Case Name: STATE of Florida ex rel. Charles J. BODNER, Appellant, v. FLORIDA REAL ESTATE COMMISSION, W. H. Flannery, J. E. Hollenbeck, Sr., and M. I. Taylor, as members of the Florida Real Estate Commission, and M. M. Smith, Jr., Executive Secretary of said Commission, Appellees
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1956-09-26
Citations: 99 So. 2d 582
Docket Number: 
Parties: STATE of Florida ex rel. Charles J. BODNER, Appellant, v. FLORIDA REAL ESTATE COMMISSION, W. H. Flannery, J. E. Hollenbeck, Sr., and M. I. Taylor, as members of the Florida Real Estate Commission, and M. M. Smith, Jr., Executive Secretary of said Commission, Appellees.
Judges: DREW, C. J., and TERRELL and THORNAL, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 99
Pages: 582–587

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida ex rel. Charles J. BODNER, Appellant, v. FLORIDA REAL ESTATE COMMISSION, W. H. Flannery, J. E. Hollenbeck, Sr., and M. I. Taylor, as members of the Florida Real Estate Commission, and M. M. Smith, Jr., Executive Secretary of said Commission, Appellees.
Supreme Court of Florida. Division A.
Sept. 26, 1956.
On Petition for Rehearing Dec. 20, 1957.
Charles J. Bodner, Miami, for appellant.
G. C. Kenyon, Orlando, for appellees.

Opinion:
HOBSON, Justice.
Relator is an attorney at law and member of the Florida Bar, duly authorized and qualified to practice law in the State of Florida. In the court below he brought a petition for writ of mandamus seeking to compel the respondents, members of the Florida Real Estate Commission, to issue to him a registration certificate as a real estate broker. The Real Estate Commission had denied him this certificate on the ground that he had failed to meet the requirements therefor in that he had not served an apprenticeship in accordance with Chapter 23120, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1945, and regulations of the Commission promulgated thereunder. Respondents moved for summary judgment based upon an affidavit, the pleadings, and certain depositions. Relator also moved for summary judgment. The circuit judge, after hearing, denied the peremptory writ and entered final judgment for the respondents. From judgment so entered, this appeal is taken.
Relator, as appellant, contends in part that the circuit court erred in denying' the peremptory writ because the pleadings and admissions compel the conclusion that relator is entitled to be registered as a real estate broker; that relator has complied with all of the requirements necessary to be registered as a real estate broker; that respondents are estopped from denying relator his license as a real estate broker; that Chapter 23120, Laws of Florida, 1945, is unconstitutional; and that the record compels the conclusion that relator has produced satisfactory proof of having served an apprenticeship in accordance with Chapter 23120, supra. Because of the view we take of the case, however, we deem it unnecessary to resolve any of the questions thus presented, considering the one remaining contention of the relator. He contends that the trial court erred in failing to find that "relator, as a lawyer, may act as a real estate broker without securing a broker's license."
In Keyes Co. v. Dade County Bar Ass'n, Fla., 46 So.2d 605, and Cooperman v. West Coast Title Co., Fla., 75 So.2d 818, we marked out certain areas in which a real estate broker could function in connection with transactions involving the passage of title to real estate. We are here faced with the reverse aspect of the proposition which was there presented.
F.S. Sec. 475.42, F.S.A. provides in part that:
"No person shall operate as & real estate broker or salesman without being the holder of a valid current registration certificate."
The sphere in which one is thus prohibited from acting without being duly registered as a real estate broker or salesman is outlined in the definition of these terms contained in F.S. Sec. 475.01(2), F.S.A., which reads in part as follows:
"(2) Every person who shall, in this state, for another, and for a compensation or valuable consideration directly or indirectly paid or promised, expressly or impliedly, or with ar. intent to collect or receive a compensation or valuable consideration therefor, appraise, auction, sell, exchange, buy or rent, or offer, attempt or agree to appraise, auction or negotiate the sale, exchange, purchase or rental of any real property, or any interest in or concerning the same, including min-ral rights or leases; or who shall advertise or hold out to the public by any oral or printed solicitation or representation that such person is engaged in the business of appraising, auctioning, buying, selling, exchanging, leasing or renting real estate, or interests therein, including mineral rights or leases, of others; and every person who shall take any part in the procuring of sellers, purchasers, lessors or lessees of the real property, or interests therein, including mineral rights or leases, of another; or who shall direct or assist in the procuring of prospects, or the negotiation or closing of any transaction which does, or is calculated to, result in a sale, exchange, or leasing thereof, and who shall receive, expect, or be promised any compensation or valuable consid eration, directly or indirectly therefor; and all persons who are members of partnerships or officers or directors of corporations engaged in performing any of the aforesaid acts or services; each and every such person shall be deemed and held to he a 'real estate broker' or a 'real estate salesman,' as hereinafter classified, unless said person when performing the act or acts herein specified shall be acting as an attorney-in-fact for the purpose of the executon of contracts or conveyances only, or as an attorney-at-law •within the scope of his duties as such, or when acting as the administrator, executor, receiver, trustee, or master under or by virtue of an appointment by will or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as trustee under a deed of trust, or under a trust agreement, the ultimate purpose and intent whereof shall be charitable, philan-tropic, or providing for those having a natural right to the bounty of the donor or trustor. " (Emphasis supplied.)
Examining the first part of this array of functions, we find not a single one which cannot be accomplished by an attorney-at-iaw, for compensation. Indeed, nothing can be more traditional as a function of the lawyer than the handling of any transaction involving the passage of title, from start to finish. An attempt by the legislature to curtail these duties would necessarily be subject to the severest scrutiny. On the other hand, the only restraint to which a lawyer is subject in performing these functions lies in the prohibited solicitation of legal business which must be and is controlled by the Bar itself. Since relator in effect seeks a declaration by this court that by virtue of his position as an attorney-at-law he may act as a' real estate broker without securing a license, and since, insofar as he has shown, he seeks to do nothing beyond the restrictions contained in F.S. Sec. 475.01(2), F.S.A. supra, and these are functions which may as a matter of law, and by virtue of the specific exception of the statute, be performed by an attorney-at-law, relator has failed to show that he is in any way prejudiced by the statute or the administrative action he seeks to attack.
Indeed, the authority of the legislature to regulate professional activity rests upon the police power, which, in turn, is grounded upon the public interest. Admission to the bar is granted only after long and arduous study, necessarily embracing the proper conduct of real estate transactions, and the most searching character examination which can be devised. This is the reason for the wise exception contained in F.S. Sec. 475.01(2), F.S.A., supra, which eliminates attorneys-at-law from the operation of the chapter, since their conduct of real estate transactions, and legal transactions of all kinds, is controlled by other means.
It follows that the judgment below must be affirmed, but on the basis we have indicated. It is so ordered.
DREW, C. J., and TERRELL and THORNAL, JJ., concur.