Title: State v. Taylor
Citation: 415 So. 2d 1043
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: April 9, 1982

415 So. 2d 1043 (1982)
STATE of Alabama
v.
Catherine TAYLOR, et al.
80-492.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
April 9, 1982.
Rehearing Denied June 11, 1982.
Lloyd Copeland, Mobile, for appellant.
Daniel L. McCleave, Mobile, and Priscilla Ruth MacDougall, Madison, Wis., for appellees.
MADDOX, Justice.
The main issue on this appeal involves the constitutional question of a married woman's right to register to vote in her maiden name.
A secondary issue is whether plaintiffs' failure to comply with statutory provisions governing appeals concerning voter registration barred them from filing suit. Also *1044 presented is a question of whether the State of Alabama was made a party to the action as a necessary party.
The facts are not disputed. On October 23, 1980, Catherine Taylor and Georgia M. Theriot, who are married women, filed a complaint with the circuit court in which they claimed that the Board of Registrars of Mobile County had refused to allow them to register to vote in their maiden surnames. They further alleged that the Board's policy of requiring a married woman to register to vote in the surname of her husband was contrary to statutory law and the common law, and that irreparable injury would result to them unless they were allowed to register "under the names they use and are known by." They prayed for a temporary restraining order and general relief.
The trial judge held a hearing on the request for a temporary restraining order on October 24, 1980, and afterwards entered an order granting the temporary restraining order as prayed for. The order directed the board to register Taylor and Theriot in their maiden surnames. A final hearing was set for a later date.
The Board of Registrars filed an answer to plaintiffs' complaint in which they stated the policy of the board was to register persons to vote in their legal names, and that the legal name of a married woman is her husband's surname. In its answer, the Board also raised, as an affirmative defense, that it was not the proper party defendant in the action. The board had previously raised, at the commencement of the hearing on plaintiffs' application for a temporary restraining order, that it was not the proper defendant.
The State of Alabama contemporaneously filed a motion to intervene and to be substituted as party defendant in the matter. This motion was granted by the trial court. After being served with copies of the State's motion to intervene and for substitution of parties defendant, the Attorney General waived any further notice of the proceedings. The State's answer, filed with its motion to intervene, stated: that the policy of the board was to register all voters in their true, legal names, the legal name of a married female being the surname of her husband; that any alleged injury to plaintiffs would not be irreparable; that plaintiffs had failed to follow the procedure prescribed by law for challenging their denial of voter registration and were, therefore, barred from maintaining the instant action; that the relief sought was contrary to law and public policy as it relates to the orderly administration of the voting franchise and the prevention of fraud and collusion therein; and that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
The trial judge held a final hearing on December 15, 1980. The court, after denying the State's motions for an involuntary dismissal of plaintiffs' claim (Rule 41(b), ARCP), ordered that the injunctive relief granted on the application for a temporary restraining order be made permanent. The order entered by the trial court permanently restrained the State from refusing to allow plaintiffs or any other married woman from registering to vote "under the names by which they have chosen to be known and have used subsequent to this proceeding."
The State filed a motion for a new trial, a motion to alter and amend the judgment, and on January 14, 1981, a motion for leave to amend the foregoing motions. These motions, which raised numerous legal issues, were denied by operation of law, because of their pendency in the trial court for over ninety days without a ruling being made. The State appealed.
The State argues that Alabama's statutory scheme for voter registration provides a method of appeal by any person who is denied registration, as plaintiffs were, and that plaintiffs' failure to appeal as required by law should bar the action they filed.
The evidence clearly shows that neither of the plaintiffs appealed to the circuit court within 30 days after the board refused to register them in their maiden names. Did this failure to appeal pursuant to § 17-4-124 bar them from filing an action in which they seek to vindicate not only their own alleged right to register in their maiden names, but the rights of other married women who may wish to register to vote in their maiden names?
The crucial legal question presented is whether the existence of a legal remedy to seek redress from a denial of voter registration bars any other remedy, legal or equitable. We do not believe that the legal remedy of an appeal given to an individual applicant who has been denied registration would allow a circuit court jurisdiction to decide such a crucial issue of constitutional law as was raised by the plaintiffs in their complaint.
Plaintiffs contend that § 17-4-124 applies only when an applicant has been denied registration because the applicant was found to be unqualified. The State considers this argument by plaintiffs to be without merit. The State argues, in its brief:
We hold that the plaintiffs' interpretation of § 17-4-124, relating to appeal from a denial of registration, comports more with what the legislature actually intended. It should be noted that in § 17-4-124, the legislature provides that:
What issues were to be tried? It would seem that the most logical "issues" would be those factual issues involving qualifications, as defined in § 17-3-9, such as residence, age, and conviction of crime. It would appear that the legislature intended that, on appeal, the factfinder, whether the judge or jury, would decide only factual *1046 issues. We do not suggest, however, that the plaintiffs could not have appealed and raised the legal issue they later raised in this action, but only that their failure to appeal within 30 days did not bar their subsequent action.
There is another reason why this action was not barred. While § 17-4-124 does provide that "[f]inal judgment in favor of the petitioner shall entitle him or her to registration as of the date of his or her application to the registrars," we do not believe that this relation back provision is of any legal significance here, because the injunctive relief granted was prospective, and it is not denied that the Board's policy on refusing to register married women in their maiden names had not changed, and the State still seeks to sustain its constitutional validity.
While the statutory scheme for voter registration differs somewhat from other administrative schemes, the principles of law applicable to review of administrative proceedings are instructive. In Simpson v. Van Ryzin, 289 Ala. 22, 265 So. 2d 569 (1972), the Court held:
In this case the issue to be decided was solely a matter of law, not dependent upon disputed facts; therefore, the court did not err in refusing to dismiss plaintiffs' action because they failed to appeal as provided by § 17-4-124.
The State's claim that the proper parties were not before the court must be dismissed almost summarily. The State intervened in the action, vigorously sought to sustain the Board's policy of refusing to register married women in their maiden names, and vigorously prosecutes its appeal in this Court. The provisions of Rule 1, A.R.C.P., and Rule 1, A.R.A.P. that our procedural rules should be construed to assure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every proceeding on its merits are too plain for us to agree with the State in this case.
We now consider the merits of the case. Did the trial court err in ordering the State to register married women to vote "under the names by which they have chosen to be known and have used"? We hold that the trial court did not err.
The law of Alabama, as it relates to names, is stated succinctly in Ingram v. Watson, 211 Ala. 410, 100 So. 557 (1924):
In Alabama Clay Products v. Mathews, 220 Ala. 549, 126 So. 869 (1930), this Court quoted with approval the following from 45 C.J. at page 381:
We are not aware of any statutory restriction which requires that married women not be permitted to register to vote, if otherwise qualified, under the names by which they have chosen to be known and have used; provided, of course, it is not done for a fraudulent purpose.
Alabama has adopted the common law of England (Code 1975, § 1-3-1), and in view of the fact that the common law regarding "names" has not been altered by the legislature as far as we know, we adopt the common law of England in resolving this dispute.
What was the common law of England regarding "names"? The State cites Forbush v. Wallace, 341 F. Supp. 217, 221 (M.D. Ala.1971), aff'd per curiam, 405 U.S. 970, 92 S. Ct. 1197, 31 L. Ed. 2d 246 (1972), which does state:
It appears that at the time Forbush was decided, there was no procedure whereby the federal court could certify a question of state law to this Court for instructions such as we now have. Rule 18, A.R.A.P. It also appears that both sides in the Forbush case conceded that the rule set out in Forbush was the common law rule.
In brief, the plaintiffs, through their counsel, have set out what they contend to be the common law of England, that is, that all persons have the right, irrespective of marriage, to use the name or names of their choice so long as the name is not used for a fraudulent purpose. They have also argued that Forbush inaccurately stated the common law rule, and should not be followed.
Our research has convinced us that Forbush v. Wallace does not accurately state the common law on names, and that the case of Kruzel v. Podell, 67 Wis.2d 138, 226 N.W.2d 458 (1975), 67 A.L.R.3d 1249, correctly holds that the common law of England could be summarized as follows:
The right of women to use their maiden surnames has received considerable attention recently in commentaries and court decisions. See 67 A.L.R.3d 1249; Comment, The Right of Women to Use Their Maiden Names, 38 Albany L.Rev. 105 (1973); Comment, Married Woman's Right to Her Maiden Name: The Possibilities for Change, 23 Buffalo L.Rev. 243 (1973); Bysiewicz and MacDonnell, Married Women's Surnames, 5 Conn.L.Rev. 598 (1973); Hughes, And Then There Were Two, 23 Hastings L.J. 233 (1972); Comment, The Right of a Married Woman To Use Her Birth-Given Surname for Voter Registration, 32 Md.L.Rev. 409 (1973); Carlsson, Surnames of Married Women and Legitimate Children, 17 NYLF 552 (1971); Comment, A Woman's Right to Her Name, 21 UCLA L.Rev. 665 (1973); Lamber, A Married Woman's Surname: Is Custom Law? 1973 Wash.ULQ 779 (1973).
The State argues that the common law of Alabama could be different from the common law of other states, and suggests that because of that fact, the Forbush result *1048 should be upheld. The State further argues:
Even though the State is correct in stating that most married women customarily assume the surnames of their husbands, and register to vote in the surnames of their husbands, we hold that they are not legally required to do so. While the State suggests that allowing married women to register in their maiden surnames will create confusion, we believe that the legitimate interests of the State in preventing fraud in the election process can be satisfied without undue cost or harm.
The judgment of the trial court is due to be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
FAULKNER, JONES, ALMON, SHORES, EMBRY, BEATTY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
TORBERT, C. J., concurs specially.
TORBERT, Chief Justice (concurring specially).
I concur in the decision of this Court; however, it would appear that the Legislature in its wisdom and power could enact legislation dealing with the use of surnames in voter registration as long as the rational purpose of the legislation was to prevent confusion and fraud in the election process.