Opinion ID: 1992635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Scituate Junkyard Ordinance

Text: The defendants' second argument concerns itself with a direct attack upon the penalty clause of the local ordinance. They chiefly contend that the local licensing ordinance is invalid for the reason that, in providing for penalties to be assessed for noncompliance therewith, the town council exceeded the authority conferred upon it by the general assembly through the enabling act. Specifically, defendants ask us to focus our attention on sec. 12 of the Scituate ordinance which, for purposes of this analysis, may be subdivided into two parts, each of which prescribes a penalty for two distinct violations of the local law. The first part in substance provides that any person who operates a junkyard without having first acquired a license shall be subject to a fine of not more than $200 and a term of imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months; the second part provides that any person who operates a junkyard which fails to adhere to the standards relating to the use of land for such purposes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subjects himself to another fine and/or an additional term of imprisonment. The defendants argue that § 5-21-1, as amended, of the general enabling act prescribes as punishment for violation of junkyard ordinances either a fine or imprisonment  but not both. By providing in its ordinance a fine and imprisonment instead of a fine or imprisonment, they assert that the Scituate town council exceeded its delegated authority; accordingly defendants urge that we declare the local junkyard ordinance void. As authority in their behalf, defendants quote and cite at length our holding in State v. Krzak, 97 R.I. 156, 196 A.2d 417. We believe, however, that Krzak is factually distinguishable from the present controversy. In Krzak the Pawtucket city council failed to enact any penalty provision for a violation of a particular licensing ordinance. The city contended that an omnibus penalty provision found in the general city ordinances was meant to be superimposed on all ordinances for which no penalties were specifically provided. The maximum penalty contained in the omnibus clause was in excess of the limits delegated to the cities or towns by the general assembly. When transplanted to fill the penal aperture in the local ordinance, it constituted a clear ultra vires exercise of the police power. We wish to note, however, that no such transplantation is sought here by the town of Scituate. First, it should be understood that the penalties provided for in sec. 12 of the Scituate junkyard ordinance refer to two different sections of the general enabling act which relate to two different and distinct misdemeanors. The first penalty provision of sec. 12 is derived from § 5-21-1, as amended, and relates to the misdemeanor of operating a junkyard without a license; the second penalty provision of sec. 12 is derived from § 5-21-5, as amended, which relates to the misdemeanor of operating a junkyard in contravention of the restrictive use provisions of sec. 6 of the Scituate ordinance. It is plainly evident from an examination of the two legislative enactments that the second penal provision of sec. 12 referred to above is within the authority delegated by § 5-21-5, as amended. Thus only the first penalty provision of sec. 12 requires our consideration. The town concedes that the first penalty provision insofar as it permits both a fine and imprisonment for operating a junkyard without a license is not in conformity with the power conferred on it by § 5-21-1, as amended. It contends, however, that the use of the conjunction and is a patent clerical error which in no manner accurately reflects the intent of the town council. Accordingly, plaintiff suggests that if we construe the ordinance by substituting the disjunctive or for the conjunctive and we would better fulfill the obvious intent of its legislative council. We believe there is merit in plaintiff's argument. We have often said that the paramount function of the court in construing statutes and ordinances is to ascertain the intent behind their enactment and to effectuate that intendment whenever it is lawful and within the legislative competence. Preservation Society v. Assessor of Taxes, 99 R.I. 592, 209 A.2d 701; Capaldi v. Liberty Tool & Gage Works, Inc., 99 R.I. 236, 206 A.2d 639. Moreover, we have stated before that, when possible, we shall construe ordinances so as to preserve their validity and to ensure the accomplishment of the purposes for which such acts are passed. Nunes v. Town of Bristol, 102 R.I. 729, 232 A.2d 775; Easton v. Fessenden, 65 R.I. 259, 14 A.2d 508. Relative to this aim, we have declared recently that we will not allow ourselves to be blindly enslaved to the literal reading of statutes when to do so would defeat or frustrate the evident intendment of the legislature. Warren Education Assn. v. Lapan, 103 R.I. 163, 235 A.2d 866; Cabral v. Hall, 102 R.I. 320, 230 A.2d 250. A large majority of courts in this country have substituted one word for another in a statute when it is necessary to better fulfill the intent or purpose of its enactment. 2 Sutherland, Statutory Construction (3d ed.), § 4925, p. 460. Whenever a court considers substituting one word for another in a statute, it is keenly aware of the inherent risk of such a procedure. On those rare occasions when a court chooses in the exercise of its discretion to substitute a word, it does so with the utmost circumspection and only after due deliberation of all the consequences. Warren Education Assn. v. Lapan, supra. The substitution of one word for another in a legislative enactment is a delicate tool available to the judiciary, which tool, if properly and prudentially employed, does not amount to judicial legislation but is simply a method of arriving at a defectively expressed legislative intent. Baca v. Board of County Commissioners, 10 N.M. 438, 62 Pac. 979. The precise issue presently before us is whether or not to grant plaintiff's request to substitute a word in the Scituate ordinance. If we refuse to substitute the word or for the word and in the first portion of sec. 12 of the Scituate ordinance, we would be dealing a fatal blow to its validity since its penal provisions would be otherwise out of line with what is called for in the enabling act. Thus, in voiding this ordinance, we would certainly stifle the legislative intent to control the operation and maintenance of automobile junkyards in Scituate. Nonetheless, we will not permit ourselves to substitute anything in an enactment unless we are virtually certain that the legislative intent would be materially served thereby. Our research of the law in this case discloses that there has been considerable laxity on the part of legislative draftsmen in failing to distinguish between the conjunction and and the disjunctive or; so common has been this failing by the draftsmen that many courts have ruled that the two words may be used interchangeably or in certain circumstances one may be substituted for the other when necessary to maintain consistency with legislative intent. 2 Sutherland, Statutory Construction (3d ed.), § 4923, p. 451. See Earle v. Zoning Board of Review, 96 R.I. 321, 191 A.2d 161. There are a host of instances in which courts have permitted the substitution of one word for another where the word used in the statute is a result of an inadvertent clerical error or mistake. [3] The finding of the trial justice that the discrepancy between § 5-21-1, as amended, and the first portion of sec. 12 of the Scituate junkyard ordinance was a result of a clerical oversight or mistake is justified under the facts and circumstances of this case. We are inclined to concur in the trial justice's finding for essentially two reasons. First, a review of the legislative history of the regulation of junkyards in Scituate discloses that the town had previously adopted a similar ordinance under an earlier enabling act which complied in every respect with the limits of authority then delegated to municipalities and towns by the general assembly. Thereafter in 1965 when the general assembly amended the prior junkyard enabling act, the Scituate town council seasonably amended their local ordinance, ostensibly for the purpose of contemporizing its features with the latest amendments of the enabling act. In 1965 the Scituate junkyard ordinance corresponded unerringly with the new enabling act in every significant detail and aspect, save for the curious difference occurring in sec. 12. These facts lend marked cogency to the trial justice's conclusion that the difference can most logically be explained by some unintentional clerical miscue. The second, and to us the most convincing reason in support of the trial justice's finding, is the principle of statutory construction which declares that no court will ascribe to a legislature the intent to enact a law inefficacious and nugatory. See State v. Haggerty, 89 R.I. 158, 151 A.2d 382. Yet such would be the case if we were to declare here that the town council intentionally and knowingly passed an ordinance which was unquestionably invalid because it unmistakably exceeded its delegated authority. See State v. Krzak, supra. The defendants have failed, as they failed below wth trial justice, to disabuse us of this conclusion. Since we cannot say that the trial justice's findings were clearly wrong, we will not disturb his decision. State v. Brant, 99 R.I. 583, 209 A.2d 455. We are confident that by replacin the cnjunctive and with the disjunctive or in the first part of sec. 12 we have effectuated the intent of the town council and have reconciled ann othrwise unfathomable disaccordance between the enabling act and its derivative ordinance in Scituate. Hence, we will give to sec. 12 a purposeful, pragmatic and reasoned construction. Accordingly, therefore, sec. 12 is construed so as to so as to read that any person operating a junkyard in Scituate without a license may be found guilty of a misdemeanor and if so submits himself to a fine or imprisonment but in no event may he be both fined and imprisoned.