Court Opinion

ID: 9810722
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 21:57:03.391404+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:40:10.420562
License: Public Domain

Valsee, J.,
concurs in the result, and is of the opinion that the statute-in question is valid; and further, that whether the respondents can raise the question of its validity or not, this Court should, because of the great importance of the matter to the people of the State, decide-whether the statute is constitutional and valid. Either ground of decision, that respondents cannot raise the question by plea or that the act is valid, would result in an affirmance of the judgment, and we may choose the ground upon which we will base our decision if it is an adequate one and supports the ruling below.
There may be defects in the act, and if so, they can be removed by legislation, after we have had experience with it in actual operation,, and can then see what is needed to perfect it. They are surely not so vital as to be fatal to its validity. A statute should be sustained, if possible, by any fair and reasonable construction of its language, and not set aside as unconstitutional unless plainly and palpably so. We-should indulge every presumption in its favor, and not defeat its full enforcement unless compelled to do so by a manifest conflict with the organic law.
Applying this well-settled rule, I am unable to declare that this act has not the sanction of the Constitution. I believe that strong arguments can be advanced to show that there is no such conflict, and that the act should stand as it is written. Legal minds may well differ as. to the validity of the statute, but it appears to me that a liberal interpretation of its terms, which should be the one adopted in favor of its constitutionality, will disclose a scheme devised for the betterment of the- ■ public, which is in perfect harmony with the fundamental law. I forbear any further discussion of the matter, as the opinion of the Court,, as written by the Chief Justice, sufficiently covers the ground.