Court Opinion

ID: 9844217
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:59:06.842422+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:29.889592
License: Public Domain

*110McFADDEN, Justice.
Appellants are Ira Hall and seven other resident taxpayers, all qualified electors of the area referred to as Common School District No. 13, Gooding County, Idaho. Respondents are C. D. Rydalch and seven other resident taxpayers, who, too, are qualified electors of the area referred to as Common School District No. 13.
The issue here presented is raised in respondents’ motion to dismiss this appeal. The facts involved are undisputed. Under-date of June 22, 1959, the Board of County Commissioners of Gooding County, Idaho, entered an order establishing a reorganized school district pursuant to Idaho Code, c. 5, T. 33, as amended. July 1, 1959, respondents filed notice of appeal from the order of the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, in and for Gooding County, Idaho. While the matter was pending before the district court, appellants intervened by filing their response. The court, on September 10,1959, entered its judgment setting aside the order of the Board of County Commissioners, which judgment was filed September 11, 1959. Notice of appeal to this Court from the judgment was filed December 3, 1959.
Respondents contend their motion to dismiss this appeal should be granted because the appeal was not taken within sixty days from the date of entry of the judgment as provided by I.C. § 13-201, as amended, relating to appeals in civil actions, the pertinent portions of which read:
“An appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court from a district court.
“1. From a final judgment in an action or special proceeding commenced in * a district court * * * ; from judgment rendered on an appeal from an inferior court; from a judgment rendered on an appeal from an order, decision or action of a board of county commissioners; within * sixty days after the entry of such judgment; * * *»
Appellants argue this appeal is governed by I.C. §§ 33-519, 31-1510, 31-1511 and 31-1512, as amended, and since the appeal was taken within ninety days from the date of entry of judgment, the motion should be denied. I.C. § 33-519, as amended, relating to court review of orders of the board of county commissioners in school district reorganization matters, reads:
“At any time within twenty days after the entry of the order of the board of county commissioners as provided in sections 33-510, 33-511 and 33-513, as amended, an appeal from said order, or any part thereof, may be taken to the district court of such county by any resident and/or taxpay*111er of the territory involved. This review procedure shall be exclusive as to any order of the board of. county commissioners issued under the provisions of sections 33-501 — 33-529.
“The procedure upon such appeal and the power of the courts in relation thereto shall be in all respects the same as are prescribed in sections 31-1510, 31-1511, and 31-1512, providing for appeals from other orders of the hoard of county commissioners. Provided, that any determination by the courts with respect to the adjustment of property, debts and liabilities among the districts or areas involved shall in no wise affect the validity of the reorganization or creation of any school district or districts under the provisions of this act.”
I.C. § 31-1512, regarding the disposition of appeals from the board of county commissioners as to claims and other matters, provides:
“Upon the appeal, the matter must be heard anew and the act, order or proceeding so appealed from may be affirmed, reversed or modified; and, from the decision of the district court, or judge, either party may, within ninety days, appeal to the Supreme Court. Either of said courts, or said judge, may make any rules necessary to a proper and speedy hearing in such appeals.
“The costs shall be taxed against the losing party, except that when the appeal is taken in good faith to protect the interests of the county and the people, they shall not be taxed against the appellant; and, if it clearly appears that the order or proceeding appealed from was made fraudulently or in reckless disregard of the interests of the county or people, they may be taxed against those commissioners personally who assented to such order or proceeding.”
To properly dispose of the issue presented, a review of the historical development of I.C. § 31-1512, and I.C. § 13-201, as amended by Sess.Laws 1957, c. 105, is necessary. Such an analysis demonstrates to us, the early intent of the legislature that I.C. § 13-201 governs in the instant case.
Initially, the forerunner of I.C. § 31-1512 was set out in the Territorial Laws, 1869, c. XV, §§ 17, 18, 19 and 20, dealing with appeals from rulings of the board of county commissioners to the district court. No provision was made for further appeals from the district court to the Supreme Court. Similar provisions are found in the Revised Statutes, 1887, §§ 1776, 1777, 1778 and 1779. Again, no provision was made for appeal from the district court to the *112Supreme Court. The provisions of the Revised Statutes, 1887, were amended by Sess.Laws 1895, p. 50, authorizing appeals in such matters to the Supreme Court for the first time; this being by S.B. 39, approved March 6, 1895, with the time for appeal limited to five days after entry of the decision. Three days later, on March 9, 1895, H.B. 153 was approved (Sess.Laws 1895, p. 142), amending § 4807, Revised Statutes, 1887 (being forerunner of I.C. § 13-201), by adding ¶ 4 as follows:
“4. From a judgment rendered on an appeal from an order, decision or action of a board of county commissioners, within ninety days after the entry of such judgment.”
. The provisions of Sess.Laws 1895, p. 50, and Sess.Laws 1895, p. 142, were both reenacted on February 14, 1899, the first by Sess.Laws 1899, p. 248, being H.B. 123, and the latter by Sess.Laws 1899, p. 273, being H.B. 135.
In May, 1905, this Court in Foresman v. Board of Commissioners, 11 Idaho 11, 80 P. 1131, 1132, stated:
“ * * * Under the law as it now stands, appeals from orders of a board of county commissioners to the district court are regulated by the provisions of sections 1776 to 1779, inclusive, as amended March 6, 1895. [Now I.C. §§ 31-1509 to 31-1512], While appeals from judgments of the district court entered on appeal from an order, decision, or action of a board of county commissioners are governed by sections 4807 to 4809, [now I.C. §§ 13-201 to 13-203], being the general statutes on appeal to the supreme court.”
The holding of the Foresman case was reiterated in Latah County v. Hasfurther, 12 Idaho 797, 88 P. 433, where it was urged that the appeal, not having been taken within five days from date of district court judgment, should be dismissed. In the Hasfurther case, this Court held that appeals in such matters from the district court to the Supreme Court were governed by the provisions of the general appeal statute [now I.C. § 13-201],
The holdings of these cases demonstrate the error in appellants’ argument that I.C. § 31-1512 is a “special statute” and as such should be considered separate and apart from the “general statute,” I.C. § 13-201. The matter of procedure on appeal from the rulings of the board of county commissioners to the district court are governed by the provisions of I.C §§ 31-1509 to 31-1512, but on appeal from the district court to the Supreme Court, the appellate procedure is governed by the provisions of I.C. § 13-201 et seq.
Appellants contend the legislature is presumed to be aware of all laws and decisions at the time of enactment and, that being so, ask: why did the legislature amend the law *113(I.C. § 31-1512) from five to ninety days, if not to create this as a special statute? This contention presupposes an affirmative action on the part of the legislature in amending the original provisions of I.C. § 31-1512. An examination of the historical development of this provision discloses that Mr. MacLane, the compiler of the Idaho Revised Codes, 1908, on authority of Latah County v. Hasfurther, supra, changed the five day provision to ninety days, and this same ninety day time for appeal was thereafter contained in subsequent codifications of the law. The Revised Codes were enacted as law by Sess. Laws 1909, p. 1, as a whole, and this change thus was enacted into law.
While repeals of statutes by implication are not favored, yet, when two statutes deal with the same subject matter, and the two are irreconcilable, the most recent enactment governs, Herrick v. Gallet, 35 Idaho 13, 204 P. 477; State v. Teninty, 70 Idaho 1, 212 P.2d 412; State v. Davidson, 78 Idaho 553, 309 P.2d 211.
The appeal, in this matter, not having been taken within the sixty day period after entry of judgment, as required by I.C. § 31-201, as amended Sess.Laws 1957, c. 105, this Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal, and respondents’ motion to dismiss must be granted. Mills v. Board of County Commissioners, 35 Idaho 47, 204 P. 876; Estate of Dunn, 45 Idaho 23, 260 P. 432; Martin v. Soden, 80 Idaho 416, 332 P.2d 482.
The motion to dismiss the appeal is granted. Appeal dismissed. No costs allowed.
TAYLOR, C. J., and SMITH, J., concur.