Court Opinion

ID: 9811601
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 22:25:23.260906+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:19:16.291184
License: Public Domain

Douglas, J.,
concurring. After careful consideration I am forced to concur in the opinion as well as the judgment of the Court. If the argument in this case in any way interfered with the school fund as set apart by the Constitution, I could not give it my assent; but such does not seem to me to be its effect either’ in letter or in spirit. I fully concur in the view that the “clear proceeds of all penalties” belong to the school fund, because the Constitution says so; but the words “clear proceeds” must have some meaning. The Constitution might have said all penalties, but this it does not say, and apparently does not mean to say! The proceeds of a debt do not mean the debt itself, but only what is received from the debt. The clear’ proceeds are only the amount coming into the hands of the creditor after the payment of expenses incurred in the collection of the debt. Therefore that section of the Constitution can refer only to such penalties or parts thereof as come to the State. This was expressly decided by a unanimous Court as far back as Katzenstein v. Railroad, 84 N. C., 688, and the principle thus established has since been uniformly followed. It has recently been discussed and reaffirmed, with full citation of authority, in Carter v. Railroad, decided a.t this term.
Where the State alone can sue for the penalty, it is entitled *700to all the penalty, provided it does sue; but it gets nothing if it does not sue. I see no reason why the school fund should not become entitled to the penalty given' to a common informer if the suit therefor is first brought in the name of the State or of some officer for the benefit of the school fund. That such suits are rarely if ever brought (and I can not now recall a single instance), tends to show that giving penalties to the informer does not subtract a dollar from the school, but simply gives to some one, usually in fact the injured party, the right to a penalty which the State itself would never exact. The imposition of a penalty presumes its collection, and, as its primary object is the enforcement of a public duty, it is proper that it should be collected. If the proper officers of the State can not or will not collect it for’ their lawful'fees, it is proper' that the Legislature in its wisdom should allow such part, or all, as may be necessary to secure its collection. If the State itself will not collect it, why should not the right be given to the injured public to collect it, and thus compel the performance of a public duty which it was intended to enforce ?
Under all the circumstances, I can not but feel that the public school is merely a sentimental factor in such a discussion, and that the actual effect of a different construction of the Constitution would be to give practical immunity-to the wrongdoer without any corresponding benefit to the school.