Opinion ID: 1190178
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Attorney General

Text: Before the validity of the order to prosecute can be considered, it is first necessary to determine whether the Attorney General's office has any authority to proceed in the area of enforcement of support orders. The type of contempt involved here has traditionally been considered as falling on the civil side of the court, although we have recognized that it may have certain criminal overtones. Otton v. Zaborac, 525 P.2d 537 (Alaska 1974); Johansen v. State, 491 P.2d 759 (Alaska 1971). Civil contempts are designed `to preserve and enforce the rights of private parties to suits, and to compel obedience to orders and decrees made for enforcing the rights and administering the remedies to which the court has found them to be entitled... . [They] are civil, remedial and coercive in their nature, and the parties chiefly in interest as to their conduct and prosecution are the individuals whose private rights and remedies they were instituted to enforce'. United States ex rel. Noyes v. Wood, 6 Alaska 255 (1920). Such civil contempt proceedings can normally only be initiated by the aggrieved party or by one who has an interest in the right to be protected. In re Paleais, 296 F. 403, 407 (2d Cir.1924); Civil and Criminal Contempt in the Federal Courts, 17 F.R.D. 167, 172 (1955). The interest necessary has often been characterized as primary or pecuniary. MacNeil v. United States, 236 F.2d 149, 153 (1st Cir.1956) cert. denied, 352 U.S. 912, 77 S.Ct. 150, 1 L.Ed.2d 119 (1956); Williams v. Iberville Parish School Board, 273 F. Supp. 542, 545 (E.D.La. 1967); Savell v. Savell, 213 Miss. 869, 58 So.2d 41, 43 (1952). The relevant duties of the Attorney General are found in AS 44.23.020: (b) The attorney general shall ... (2) represent the state in all civil actions in which the state is a party; (3) prosecute all cases involving violation of state law, and file informations and prosecute all offenses against the revenue laws and other state laws where there is no other provision for their prosecution; In light of the substantial state interest in the enforcement of child support orders, we find that contempt of such an order is a violation of state law within the meaning of AS 44.23.020(b)(3). Traditionally, the states have been legitimately concerned with the area of family law, and, under the doctrine of parens patriae, [2] in particular, in the promotion of the welfare of children dwelling within their boundaries. This interest is prompted, at least in part, by the fact that the state is viewed as the ultimate source of a child's support in the event his parents should fail him. Johansen v. State, supra, at 765. Alaska has manifested this interest by making wilful non-support a misdemeanor, AS 11.35.010, AS 11.35.090; by providing for support of a minor when he is removed from the home, AS 47.25.310 et seq.; by participation in a state-federal program to aid dependent children, AS 47.25.310 et seq.; and through its participation under the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act, AS 25.25.010 et seq. It has also set up a program whereby the court trustee monitors payments under support orders, and takes steps preliminary to formal contempt proceedings to encourage payment of any arrearage. AS 09.55.210; Alaska Civ.R. 67. The interest of the state is adequate to support the authority of the Attorney General to proceed under AS 44.23.020. [3] The authority to proceed under AS 44.23.020 does not, however, empower the court to order the Attorney General to prosecute any particular contempt for non-support. Generally, an attorney general has those powers which existed at common law except where they are limited by statute or conferred upon some other state official. Pierce v. Superior Court, 1 Cal.2d 759, 37 P.2d 460 (1934); Van Riper v. Jenkins, 140 N.J. Eq. 99, 45 A.2d 844 (1946); People v. Debt Reducers, Inc., 5 Or. App. 322, 484 P.2d 869 (1971). AS 44.23.020 indicates that the office of the Attorney General is to function with those powers and duties normally ascribed to it at common law: (b) The attorney general shall ... (7) perform all other duties required by law or which usually pertain to the office of the attorney general in a state. Under the common law, an attorney general is empowered to bring any action which he thinks necessary to protect the public interest, and he possesses the corollary power to make any disposition of the state's litigation which he thinks best. State v. Finch, 128 Kan. 665, 280 P. 910 (1929). This discretionary control over the legal business of the state, both civil and criminal, includes the initiation, prosecution and disposition of cases. United States v. San Jacinto Tin Co., 125 U.S. 273, 279, 8 S.Ct. 850, 31 L.Ed. 747 (1888); Federal Trade Commission v. Claire Furnace Co., 274 U.S. 160, 174, 47 S.Ct. 553, 71, L.Ed. 978 (1927); Smith v. United States, 375 F.2d 243, 246-47 (5th Cir.1967); United States v. Cox, 342 F.2d 167 (5th Cir.1965); Boyne v. Ryan, 100 Cal. 265, 34 P. 707 (1893); Ames v. Attorney General, 332 Mass. 246, 124 N.E.2d 511 (1955). When an act is committed to executive discretion, the exercise of that discretion within constitutional bounds is not subject to the control or review of the courts. To interfere with that discretion would be a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers. Although the Alaska Constitution does not expressly address itself to the doctrine of separation of powers, we have noted that often what is implied is as much a part of the constitution as what is expressed. Wade v. Nolan, 414 P.2d 689, 698 (Alaska 1966). The state constitution is divided into a number of separate articles. Since Article III concerns the executive branch, it can fairly be implied that this state does recognize the separation of powers doctrine. [4] Both federal and state courts have consistently and carefully observed the line which divides their branch of government from that of the executive. [5] They have held that the Attorney General cannot be controlled in either his decision of whether to proceed, or in his disposition of the proceeding. In that field, the discretion of the Attorney General is plenary. He is a constitutional officer .. . and, as such, the head of the state's legal department. His discretion as to what litigation shall or shall not be instituted by him is beyond the control of any other officer or department of the state. State ex rel Peterson v. City of Fraser, 191 Minn. 427, 254 N.W. 776, 778-79 (1934). [6] The order to prosecute by the Superior Court overstepped this line and was an infringement upon the discretionary powers residing in the executive branch. Such an order is not within the province of the court. We conclude that, although we have jurisdiction to entertain this case and to find, as we have, the existence of legal authority, we do not have power to control the exercise of the Attorney General's discretion as to whether he will take action in any particular cases of contempt for non-support.