Opinion ID: 2356966
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Judicial as the term applies to the constitutional separation of powers.

Text: Whether a given function is to be classified as judicial for the purpose of determining whether a court may constitutionally exercise that function is largely a matter of history and practicality. One treatise writer has stated the test as follows: Whether a function imposed upon a court is `nonjudicial' and, therefore, in violation of the separation of powers principle, cannot be determined by applying abstract definitions of legislative and judicial functions. The validity of the imposition must rest upon practical considerations relevant to the efficient operation of government with due regard, of course, to the limitations upon the respective functions of the two branches fixed by tradition. 2 Cooper, State Administrative Law at 680 (1965), quoting Boyle v. City of Bend, 234 Or. 91, 380 P.2d 625 (1963). The distinction has also been stated (with reference to certiorari but equally applicable here) as follows: Perhaps as good a criterion as any for determining what is judicial is merely to compare the action in question with the ordinary business of courts: that which resembles what courts customarily do is judicial, and that which has no such resemblance is non-judicial. 3 Davis, Administrative Law § 24.02 at 395 (1958). Another consideration is whether the exercise of the function would [involve] the judiciary in situations that might reflect on the judges' reputations for independence and freedom from politics. 1 Cooper, State Administrative Law at 27 (1965). De novo review by the Superior Court of a police personnel review board decision is, using the above criteria, undoubtedly a non-judicial function. It is highly impractical to expect a police department to function efficiently and to have coherent policies if those in charge of it are unable to determine who is employed and how they are disciplined. Personnel management is a highly complex function. It is not normally performed by the judiciary. Intimate knowledge of the day to day affairs of the department is crucial to intelligent, consistent administration. To expect a court to make decisions without the benefit of such knowledge, or on the other hand to expect the court to acquire such knowledge each time an appeal comes up, is not reasonable. Professor Davis sets out in his treatise the rationale for not allowing de novo review of personnel decisions: The reason for the holdings that non-judicial functions may not be reviewed de novo is not that a court is lacking in qualification to make findings of fact from conflicting evidence but that a court may be lacking in qualification to take over the discretionary power. For instance, a typical civil service commission, which spends full time on personnel problems, may be better qualified than a typical court to exercise discretion on problems of personnel management, such as deciding whether to discharge, suspend, demote, reprimand, or warn a public employee who is found guilty of misconduct. 4 Davis, Administrative Law § 29.10 at 185-86 (1958). Under the American constitutional system, not only is it true that the judiciary may not, of its own authority, exercise powers not judicial, but in the absence of constitutional provisions to the contrary, it is also true that the Legislature may not confer or impose such powers on the judiciary. Opinion of the Justices, 336 Mass. 765, 142 N.E.2d 770 (1957). Our court was confronted by a similar set of facts in the case of Simmons v. Town Council, 112 R.I. 522, 312 A.2d 725 (1973), where the chief of police, Simmons, was dismissed by the town council after a hearing on a charge of insubordination. The plaintiff appealed to the Superior Court where the trial justice affirmed the dismissal. He then filed a notice of appeal in this court. In seeking to be reinstated to his position of chief of police, the plaintiff sought review by invoking the provisions of G.L. 1956 (1970 Reenactment) § 45-20-1.1. It marked the first time a police officer sought appellate review of the Superior Court's order under the provisions of § 45-20-1.1. We treated the plaintiff's notice of appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari because we noted that the legislation which was enacted in 1968 did not provide any vehicle for a judicial review of the actions taken in the Superior Court. However, the question raised in Simmons v. Town Council, supra , is distinguished from the present case, because in Simmons the court was not confronted with a challenge to the constitutionality of § 45-20-1.1. Although the precise question has never been presented to this court, our prior decisions imply very strongly that de novo review of a personnel review board decision is a nonjudicial function. In Kelley v. City Council, 61 R.I. 472, 1 A.2d 185 (1938), the issue before this court was whether the city council had given a discharged policeman a fair hearing. In describing the function of the council we said it was primarily legislative. It is true that to a certain extent the hearing of charges against a police officer by a city council partakes of the nature of a trial, and it is beyond question that the accused officer is entitled to a fair and impartial hearing. The city council, when sitting as the triers of the charges, as it did in the instant case, was acting as a quasi-judicial body, and, therefore, was bound by the fundamental principles that are binding on all judicial bodies. Hanna v. Board of Aldermen, 54 R.I. 392, 396, 173 A. 358. But the city council, in the performance of such disciplinary duties, is not a court. It always retains its primary character of a legislative and administrative tribunal, and its action must be examined in view of the purposes for which it is created and organized. Id. at 481, 1 A.2d at 189. An even more explicit characterization of the personnel review process appears in Donahue v. Town Council, 25 R.I. 79, 54 A. 933 (1903). There the issue was whether a statute which allowed appeals of town council decisions applied to the discharge of a policeman by the Cumberland Town Council. In deciding that no appeal lay, we said: The definition of the qualifications of a police officer is a legislative, not a judicial, function; and the settling the qualifications is as much a part of the act of the town council as the decision whether or not the person in question possesses them. From the nature of this power, no appellate court can exercise it. The appointment and removal of subordinate officers employed in the administration of the town government involves so large an element of personal choice that it must of necessity be left to local authority. Id. at 80-81, 54 A. at 934. Establishing minimum personnel requirements has likewise been held to be within the legislative discretion of a city council. Beaulieu v. Walsh, 89 R.I. 295, 152 A.2d 538 (1959). Many courts have held statutes granting de novo review of personnel decisions regarding policemen and firemen to be unconstitutional. City of Aurora v. Schoberlein, 230 Ill. 496, 82 N.E. 860 (1907); State ex rel. McGinnis v. Police Civil Serv. Comm'n, 253 Minn. 62, 91 N.W.2d 154 (1958); City of Meridian v. Davidson, 211 Miss. 683, 53 So.2d 48 (1951). Other courts, in order to avoid declaring a statute unconstitutional, have narrowly construed the term de novo review to mean review on the record only for arbitrariness. DeMond v. Liquor Control Comm'n, 129 Conn. 642, 30 A.2d 547 (1943); State Bd. of Medical Registration & Examination v. Scherer, 221 Ind. 92, 46 N.E.2d 602 (1943); In re Ditko, 385 Pa. 435, 123 A.2d 718 (1956); Fire Dept. v. City of Fort Worth, 147 Tex. 505, 217 S.W.2d 664 (1949). Accordingly, I would hold the statute in question to be an unconstitutional delegation of a nonjudicial function.