Opinion ID: 1119164
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: standardless delegation of critical governmental power to a private person is constitutionally impermissible

Text: Because appellate jurisdiction must be invoked in the manner provided by law, [23] the power to determine when the appeal-time clock begins must remain within the government's control. Our extant jurisprudence condemns all standardless delegation of power. [24] The condemnation's genesis lies in a principle of constitutional dimension known under the Latin maxim of delegata potestas non potest delegari. [25] It is an extratextual yardstick for measuring legislative conformity to the constitution's prohibition against unlawful abandonment of power. When a statutein this case 12 O.S.Supp.1993 § 696.2(A) and (B) [26]  is susceptible of more than one meaning, the court's duty is to give it that construction which would save the legislation from facial absurdity [27] and make it impervious to constitutional attack. [28] Empowering a prevailing party's counsel to determine, at will, when appeal time will commence [29] would operate to condemn § 696.2(B) as unconstitutional. It would endorse the standardless delegation of the government's power to a private party. We must hence construe the terms of § 696.2(A) and (B) to mandate that (a) orders memorializing matters taken under advisement shall be filed in the court clerk's office immediately after the trial judge's signature is affixed and (b) the court clerk shall promptly (1) mail a copy of the file-stamped original order to the parties of record and (2) prepare and place on file the required certificate of mailing. Interpreting § 696.2(B) to mandate that the court clerk rather than a private party's counsel mail the critical notice to the parties (a) assures that the appealing party will be given timely notice of the order's filing and (b) makes the law consistent with the legislative command for all orders which memorialize matters taken under advisement to plainly so recite. Under today's construction a conspicuous reference in the journal entry to matter taken under advisement [30] will serve to advise the court clerk that file-stamped copies must be mailed to the parties appearing in the case or to their counsel of record.