Source: https://openjurist.org/331/us/549/rescue-army-v-municipal-court-of-city-of-los-angeles
Timestamp: 2019-06-19 08:47:18
Document Index: 114245923

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 237', '§ 237', '§ 344', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 237', '§ 344', '§ 344']

331 U.S. 549 - Rescue Army v. Municipal Court of City of Los Angeles
331 US 549 Rescue Army v. Municipal Court of City of Los Angeles
Although the jurisdictional inquiry, in the state courts and here, was conducted in the separate proceeding on habeas corpus, unlike the Bandini case it related to a criminal cause, as does this case. And for the purposes of our jurisdiction under § 237(a) of the Judicial Code, a distinction would seem to be wholly verbal between such an inquiry and its disposition made under the state procedure of habeas corpus and a similar one made in a state proceeding for a writ of prohibition.28 Those procedures, of course, have their historic differences, both in availability and in specific function, at the common law. But wen they ar e utilized, under state authorization, substantially for the identical purpose of questioning the validity of state statutes under the federal constitution, as determinative of the jurisdiction of state courts to proceed with criminal prosecutions based on those acts, it would seem difficult to find any substantial difference between them relative to this Court's jurisdiction to review their determinations. This assumes, of course, that the judgment reviewed under one name or the other would be such as finally disposes of the proceeding.
From Hayburn's Case, 2 Dall. 409, 1 L.Ed. 436, to Alma Motor Co. v. Timken-Detroit Axle Co. and the Hatch Act case decided this term,29 this Court has followed a policy of strict necessity in disposing of constitutional issues. The earliest exemplifications, too well known for repeating the history here, arose in the Court's refusal to render advisory opinions and in applications of the related jurisdictional policy drawn from the case and controversy limitation. U.S.Const. Art. III. The same policy has been reflected continuously not only in decisions but also in rules of court and in statutes made appliable to jurisdictional matters including the necessity for reasonable clarity and definiteness, as well as for timeliness, in raising and presenting constitutional questions.30 Indeed perhaps the most effective implement for making the policy effective has been the certiorari jurisdiction conferred upon this Court by Congress. E.g., Judicial Code, §§ 237, 240, 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 344, 347.
The policy, however, has not been limited to jurisdictional determinations. For, in addition, 'the Court (has) developed, for its own governance in the cases confessedly within its jurisdiction, a series of rules under which it has avoided passing upon a large part of all the constitutional questions pressed upon it for decision.'31 Thus, as those rules were listed in support of the statement quoted, constitutional issues affecting legislation will not be determined in friendly, nonadversary proceedings; in advance of the necessity of deciding them; in broader terms than are required by the precise facts to which the ruling is to be applied; if the record presents some other ground upon which the case may be disposed of; at the instance of one who fails to show that he is injured by the statute's operation, or who has availed himself of its benefits; or if a construction of the statute is fairly possible by which the question may be avoided.32
Some, if not indeed all, of these rules have found 'most varied applications.'33 And every application has been an instance of reluctance, indeed of refusal, to undertake the most important and the most delicate of the Court's functions, notwithstanding conceded jurisdiction, until necessity compels it in the performance of constitutional duty.
Moreover the policy is neither merely procedural nor in its essence dependent for applicability upon the diversities of jurisdiction and procedure, whether of the state courts, the inferior federal courts, or this Court. Rather it is one of substance,34 grounded in considerations which transcend all such particular limitations. Like the case and controversy limitation itself and the policy against entertaining political questions,35 it is one of the rules basic to the federal system and this Court's appropriate place within that structure.36
Indeed in origin andin practic al effects, though not in technical function, it is a corollary offshoot of the case and controversy rule. And often the line between applying the policy or the rule is very thin.37 They work, within their respective and technically distinct areas, to achieve the same practical purposes for the process of constitutional adjudication, and upon closely related considerations.
As with the case and controversy limitation, however, the choice has been made long since. Time and experience have given it sanction. They also have verified for both that the choice was wisely made. Any other indeed might have put an end to or seriously impaired the distinctively American institution of judicial review.38 And on the whole, in spite of inevitable exceptions, the policy has worked not only for finding the appropriate place and function of the judicial institution in our governmental system but also for the preservation of individual rights.
Most recently both phases of its operation have been exemplified in declaratory judgment proceedings.39 Despite some seemingly widespread misconceptions,40 the general introduction of that procedure in both state and federal spheres has not reversed or modified the policy's general direction or effects.41
In the first place, the constitutional issues come to us in highly abstract form. Although raised technically in the separate proceeding in prohibition, they arise substantially as upon demurrer to the charges against Murdock in the criminal proceeding. The record presents only bare allegations that he was charged criminally with violating §§ 44.09(a), 44.09(b) and 44.12, and that those sections are unconstitutional, on various assignments, as applied to his alleged solicitations. We are therefore without benefit of the precision which would be afforded by proof of conduct made upon trial. Moreover, we do not have the benefit on this record of even the literal text of the charges.42 Indeed, the summarized statement of the pleadings leaves us in doubt whether there were only two or, on the other hand, three distinct offenses charged.43
The two subdivisions, while complementary in regulating solicitation by receptacles, are entirely distinct not only in the places where the regulations apply, but also in the conditions prescribed to be fulfilled before lawful solicitation may take place. Those differences are substantial, not merely nominal or technical.44 With the possibility presented by the record that only one or the other provision may be involved in the final disposition of the criminal proceeding, as a matter of pleading and proof and not simply of the jury's action, it is entirely too speculative whether one sort of regulation or the other actually will be utilized to secure Murdock's conviction for us to express opinion at this stage on the constitutionality of either. For the same reason we are unwilling to determine the validity of both, notwithstanding the California court has held each valid. That decision on our part, consistently with the policy, should await the determination which necessarily will be made in the further proceedings in the Municipal Court, whether Murdock has been charged independently or alternatively under the two subsections in the first count.
Other reasons relating particularly to § 44.09(b) sustain this conclusion. In the first place, the California court's opinions give us no guide concerning the effect of that section's concluding omnibus clause, requiring compliance 'in all other respects * * * with the provisions of this Article.' Whether or not that court, treating the section independently as we must do,45 would regard it as effective to incorporate all or only some of the many provisions of Article 4, and in the latter event how many, are matters upon which we are altogether without light. And those questions, being matters of state law, are essentially for the state court's determination, not ours.
Whether the charge under § 44.09(b) comprehends failure to comply with all of the conditions of Article 4 or only some of them, and if the latter which ones, depends on whether the omnibus clause is to be literally applied, disregarded entirely,46 or possibly construed in some modified way involving neither of these extremes. This Court certainly has no proper function to undertake such a task of interpretation. Apart from invading the state court's function, the problem of extricating the applicable provisions from such a mass, together with matters of severability likely to arise, would be formidable. And when discharged the result might be merely that we had performed it and determined the constitutional issus so prese nted, only to find that in the further proceedings to be had in the Municipal Court our interpretation had been put aside in favor of another.
Somewhat less obviously, similar difficulties are presented for dealing with the more specific requirement of § 44.09(b) for filing the notice of intention and the related one of § 44.12 for procuring and exhibiting the information card.47 Simply upon the face of the ordinance (Article 4), we would construe these provisions as excluding all reference to the licensing requirements of § 44.19, as well as the regulations relating to dealers in used articles, junk, etc.,48 as indeed the California Supreme Court's opinion seems to exclude them. In such a view the charges under § 44.09(b) (without reference to the omnibus concluding clause) and § 44.12 would be restricted to failure to comply with whatever provisions of §§ 44.01—44.18 may be incorporated by reference in those two sections. Presumably also, within that range, would be excluded all requirements applicable only after the act of solicitation, such as those for keeping records and making reports of the receipt and disposition of contributions received, §§ 44.09, 44.14, cf. also § 44,08, and perhaps though not at all certainly (as to the charge under § 44.12)49 the tendering at the time of solicitation of the receipt required by § 44.15. Possibly therefore a fair construction of the charges under §§ 44.09(b) and 44.12 would be that they are limited, so far as concerns incorporation of other provisions, to including the licensing requirements of §§ 44.05 and 44.03, themselves extensive and highly detailed, which so far as we can gather from the California court's treatment of them, was the effect of its decision.
Nevertheless, the construction given is, to say the least, ambiguous. For, despite the language indicating that the cards are to be issued 'automatically upon the filing of the required information and the payment of the four cents for each card,' the opinion expressly asserted that the department 'may investigate the statements in the notice of intention.' 27 Cal.2d at page 239, 163 P.2d at page 709. And at another point it said: 'The board may not disallow a proposed solicitation but it may investigate the statements in the notice of intention and the methods of making or conducting the solicitation; it may inspect the records of the persons in charge of the solicitation and the association for whom it is made, and it may give such publicity to its findings as it deems best to reach the general public and persons interested.'50 Ibid.
'The board has no discretion to withhold a license if the applicant's good character and reputation and his financial responsibility are established and the required bond is filed. The board is not free to deny licenses, but must act reasonably in the light of the evidence presented.' 27 Cal.2d at page 249, 163 P.2d at page 714.51
There is, of course, a very substantial differene between the two possible views of the court's construction of the ordinances, for constitutional as well as other purposes. For in the one conception the provisions would be more nearly akin to a 'mere identification' requirement such as the First Amendment has been said not to forbid; in the other, they would comprehend a much broader exercise of administrative discretion than simply receiving and filing identifying information.52 Obviously it would be one thing to sustain the licensing provisions if they are to be taken as of the 'automatic mere identification' type, and quite another if they involve the very considerable degree of discretion upon the part of administrative officials which the clearly applicable provisions of the ordinance seem to require by their terms and indeed by the state court's ruling.
We are not unmindful that our ruling will subject the petitioner Murdock to the burden of undergoing a third trial or that this burden is substantial.53 Were the uncertainties confronting us in relation to this Court's historic policy less in number, and resolving them not so far from our appropriate function in cases coming from state courts, the inconvenience of undergoing trial another time might justify exercising jurisdiction in this cause. But, consistently with the policy, jurisdiction here should be exerted only when the jurisdictional question presented by the proceeding in prohibition tenders the underlying constitutional issues in clean-cut and concrete form, unclouded by any serious problem of construction relating either to the terms of the questioned legislation or to its interpretation by the stte courts.
Appellants refer to the code as Ordinance No. 77,000. According to appellee's brief, Ordinance No. 77,000 consists of a 'revision and codification of the regulatory and penal ordinances of the City of Los Angeles, to be known as the Los Angeles Municipal Code,' and contains nine chapters, I—IX, subdivided into articles, divisions and sections, the latter numbering in excess of 2000.
See, e.g., as to appeals from state courts, § 237(a) of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C. § 344(a), 28 U.S.C.A. § 344(a), Rule 12(1) of the Revised Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 354; Honeyman v. Hanan, 300 U.S. 14, 57 S.Ct. 350, 81 L.Ed. 476.
Id., 297 U.S. at pages 346—348, 56 S.Ct. at pages 482—484, 80 L.Ed. 688, and authorities cited. See also Coffman v. Breeze Corporation, 323 U.S. 316, 324, 325, 65 S.Ct. 298, 302, 303, 89 L.Ed. 264.