, and civil proceedings against nonresident owners for a like neglect.
power of a state is the least limitable of its powers, but even it may not transcend the prohibition of the Constitution of the United States. If, as contended, intent is an essential element of crime, or, more restrictively, if intent is essential to the legality of penalties, it must be so no matter under what power of the state they are prescribed. Plaintiffs in error, while considering there may be exceptions to the principle contended for in the exercise of the police power, urge that the legislation in controversy is not of that character. The supreme court of the state, however, expressed a different view. It decided that the legislation was in effect an exercise of the police power, and cited a number of cases to sustain the proposition that public policy may require that, in the prohibition or punishment of particular acts, it may be provided that he who shall do them shall do them at his peril, and will not be heard to plead in defense good faith or ignorance. Those cases are set forth in the opinion of the court, and some of them reviewed.
We will not repeat them. It was recognized that such legislation may, in particular instances, be harsh, but we can only say again what we have so often said, that this Court cannot set aside legislation because it is harsh.
We have considered only the basic principle of the contention of plaintiffs in error, and have not attempted to follow the details of their argument by which they support it, or the cases which they cite to illustrate it. The cases are subject to the exceptions we have given.
"SEC. 7. If any person, firm, or corporation, without a valid and existing permit therefor, cuts, or employs or induces any other person, firm, or corporation to cut or assist in cutting, any timber of whatsoever description, on state lands, or removes or carries away, or employs, or induces, or assists any other person, firm, or corporation to remove or carry away, any such timber or other property, he shall be liable to the state in treble damages, if such trespass is adjudged to have been willful, but double damages only in case the trespass is adjudged to have been casual and involuntary, and shall have no right whatsoever to any remuneration or allowance for labor or expenses incurred in removing such other property, cutting such timber, preparing the same for market, or transporting the same to or towards market."
"Whoever cuts or removes, or employs or induces any other person, firm, or corporation to cut or remove, any timber or other property from state lands, contrary to the provisions of this act, or without conforming in each and every respect thereto, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand (1,000) dollars, or by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding two (2) years, or by both, in case the trespass is adjudged to have been willful."
"Whenever any timber so cut is intermingled with any other timber, or whenever other property taken from state lands is intermingled with other property, the state may seize and sell the whole quantity so intermingled, pursuant to the provisions of section forty (40) of this act, and such other timber or property shall be presumed to have been also cut from state lands."
"Providing the intermingling of timber above referred to shall only apply to cases having been adjudged as willful trespass."

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