Opinion ID: 1916148
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the doctrine of inherent power

Text: While I believe that the action of the Court below can be upheld merely on the basis of statutory construction or because of the failure of the County Commission properly to respond to the show cause order, the majority does not share this view and feels constrained to treat the additional issue of the inherent powers of the courts. Thus, although I do not think it necessary to reach this issue, I feel I must respond by stating my views on the inherent powers of the courts of this state. Despite the apparent assertion by Chief Justice Anderson in Jefferson County v. Capanes, 235 Ala. 449, 179 So. 637 (1938) to the effect that the inherent power doctrine is not recognized by the courts of this state, the issue of the courts' inherent power to do things not of a traditional judicial nature has never been squarely faced by this court. Indeed, although one of the parties attempted to assert the principle in Capanes , the stipulated facts upon which the case was tried and decided do not reveal any basis for such an argument. The sole question presented was whether a bailiff, without express statutory authority, could on his own incur expenses for meals for himself while attending a jury. No judge made any order authorizing the charging of such meals to the county at any time. The suit was in assumpsit brought by the restaurant owner against the county. In Capanes , the holding was that the only costs or fees public officers were authorized to receive were those expressly authorized by law and this primarily because [t]he law of fees and costs must be held to be penal. Title 11, Section 1, Alabama Code of 1940, as amended (Recompiled 1958); Mobile County v. Williams, 180 Ala. 639, 61 So. 963 (1913). The only authority cited by the court supporting this holding, the Williams case, dealt with the collection or payment of fees and not with the inherent power of a court to do anything. The judgment reversed in Capanes was one by the lower court exercising its ordinary judicial power in an action in assumpsit and not of a court in the exercise of its inherent power. Thus the statement in Capanes is dicta at best, and is not even weighty dicta as evidenced by the fact that the reference to inherent power is more of an aside rather than a direct assertion, and was not supported by any authority. Capanes is the only case cited by the majority opinion in which this court even gave the appearance of rejecting the inherent powers doctrine. In almost every other case where the inherent power of the court has been asserted, such power has been upheld. See Larkin v. Mason, 71 Ala. 227 (1881) (inherent power to prevent abuse of process); Ex parte State, 150 Ala. 489, 43 So. 490 (1907) (power to order stay of execution of convicted murderer); Ex parte Mayor and Aldermen of Birmingham, 134 Ala. 609, 33 So. 13 (1902) (courts have inherent power, irrespective of statute, to make rules for regulation and transaction of business; may punish for contempt); Brown v. McKnight, 216 Ala. 660, 114 So. 40 (1927) (inherent power to make reasonable rules for conduct of business); Ex parte Wetzel, 243 Ala. 130, 8 So.2d 824 (1942) (inherent power to punish contempt); Ex parte Huguley Water System, 282 Ala. 633, 213 So.2d 799 (1968) (inherent power to strike parties, third party practice statute notwithstanding); Broadway v. State, 257 Ala. 414, 60 So.2d 701 (1952) (legislature can not take power from courts it did not givei. e. decision granting new trial judicial and not ministerial). It is true that these cases generally deal with the inherent power to do things of a judicial nature, but even the majority opinion recognizes the existence of inherent power as demonstrated by the following assertion, The courts have always exercised inherent power to protect its adjudicatory processes, to control such processes, to ward off encroachments upon recognized judicial functions, and in emergencies to order payment of small sums essential to the operation of a court . . . . Once the power is recognized, the issue is no longer its existence, but its bounds. The fact that no case has arisen in which it became necessary for the courts to exercise their dormant power to accomplish things not of a strictly judicial nature is no indication that the power is limited to those acts which are strictly judicial. The concept of inherent power is not some device created by a power-hungry judiciary, but is a doctrine that is concomitant to the very structure of our tripartite form of government. If the judicial system is to be a truly co-equal and independent branch answerable only to the sovereignthe peoplethen it must have the power to maintain itself under exigent circumstances. Certainly in the usual situation it is not necessary for the courts to exercise any extraordinary power since the other great branches of government are also charged with the constitutional duty to provide for an effective judiciary. It is only when the other branches are remiss in their constitutional duties that the court must act to preserve the efficient administration of justice. Nor is the concept of inherent power something unique or novel. Almost every court in this country which has considered the issue has upheld the power of the judicial branch to provide for itself when the real needs of justice have been slighted by a legislative branch pre-occupied with other, more visible, problems. O'Coins, Inc. v. Treasurer of County of Worcester, 287 N.E.2d 608 (Mass.1972) (court ordered purchase of tape recorder without prior appropriation); Smith v. Miller, 153 Colo. 35, 384 P.2d 738 (1963) (court has power to fix employees' salaries); Noble County Council v. State, 234 Ind. 172, 125 N.E. 2d 709 (1955) (inherent power to appoint and fix salary of probation officer); Commissioners Court of Lubbock County v. Martin, 471 S.W.2d 100 (Tex.Civ.App. 1971) (power to appoint and fix salaries of probation officers); Commonwealth ex rel. Carroll v. Tate, 442 Pa. 45, 274 A.2d 193 (1971) (power to fix court's operating budget); Judges for the Third Judicial Circuit of the State of Michigan v. County of Wayne, 386 Mich. 1, 190 N.W.2d 228 (1969) (power to hire and fix salary of law clerks and judicial assistants); McAfee v. State ex rel. Stodola, 284 N.E.2d 778 (Ind.1972) (power to set employees' salaries); Carlson v. State ex rel. Stodola, 247 Ind. 631, 220 N.E.2d 532 (city court has power to fix budget; city commission can not interfere with court's functioning by refusing budget request); Norman v. Van Elsberg, 262 Or. 286, 497 P.2d 204 (1972) (power to fix salaries of juvenile counselor); Powers v. Isley, 66 Ariz. 94, 183 P.2d 880 (1947) (power to fix salary of court reporter); Mann v. County of Maricopa, 104 Ariz. 561, 456 P.2d 931 (1969) (power to continue employee over age 70 for one additional year); Board of Commissioners of Vigo County v. Stout, 136 Ind. 53, 35 N.E. 683 (1893) (power to order county commission to operate elevator in courthouse); In re Salaries for Probation Officers of Bergen County, 58 N.J. 422, 278 A.2d 417 (1971) (salaries for probation officers); Birdsall v. Pima County, 106 Ariz. 266, 475 P.2d 250 (1970) (power to fix salaries of juvenile court employees); State ex rel. Weinstein v. St. Louis County, 451 S.W.2d 99 (Mo.1970) (power to select and appoint juvenile officers); State ex rel. Kitzmeyer v. Davis, 26 Nev. 373, 68 P. 689 (1902) (power to order purchase of courtroom equipment); State ex rel. Schneider v. Cunningham, 39 Mont. 165, 101 P. 962 (1909) (power, absent statute, to employ stenographer, fix salary, and order warrant for payment). Smith v. Miller, supra, is particularly apt, since it is practically on all fours with the instant case. One of the most recent cases to decide the inherent powers issue, the O'Coins case decided by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, is worthy of special attention. There a trial court had purchased a tape recorder, and the County Commission refused to pay for it. There the court stated: Even apart from statutory provisions, we are of opinion that a judge may bind a county contractually for expenses reasonably necessary for the operation of his court, and that he may issue an ex parte order for the payment of any obligation so incurred. Under our Constitution, the courts of the Commonwealth constitute a separate and independent department of government entrusted with the exclusive power of interpreting the laws. In erecting this tripartite form of government, our first citizens meant to secure to themselves, and their successors, every natural right of free men. The intimate relationship between these rights and the judicial power is made clear in art. 29 of the Declaration of Rights: `It is essential to the preservation of the rights of every individual, his life, liberty, property, and character, that there be an impartial interpretation of the laws, and administration of justice.' Also it is provided in art. 11: `Every subject of the commonwealth . . . ought to obtain right and justice freely, and without being obliged to purchase it; completely, and without any denial; promptly, and without delay; conformably to the laws.' From these provisions, it necessarily follows that `courts of general jurisdiction. . . have the inherent power to do whatever may be done under the general principles of jurisprudence to insure to the citizen a fair trial, whenever his life, liberty, property or character is at stake.' Simply stated, implicit in the constitutional grant of judicial power is `authority necessary to the exercise of. . . [that] power' (emphasis supplied). Such authority is not limited to adjudication, but includes certain ancillary functions, such as rule-making and judicial administration, which are essential if the courts are to carry out their constitutional mandate. . . . It is axiomatic that, as an independent department of government, the judiciary must have adequate and sufficient resources to ensure the proper operation of the courts. It would be illogical to interpret the Constitution as creating a judicial department with awesome powers over the life, liberty, and property of every citizen while, at the same time, denying to the judges authority to determine the basic needs of their courts as to equipment, facilities and supporting personnel. Such authority must be vested in the judiciary if the courts are to provide justice, and the people are to be secure in their rights, under the Constitution. We hold, therefore, that among the inherent powers possessed by every judge is the power to protect this court from impairment resulting from inadequate facilities or lack of supplies or supporting personnel. To correct such an impairment, a judge may, even in the absence of a clearly applicable statute, obtain the required goods or services by appropriate means, including arranging himself for their purchase and ordering the responsible executive official to make payment. It is not essential that there have been a prior appropriation to cover the expenditure. Where an obligation is thus legally incurred, it is the duty of the State, or one of its political subdivisions, to make payment. The view that there must be checks and balances between the departments of government is not contrary. It was certainly never intended that any one department, through the exercise of its acknowledged powers, should be able to prevent another department from fulfilling its responsibilities to the people under the Constitution. The principles expressed today are recognized not only in Massachusetts but throughout the nation. (Citations omitted) These cases are convincing evidence that this doctrine is a fundamental element of the jurisprudence of this nation. It is strange indeed that in the face of this overwhelming body of authority, the majority feels bound by an almost side remark, in one case in which the issue was not actually before the court. Thus, as already mentioned, once the inherent power of the judiciary to preserve itself is recognized, the issue then becomes the bounds of such power. I concur in the view of the majority that the people of this state have not manifested an intent to have the judiciary free of all control. Alabama judges, like members of the other two branches, must place their records before the people every six years (a term not disproportionately greater than the term of those close to the people). Furthermore, the people have retained the power to amend the constitutionthe document from which all the power of the courts is derived. A final restraint, clearly articulated in the new judicial article to our state constitution, is that the courts are bound by a standard of reasonableness and responsibility, a standard the courts are asked to apply almost daily in one context or another. The court in the O'Coins case provided a lucid summary of this last consideration: We are mindful that exercise of this inherent power is a duty which must be borne responsibility. A spirit of mutual cooperation among the legislative, executive, and judicial departments is unquestionably the people's best guaranty of constitutional government. It is therefore incumbent upon members of the judicial department to proceed cautiously, and with due consideration for the prerogatives of the executive department and the Legislature, whenever exercise of an inherent judicial power would bring us near the sphere of another department. The only other authority besides Capanes that the majority relies upon is a student comment from the Pennsylvania Law Review asserting that at least one court has backed off from its firm stand on inherent power. The view of that author is that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania retreated from the position it took in Commonwealth ex rel. Carroll v. Tate, 442 Pa. 45, 274 A.2d 193, cert. den. 402 U.S. 974, 91 S.Ct. 1665, 29 L.Ed.2d 138 (1971), discussed at length in the majority opinion, in a later opinion by that court, Glancey v. Casey, 447 Pa. 77, 288 A.2d 812 (1972). This assessment of Glancey does not appear to be sound. Two issues were presented in Glancey : (1) Whether the Pennsylvania legislature had the exclusive constitutional authority to fix judicial compensation, and (2) whether a certain salary-fixing statute was unconstitutional. There was really no issue of inherent power of the court raised by Glancey and the Supreme Court distinguished Glancey from Tate in this manner: Appellants rely also upon Com. ex rel. Carroll v. Tate, 442 Pa. 45, 51-57, 274 A.2d 193, 196-200 (1971), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 974, 91 S.Ct. 1665, 29 L. Ed.2d 138 (1971). Carroll [Tate] is also presently inapposite in that it involved the appropriation by a legislative body of additional funds deemed necessary for the effective operation of the court system in Philadelphia but it did not involve judicial salaries. The court noted that the Pennsylvania Constitution had vested the power to fix judicial compensation in the legislature for over 180 years, the only limitation on the legislative power being that such compensation must be adequate. Previous constitutions contained the word adequate, but the 1968 Constitution did not. Thus the Supreme Court of that state took the opportunity in Glancey to read the word adequate back into the Constitution: We agree with the appellants that, even though the Constitution of 1968 simply mandates that judicial compensation shall be `fixed by law,' unlike the much wiser and salutary mandates of the Constitutions of 1790, 1838 and 1874, which provided that judges should `receive for their services an adequate compensation', it is the constitutional duty and the obligation of the legislature, in order to insure the independence of the judicial (as well as the executive) branch of government, to provide compensation adequate in amount and commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the judges involved. To do any less violates the very framework of our constitutional form of government. Almost 125 years ago, construing the Constitution of 1838, it was aptly stated: `The mandate requiring an adequate compensation to be provided for services required of those judges is as imperative as that which prohibits its diminution during their continuance in office. The first is as obligatory as the last, springing equally with it from the great frame of government established by the paramount law, which neither legislators, governors, nor judges are at liberty to disregard. . . . It was for the safety of the people and not for the benefit of the judges that the latter were protected from legislative usurpation. To insure their independence it was as necessary that they shall receive an adequate compensation for their services as to declare that the compensation when fixed by law shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.' On the second issue, the retroactive issue, the court held that the statute was constitutionalagain being within the power of the legislature, and that the retroactivity clause was not severable, and even if it was, it would not help the appellants since its removal would mean no back pay at all. Thus, all Glancey can be seen as holding is that when the constitution gives a branch an exclusive power, and that branch exercises its power in such a manner that does not interfere with the operation of another branch, the court is without power to interfere. This is really just another case supporting the concept of separation of power, rather than an inherent power case, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was probably surprised to see its opinion in Glancey interpreted as a modification of its position so strongly stated in Tate . The majority would further reject the doctrine of the inherent powers of a court on the ground that to find certain powers inherent in the courts would mean that the executive branch would also have certain inherent power and that permitting such a result would cause financial chaos in this state. I do not share this view. There does not appear to be a body of law extant as to the inherent power of the executive branch. In general, executive power is limited to that granted by constitution or by statute: It is the right of executive officers named in the constitution to exercise all the powers properly belonging to the executive department. However, the provision in constitutions as to distribution of powers, and as to the executive power of the state being vested in a specified officer, is declaratory and does not confer any specific powers; and, except as empowered by the constitution, executive officers may not act without legislative authority or beyond the limits established by the legislature.       Governor. The chief magistrate or governor of the state has been said to bear a relation to the state similar to that which the president bears to the United States. However, the president is manifestly an officer of higher dignity and of more extensive power than that possessed by the governor of a state; and whereas the president is vested with the federal executive power in the states the functions pertaining to the executive power are distributed among several officers, of whom the governor is the most prominent.    The governor has no prerogative powers, but is confined to the exercise of those powers conferred on him by the constitution and statutes. 16 C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 167. My colleagues of the majority forget that the thrust of the development of Anglo-American constitutional law has been to limit the power of the executive branch and to secure the independence of the judiciary. From the first attempts to restrain royal prerogative, symbolized by the Magna Charta, to the drafting of the Constitution of this country and the Constitution of this state, the twin threads of restraint on the executive and independence of the courts are to be found. Restraint of the executive and the desire for an independent judiciary were compelling reasons for the issuance of the Declaration of Independence. That document, symbolic of freedom itself, recites: He [the executive (King George III)] has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the payment of their salaries. Professor Hyneman in his article on bureaucracy in democratic government made the following observations: The representative legislative assembly is an indispensable feature of democratic government today as in the past. It was by grabbing the power first to advise the king on policy, then to veto the king's proposal, and finally to propose and decree public policy by enactment of statutes that the people of England represented in Parliament got control of their government. The failure or inability to establish sturdy and stubborn representative lawmaking bodies is a principal explanation of why the common man has not been able to get a firmer control over government in European countries. Even so, the first act of the dictator of our era [Hitler] was to destroy the representative assembly and to remove a primary source of organized opposition to his will. In our own country the lawmaking power was firmly lodged in Congress by the federal constitution. The President shares the power, but the construction consistently given the constitution allows him no power to decree low [sic] on his own authority except in certain specified situations, only one of which is importantthe authority to act as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.       The time-honored and experience-tested way of keeping the chief executive and the administrative branch in hand is to set up a representative assembly to control them. Without exception, every nation that makes any pretense at having popular government depends on an elected assembly to restrain and guide if not to control the chief executive and the bureaucracy. As noted above the downfall of absolute monarchies was accomplished by the establishment of parliaments; and one of the very first moves of the dictator is to destroy the legislative body. Hyneman, Bureaucracy and the Democratic System, 6 La.L.Rev. 309, 315, 330 (1945). In this state, the scope of the power of the executive has been viewed to be only as extensive as granted by the constitution. This court in deciding a case under the Constitution of 1875, which was essentially the same as the Constitution of 1901 in its statement concerning separation of powers, stated as follows: With us, the governor has no prerogatives. He must find warrant in the written law for his every official act. He has no more power to appoint officers, when not expressly conferred, than has the president of the senate, who is of the legislative, or the chief justice of this court, who is of the judicial department: and when we go back to our constitutions and laws, in this state, from the beginning of the state government to the present, we find it has been the policy to distribute this appointing power among the several departments of the state . . . It may be true, that the governor has been invested with the greatest share of this power, but no principle or policy has been declared that the power inherently belongs to him. And we may remark that the fact that all our constitutions, in assigning appointive power of the governor, have specifically designated the particular officers to whom it applied, furnishes cogent argument that the people did not regard the power as necessarily or inherently belonging to him. Fox v. McDonald, 101 Ala. 51, 13 So. 416 (1893). Similarly the parallel development of judicial independence has been described. In his article, Separation of Powers: Judicial Independence, 35 Law & Contemp.Prob. 108 (1970), Senator Sam Ervin traces the development of judicial independence from Aristotle to Montesquieu, to the federal and state constitutions, and to the present era. His conclusions may be summarized in his language as follows: Judicial independence is the strongest safeguard against the exercise of tyrannical power by men who want to live above the law, rather than under it. The separation of powers concept as understood by the founding fathers assumed the existence of a judicial system free from outside influence of whatever kind and from whatever source, and further assumed that each individual judge would be free from coercion even from his own brethren.       To my mind, an independent judiciary is perhaps the most essential characteristic of a free society. From long experience as a practicing attorney, a trial judge, an appellate judge, and now a legislator, I have had ample opportunity to observe and appreciate the safeguards embodied in the separation of powers doctrine so wisely formulated by our forefathers. Notwithstanding these developments, the doctrine of separation of powers would prohibit either the legislature or the judiciary from interfering with a constitutionally granted executive power. See Opinion of the Justices, 291 Ala. 581, 285 So.2d 87 (1973) (Judge Fred Folsom case) in which the majority felt that anti-nepotism statute interfered with the governor's constitutional power and held the statute could not validly limit such power. While there is little doubt that the executive probably has the inherent power to protect its constitutional independence, the Folsom case illustrates that the machinery for the exercise of such power under our system is the court system itself. Problems with respect to the legality and constitutionality of any action on the part of the executive and the reasonableness thereof are matters to be determined by the courts not on the theory that the judiciary is in any way superior to the other co-ordinate departments, but solely on the theory that [courts] . . . must enforce the constitution as the paramount law . . . . 16 Am.Jur.2d, Constitutional Law, § 104. The statement that financial chaos will result from upholding the inherent power doctrine, especially as applicable to the court system, is not supported by any realistic thinking. The appropriation bill for the fiscal year 1973-74 appropriated less than one-half of 1% for the operation of the entire state judicial system when compared to the total state appropriations for governmental services. In summary, it appears that the majority's purported rejection of the doctrine of inherent power is totally unwarranted. The reasons for such action give way under close scrutiny, and the holding runs counter to the overwhelming weight of authority in this country. In taking this stance the majority places this court in the unique position of being the only court in this nation, according to my research, to reject, or so severely limit the scope as to have the effect of rejecting the doctrine. I have cited cases from Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas which have wholeheartedly upheld the doctrine. This list is not intended to be exhaustive; indeed, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in O'Coins cites additional cases from Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. No case has been cited either by the appellants or the majority which clearly rejects the doctrine. Furthermore, the result is not compelled by any binding precedent from this state. Thus the conclusion is inescapable that the majority's view on this issue clearly runs counter to the mainstream of modern judicial thought and tends to thwart efforts to ensure an independent judiciary.