Court Opinion

ID: 7811210
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 17:13:03.411121+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:28.577923
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON REHEARING. McCulloch, C. J. Counsel for appellant contend now, as they did on the original hearing here, that the judgment is unsupported by sufficient testimony, in that the State failed to prove that the stock law enacted by the Legislature had been put into operation 'by vote of the people as prescribed by that statute. We overlooked that contention and failed to discuss it in the original opinion. Our conclusion on this subject is that the adoption of the terms of the statute by an election of the people is a matter of which the court should take notice judicially. It is a law in operation in a locality which was within the, jurisdiction of the court, and the court should take cognizance of it without the necessity of it being brought to the attention of the court by proof. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. State, 90 Ark. 343; Cazort v. State, 130 Ark. 453. This is unlike the ordinances of a municipal1 eoropration, which must be proved, and of which the court cannot take judicial notice. Strickland v. Little Rock, 68 Ark. 483. Such ordinances are enacted by sub-agencies of government, and are unlike the adoption or putting into operation of enactments of the Legislature. The matter of the adoption of the statute was one of public record, of which all persons were compelled to take notice, and the court should likewise know judicially whether or not the statute is in operation. Of course, the trial court could, and we assume that it did, make its knowledge real by an ascertainment through proper channels whether or not there had been an election. It is not contended here that there is no certificate of the election commissioners on file evidencing the fact that an election, was held. This view of the matter gives certainty to the enforcement of the law, and does not leave to mere chance the proof of the facts to show whether or not the law .is in force. The court should determine from its knowledge acquired from taking notice of the certificate of the election commissioners that there had been an election, and that the district was de facto in operation. On the other hand, it was the right of the accused to show to the court that no such certificate had been filed. But, as we stated in the original opinion, it was not proper to permit the appellant to attack the validity of the district collaterally. For these reasons rehearing will be denied.