Court Opinion

ID: 9739778
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:20:42.166477+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:13.849468
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Underwood, dissenting: The factual situation in this case is identical with that in Village of Glencoe v. Industrial Commission, 354 Ill. 190, decided in 1933, and there has been no change in the governing statute. While I doubt that I would have reached the conclusion in Glencoe which the Court there announced, the construction of the statute there adopted has stood unchanged for thirty years, and the General Assembly has not deemed an amendment of the statute necessarv. This Court has repeatedly observed that a statutory construction long acquiesced in by the legislature will not be changed by judicial fiat solely because the present members of the Court believe a contrary result more desirable. Neff v. George, 364 Ill. 306, 309; Heimgaertner v. Benjamin Electric Mfg. Co., 6 Ill.2d 152, 166, 167; People ex rel. Spiegel v. Lyons; 1 Ill.2d 409, 414; Republic Steel Corp. v. Industrial Commission, 26 Ill.2d 32, 46, 47. Petitioner seeks only a change in existing law. Its arguments in support thereof, under our form of government; are properly addressed to the legislative branch. Departure from this principle serves only to lessen the certainty and stability of the law. I therefore must respectfully dissent from the majority view.