Court Opinion

ID: 9767949
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:36:21.791638+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:35.031188
License: Public Domain

OPINION CONCURRING IN PART AND DISSENTING IN PART
HARRISON, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I am in agreement with the result stated in the principal opinion prepared for the Court by Justice Brock, to the effect that where there has been a trial on the merits for violation of a penal ordinance and an acquittal of the accused, the municipal government does not have a right of appeal from such acquittal.
In my opinion, however, this result is not brought about in the present case by the wording of the Metropolitan Charter, because I believe that the charter language is sufficiently broad to permit an appeal.
A section of the State Criminal Code, however, T.C.A. § 40-3403, provides:
“The state has no right of appeal or other remedy for the correction of errors, upon a judgment of acquittal in a criminal case of any grade.”
The two immediately preceding sections of the Code authorize an appeal in the nature of a writ of error to either party in a criminal action, with the exception stated in T.C.A. § 40-3403.
It seems to me that if a municipal government is to be deemed an arm of the state government, and not a separate sovereign, then it is bound by this general statute and cannot appeal any sort of criminal action after there has been an acquittal after trial on the merits. I think that it can and does have a right of appeal where there has been a dismissal on a preliminary motion or any other termination of the proceedings, short of an acquittal after a full trial.
*662It seems to me that not all proceedings for violations of city ordinances are criminal in nature. Where city ordinances undertake to proscribe conduct which is made criminal by state statute or by the common law, then I would agree that proceedings for violation of such ordinance are sufficiently criminal in nature that an acquittal on the charges concludes the matter and that there is no right of appeal by the municipal government. There are many city ordinances, however, which are purely civil in nature, and proceedings for the violation thereof, in my opinion, could not in any sense be deemed criminal. I would include in this category violations of most parking and other traffic ordinances, where proceedings are instituted merely by a citation or summons, together with numerous other types of ordinances, such as health and licensing regulations, taxing ordinances, zoning ordinances and many others. Violations of these, in my opinion, should not be placed in the category of “criminal”. I would limit the holding of the present case to ordinances which are clearly penal in nature.
As noted in the principal opinion, there is a long line of Tennessee cases holding that actions for violation of city ordinances are civil proceedings rather than criminal. In one of the leading Tennessee cases on the subject, however, O’Haver v. Montgomery, 120 Tenn. 448, 111 S.W. 449 (1908), a case widely cited in treatises on municipal corporations, the Court stated:
“. . .In truth, when a violator of a municipal ordinance is arrested and brought before the municipal court, he is tried for an offense committed against the laws of the corporation; but, in the absence of apt legislation to the contrary, his punishment is in the form of the assessment of a penalty. The practice partakes of both a civil and criminal character. He is arrested on warrant as in criminal cases, and if found guilty a judgment is entered against him as for a fine, and on failure to pay the amount assessed against him he may be held in custody until he pays or secures it, or be put at labor to pay it. If dissatisfied with the judgment he may appeal, as in civil cases, upon complying with the law or statute applicable, and may have a retrial in the circuit court, where the matter will be heard de novo, the rules of practice applicable to civil cases applying in such trial; but at last the purpose of the action is punishment. So it is perceived the action is partly criminal and partly civil; a criminal action in substance and purpose, and partly civil and partly criminal in the practice governing it. When we characterize the action as being of a criminal nature, we do not mean to be understood as using the term wholly in the sense in which it is applicable to actions brought by the state in the form of indictments and presentments for violation of the criminal laws of the state, but rather by analogy, and for want of a better term.” 120 Tenn. at 459-460, 111 S.W. at 451.
I do not understand that the present holding would affect the principles announced in the O’Haver case, particularly insofar as the procedure to be followed on appeal by persons accused of violating a city ordinance. City charters usually provide for the handling of these cases, and traditionally, as pointed out in the O’Haver case, supra, they have been considered civil cases for purposes of appeal and procedure. I think it important to state that these rules are not affected by the present holding, according to my understanding.
The nature of the violation of a city ordinance, as being civil or criminal, has been considered by this Court in a number of contexts, and uniformly the Court has held that the principles of civil rather than criminal law are applicable. Thus in the case of Deitch v. City of Chattanooga, 195 Tenn. 245, 258 S.W.2d 776 (1958), an ordinance of the City of Chattanooga forbade the possession of federal wagering stamps *663and provided penalties for violation. The defendant, charged with such violation, insisted that introduction of his application for wagering stamps and the tax returns filed with the federal government by him violated his constitutional protection against self-incrimination. This Court held to the contrary on the ground that the proceedings were civil rather than criminal in nature. In Guidi v. City of Memphis, 196 Tenn. 13, 263 S.W.2d 532 (1953), the Court held that a warrant charging violation of a city ordinance was civil, rather than criminal, and that principles of the criminal law with regard to the sufficiency of criminal warrants were not applicable. In O'Dell v. City of Knoxville, 214 Tenn. 237, 379 S.W.2d 756 (1963), this Court held that the procedure on appeal from violation of a city ordinance should be that followed in civil rather than in criminal cases, and in the subsequent appeal of the case reported at 54 Tenn.App. 59, 388 S.W.2d 150 (1964), the Court of Appeals cited numerous Tennessee eases to the effect that such eases are generally considered to be civil matters.
The subject is treated in depth at 9 McQuillin, Municipal Corporations, §§ 27.05 et seq. In § 27.06 the following statement is made:
“The decisions present some apparent conflict respecting the precise nature of proceedings to enforce ordinances. Whether in character they are to be considered civil or quasi civil, criminal or quasi criminal has been discussed in relation to:
“(1) The method of instituting the proceedings.
“(2) The name in which the action should be brought.
“(3) The sufficiency of the pleadings.
“(4) The mode of trial, whether summary or by jury.
“(5) The arraignment and plea of the defendant.
“(6) The admission of evidence, burden and degree of proof.
“(7) The verdict, judgment and sentence and mode of execution, and
“(8) The method of review.
“Leaving the details of the judicial rules to be presented in the sections which follow, only a few general observations will be mentioned here. The weight of judicial authority declares that the prosecution is in the nature of a civil action for the recovery of a debt. Thus, prosecutions for violations of ordinances are not ‘criminal,’ as that term is used in constitutions and statutes. And the fact that the process shall be a warrant and that the one named therein may be arrested and retained in custody or under reasonable recognizance until the next sitting of the local court, and moreover, that in event of judgment against defendant and refusal or neglect to pay the same, he may be committed, does not render the case criminal.”
With respect to the precise question presented in this case, the following statement is found at § 27.65 (pp. 788-789):
“The right of a municipal corporation to appeal is authorized ordinarily by statute or charter, although this right has in many cases been denied. It frequently is made to depend upon whether the proceeding is civil in character, or criminal or quasi criminal. In those jurisdictions where the action is held to be civil, ordinarily the corporation is given the right of appeal from a judgment of acquittal. But where the action is regarded as criminal or quasi criminal, especially if the offense is in its essence a misdemeanor at common law or by statute, unless expressly authorized by law, it is generally held that no appeal lies in behalf of the corporation from a judgment in favor of the defendant.”
As previously stated, I concur in the result reached in the principal opinion to the effect that the Metropolitan Government should not be allowed a right of appeal from acquittal after a trial on the merits *664for violation of a penal ordinance. To avoid possible confusion or misunderstanding, however, I think that the holding should be limited precisely to that situation.
I do not consider that State v. Jackson, 503 S.W.2d 185 (Tenn.1973) (a case involving acquittal of juvenile offenders) purports to overrule previous decisions with regard to municipal ordinances, or that it should be so construed. It does establish the principle that once there is an acquittal after trial on the merits of any proceeding which might involve the liberty of an individual there is no right of appeal by the public body involved, even though the proceedings be described as merely “quasi criminal” or even “civil” in nature.
I am authorized to state that Chief Justice FONES concurs in this separate opinion.