Court Opinion

ID: 9763429
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:44:57.440426+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:42.910833
License: Public Domain

*134Prescott, J.,
filed the following dissenting opinion, in which HornEy and Marbury, JJ., concurred.
I find myself in complete accord with the majority as to the law which controls the decision herein (although not in full agreement as to the manner in which all of the law mentioned therein is expressed); but, it frequently occurs that the proper application thereof is as difficult as determining the applicable law.
It must be borne in mind that the single question involved is the granting of a density variance, and the case turns entirely upon presumptions and rules of statutory construction; and our attention should not be drawn away from this fact by the first part of the majority opinion, where four or five cases are cited with little, if any, emphasis on the questions of presumptions, or of legislative intent. (It is the writer’s belief that the County Council of Baltimore County evinced a clear and unmistakable intention that Bill 107 should not apply to pending litigation, and that intention will be shown by the minutes of the council’s meeting after a statement of the Maryland law.) In a similar situation as ours, it was stated by Chief Justice Maltbie in Demarest et al. v. Zoning Comm., 59 A. 2d 293 (Conn.), “the matter becomes one of presumed intent [of the legislative body].” (Emphasis added.) And Chief Judge Lehman, for the New York Court of Appeals, in Shielcrawt v. Moffett, 61 N. E. 2d 435, said: “General principles may serve as guides in the search for the intention of the Legislature in a particular case but only where better guides are not available. We have said that they ‘govern in default of the disclosure by the Legislature of a different intent. * * *. In the end, it is in consideration of good sense and justice that the solution must be found.’” (Italics added.) These statements seem to be in full accord with the Maryland law, which will now be set forth; and it will be noted that nearly all of the Maryland cases cited by the majority are included therein. It will also be noted that in none of the cases cited by the majority was the question of legislative intent raised by extrinsic evidence; they were all decided on general presumptions and rules of statutory construction. Bill No. 107 did not change the classifica*135tion of zoning of any property, nor did it eliminate any classification of zoning; it was an “ordinance” to amend former Section 307, so that after the effective date of the amendment (forty-five days after December 5, 1963) “no increase in residential density beyond that otherwise allowable by the Zoning Regulations shall be permitted as a result of any such grant of a variance from height or area regulations.”
This Court, in Higgins v. City of Balto., 206 Md. 89, held that zoning ordinances are usually prospective in nature. And this seems peculiarly appropriate when the ordinance is promulgated by a legislative body such as the Council in a charter county. There can be little doubt that laws, generally, are enacted to regulate future conduct; in other words, they, ordinarily, are prospective in nature. And “a statute will not be given a retrospective operation, unless its words are so clear, strong and imperative in their retrospective expression that no other meaning can be attached to them, or unless the manifest intention of the Legislature could not otherwise he gratified” (emphasis added). Tax Comm. v. Power Company, 182 Md. 111, 117. See also Taggart v. Mills, 180 Md. 302; Anne Arundel County v. Snyder, 186 Md. 342. And an amendatory Act such as that here involved takes effect, like other legislative enactments, only from its effective date, unless an intent to the contrary is expressed in the Act, or may be clearly implied' from its provisions. Tax Comm. v. Power Company, supra.
To this well-established rule of statutory construction must be added the qualification that statutes which merely affect a remedy or law of procedure, ordinarily, apply to actions begun after their passage, whether the right of action accrued before or after the change in the law. Ireland v. Shipley, 165 Md. 90; Kelch v. Keehn, 183 Md. 140; Beechwood Coal Co. v. Lucas, 215 Md. 248; Richardson v. Richardson, 217 Md. 316; Demarest et al. v. Zoning Commission etc. et al., supra; 50 Am. Jur., Statutes § 482 ; 82 C.J.S. Statutes § 416. In Richardson, supra, Chief Judge Brune, for the Court, stated the rule as follows: “Ordinarily a change affecting procedure only, and not substantive rights, made by statute * * * applies to all actions whether accrued, pending or future, unless a contrary inten*136tion is expressed” (italics added). And, as a general proposition, the law at the time of this Court’s decision is to be applied, even though it requires a reversal of the lower court’s judgment, which was proper under the law existing when it was entered. Gordy v. Prince, 175 Md. 688; Cockerham v. Children's Society, 185 Md. 97; Tudor Arms Apts. v. Shaffer, 191 Md. 342; Woman’s Club v. State Tax Comm., 195 Md. 16.
But, if there be one rule of statutory construction, which the court decisions recognize and upon which the authorities agree, it is that the intention of the Legislature should be effectuated. McKeon v. State, 211 Md. 437; Casey Development Corp. v. Mont. County, 212 Md. 138; Tax Comm. v. Power Company, supra; Balto. Transit Co. v. MTA, 232 Md. 509; 82 C.J.S., Statutes § 414; 50 Am. Jur., Statutes, § 223; and see the long line of Maryland cases to like effect, too numerous to cite, collected in the Maryland Digest, Statutes, key number 181 (1). This rule has been termed the “primary,” “fundamental,” “paramount,” and “cardinal,” rule of statutory construction (compare Height v. State, 225 Md. 251, where most of these adjectives are used). All other rules of statutory construction are subordinate thereto, 82 C.J.S., Statutes, § 321, and “all other rules serve but as guides to assist in determining such intent with greater certainty.” (Italics added.) Van Antwerp v. State, 55 N. W. 2d 108 (Mich.); Romanchuk v. Plotkin, 9 N. W. 2d 421 (Minn.). And this rule applies to all statutes, whether they relate merely to remedies, procedure to enforce remedies, or otherwise; and it also applies to the effect that a statute has upon pending actions and proceedings. 82 C.J.S., Statutes, § 416, Pending actions and proceedings.
I will not attempt to determine whether the ordinance here involved is purely “remedial” in nature, as the majority make no specific ruling thereon, and I think the legislative body which enacted the same manifested a clear intention as to whether it should be applied prospectively or retrospectively, and as to whether it should affect pending cases. There can be no doubt that a legislative body, when no constitutional proscriptions are violated, may exclude legislation from affecting pending cases. *137See, for example, § 3, Chapter 94, Acts of 1957 (The Administrative Procedure Act), wherein it is provided that certain repeals “shall not affect pending proceedings.” See also Article 66j4, Section 1.
The majority opinion makes no claim that the legislative intent as to whether or not Bill 107 should affect pending proceedings is ascertained or arrived at by any language in the Bill itself, but turns the case entirely upon general presumptions and general rules of statutory construction. This is an important phase of the case.
There can be little doubt that, under proper circumstances, the Courts may resort to the legislative history of a statute when seeking to learn the legislative intent which motivated its enactment. Balto. Transit Co. v. MTA, supra; Pressman v. Barnes, 209 Md. 544; Nelson v. Westland Oil Co., 96 F. Supp. 656 (D.C., N.D.) 2 Sutherland Statutory Construction (3rd ed.), § 4505. The learned author, in the work last cited, states the rule thus:
“Before the true meaning of the statute may be determined consideration must be given to the problem in society to which the legislature addressed itself, prior legislative consideration of the problem, the legislative history of the statute under litigation, and to the operation and administration of the statute prior to litigation.”
Under the Baltimore County Charter, a Bill enacted by the County Council may take effect as an emergency measure from the date of its passage, forty-five days after its enactment where no effective date is named in the Bill, or from a specific date named therein later than forty-five days. In the absence of constitutional or statutory proscriptions, the latter is permissible. Cf. Thomas v. Police Commissioner, 211 Md. 357; 82 C.J.S., Statutes, § 400.
At a meeting of the Council on December 2, 1963, Bill No. 106 was called for final reading and vote. It was passed as an emergency measure, to take effect from that date, which shows that the Council was keenly alert as to the difference between *138emergency and ordinary Bills. Immediately thereafter, Bill No. 107 was likewise called for final reading and vote. The preamble states that Sections 23-20 and 23-21, which require at least one public hearing by the Director of Planning and at least one such hearing by the Council before adopting a zoning regulation, were complied with; so the Bill was being considered only after previous deliberation thereon. This Bill, as drawn, called for an effective date of forty-five days after its enactment. Whereupon, as shown by the minutes of the meeting, the following occurred:
“BILL NO. 107 was called and the Chairman stated that he had an amendment that would make this bill an emergency measure. Mr. John G. Rose, Zoning Commissioner, then appeared before the Council and explained the reasons of the Zoning Department for favoring a bill such as Bill No. 107 but opposing Bill No. 107 as such and he suggested a 180 day period during which no ‘high-rise apartment’ zoning would be granted and all of the persons involved would prepare a new set of regulations pertaining to the field of apartment zoning. Mr. Rose answered questions of members of the Council pertaining to the bill and also to the proposed 180 day moratorium.
“Mr. Malcolm Dill, Director of Planning, appeared before the Council and stated that he, too, strongly favored a new ‘high-rise zone.’ He stated, also, that he favored passage of Bill No. 107 as an interim measure at this time. Mr. Schield then stated that in light of the various views expressed both by Mr. Dill and Mr. Rose, he would offer a motion to postpone action on this bill pending further study. Mr. Schield withdrew this motion at the request of Mr. Anderson. There then followed more discussion among members of the Council. The Chairman then called on Mr. Raymond Carey, representing the Chatterleigh Association, who spoke in favor of the passage of Bill No. 107 stating the fears of many residents because of an extremely rapid growth of high-rise apartments. The *139Chairman then called on Mr. Andrew Bristow, at the request of Councilman Anderson, who also stated reasons in favor of the passage of Bill No. 107 at this time. Mr. Bristow stated further that as a member of the Zoning Revision Committee, he felt an adequate bill could be presented in 180 days establishing proper high-rise and other type apartment zones. The Chairman then stated that he favored passage of the bill as an emergency measure, and he made the following motion to amend. * *
There followed a motion to amend the Bill so as to make it an emergency ordinance. The Council refused to enact the Bill as an emergency measure, the motion for amendment being defeated. The Bill was then enacted as originally presented to “take effect forty-five days after its enactment.” In other words, the Council explicitly wanted the zoning authorities to have the power to grant “residential density” variances under Section 307 (a power they had exercised for years) for a period of forty-five days after December S, 1963. Thereafter, this power should cease, and the question of the future granting of such variances should depend upon subsequent ordinances. This was a clear manifestation that the legislative body enacting Bill 107 did not intend it to have a retrospective effect, or that it was to affect pending litigation under Section 307 challenging the authority of the zoning officials to grant variances thereunder. A holding to the contrary, in effect, renders Bill 107 an emergency measure taking effect from the date of its passage (which the Council flatly refused to do), for, if the Bill affects pending appeals, in the ordinary course of events, an appeal to the trial court from the granting of any variance within forty-five days after December 5, 1963, would not likely be heard, and a subsequent appeal to this Court certainly would not be heard, until after the effective date of Bill 107.
As I read the minutes, there was no thought by the Council that, in the passage of Bill 107, it was permanently doing away with density variances involving high-rise apartments, but, by its passage, after forty-five days, there would be a moratorium thereon until a new comprehensive ordinance relative thereto *140should be formulated and enacted. The holding of the majority produces this unusual, if indeed not incongruous, result. It cannot be doubted (and it is not questioned) that the zoning authorities had the power to grant variances such as that involved for a period of forty-five days after December 5, 1963; therefore if a half a dozen such variances were granted after December 5th, but before the expiration of forty-five days and no appeal were taken from their granting, they would be good and valid variances, while that of appellant would be voided (even though granted prior to the later variances) simply because an appeal had been noted. I am unable to attribute to the Council an intention to accomplish such an unfortunate result.
On the contrary, when the Council flatly refused to pass the Bill as an emergency measure, which, if passed as such, would have taken away the power of the zoning officials to grant variances for high-rise apartments from the date of its enactment and left little doubt that (upon applying the general presumptions and rules of statutory construction) the Bill was intended to affect pending litigation, the Council deliberately did not intend it to take effect as an emergency measure nor intend it to affect pending cases. In the Nelson case, supra, there was deleted from a statute, during the course of its enactment, a provision that would have made it retroactive. The plaintiff argued that the deletion was made because it was merely surplusage, but Judge Vogel stated: “By deleting that part which would have given it a retroactive effect, the Legislature was saying that it should not have such effect. It seems to me that conclusion is inescapable.” To me, it is likewise inescapable that when the Council refused to enact Bill 107 as an emergency measure, it was saying that the Bill should not be an emergency measure, in fact or in effect.
In Black, Interpretation of Laws (2nd Ed.), p. 389, the learned author states the rule thus:
“It is said that, in the absence of any express declaration in the act, the question whether it is meant to be prospective or retrospective is one of construction upon the statute, considered per se and in connection with the subject-matter. And the occasion of the en*141acting oí the law may be looked to, to assist in determining its character as retroactive or prospective. It has also been laid down that when the legislature fixes a future day for the statute to go into effect, it thereby plainly shows that it is intended to be prospective only." (Italics added.)
See also McGovern v. Connell, 43 N. J. Law 106; Dewart v. Purdy, 29 Pa. 113; Jackman v. Inhabitants of Garland, 64 Me. 133; Reis v. Graff, 51 Cal. 86. Cf. Lydecker v. Babcock, 26 Atl. 925 (N. J.).
The same author, op. cil., pp. 584 and 585, states:
“An amendatory statute, like other legislative acts, takes effect only from its passage, and will not be construed as retroactive or as applying to prior facts or transactions, or to pending proceedings, unless a contrary intention is expressly stated or necessarily implied. * * * And where an amendatory act contains a provision that it shall not take effect until a future date, the old law remains in full force until the amendment goes into operation.” (Italics added.)
This Court, through Chief Judge McSherry, in Roland Park Co. v. State, 80 Md. 453, stated: “The result which may follow from one construction, or another, of a statute, is always a potent factor, and is sometimes, in and of itself, conclusive as to the correct solution of its meaning.” See also Phillips v. Balto. City, 110 Md. 431; Tyrie v. Balto. Cty., 215 Md. 135; Height v. State, supra. It seems that the unfortunate results pointed out above should weigh heavily towards a conclusion that the Council did not intend Bill 107 to affect pending cases, especially since that intention is derived from no language in the Bill itself, but entirely from general presumptions and rules of construction.
I think the case is not moot, and it should be decided in accordance with the law as it was when the variance was granted (which was as it had been interpreted by the county officials for years).
Although not basing this dissent upon what follows, it seems *142appropriate to make one or two observations relative to the majority opinion. It states, “Maryland consistently has followed the rule that an appellate court is bound to decide a case according to existing laws.” There can be little doubt that this is the general rule, as pointed out above herein, but the quotation is so broad that it is hard to square with such cases as Appeal Tax Court v. W. M. R. R. Co., 50 Md. 274. There, petitions of the appellees under an 1876 law were pending in the court below when the Act of 1878, Ch. 413, became a law. This latter Act repealed the 1876 law. On appeal, it was held that the Act of 1878 was not retrospective, and what had been done under the previous law, although it had been repealed at the time of the hearing of the appeal, was not rendered ineffectual or nugatory. Shepard shows that this case has been followed many times.
Again, in Big Savage Ref. Corp. v. Geary, 209 Md. 362, the trial judge was reversed for applying existing law at the time he heard the case. This Court stated: “The learned trial judge * * * decided that Chapter 82, of the Acts of 1955, supra, effective June 1, 1955, governed the action of the Commission [Workmen’s Compensation Commission] in this case. However, the review of the court is limited to a review of the evidence before the Commission based upon the law in effect at that time. * * *. It [Chapter 82] in no way governed the review by the Commission on May 3, 1955, when it passed its order because it was not in effect at that time [italics added].”1 And this was the holding even though Chapter 82 related purely to “procedural” matters (See Beechwood Coal Co. v. Lucas, 215 Md. 248, where the language quoted from Big Savage was repeated. It is cited in the majority opinion with no mention made of this aspect of the case), which, ordinarily, would call for a retrospective application thereof and its application to pending appeals. See the authorities cited above to that effect and those cited in the majority opinion.
Two further observations will be made before concluding. *143The majority opinion cites the Banner, Lake Falls and Grau cases, wherein it was held that the issues involved had become moot. In each of those cases, the zoning authorities had changed the zoning classification or done away with the classification altogether. The Court, in Lake Falls, succinctly states the reason for its rulings: “The cause of action, i. e., the zoning classification that was the subject of litigation was extinguished by repeal.” In the instant case, there was no reclassification of the property or extinguishment of its former classification, but Bill No. 107 merely took away the power of the zoning officials, after a day certain, to grant density variances. In the Thomas case, 162 Md. 509, cited by the majority, the Legislature, during the pendency of litigation, repealed entirely the former method of appeal in Workmen’s Compensation cases and adopted a new one. On the grounds that the new law was purely procedural in nature and, if it did not apply, no appeal whatsoever would be available, it was held that the new law was retrospective in effect. It has little, if any, analogy to the case at bar.

. This case and the language quoted were cited by the appellant. It seems that the majority opinion should answer the quotation, but no mention is made thereof.