Court Opinion

ID: 9553736
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:34:06.490709+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:32:08.810129
License: Public Domain

CROCKETT, Chief Justice
(concurring).
I concur in affirming the judgment but am impelled to express my regret that such is the state of our law. The statute relied upon by the plaintiffs proscribing refusal ■of service applies to an “innkeeper.”- As indicated in the main opinion, this court held in the Nance v. Mayflower Tavern case that a cafe as such does not fall within the meaning of that statute. The plaintiffs were seeking to patronize the cafe and not the lodging provided by the motel maintained by the defendant. Thus, under our law as it stands, I think the determination' is correct.
Proposed “civil rights” bills prohibiting discrimination in public places on the basis of .race or color have been introduced in practically every session of our legislature for at least the last 25 years. It is unfortunate from the writer’s point of view that no such law has yet been enacted. However, it is reassuring to note that such bills seem to have made substantial progress in gaining support over the years. In the 1959 session just concluded, a moderate bill, carrying only a penalty of actual damages for any aggrieved person, was introduced and passed in the House. A public hearing was held, at which considerable support was voiced, and no one spoke against it. The vote in the House was 51 for, 11 against, 1 absent. But in the Senate it met opposition and was left to die in Sifting Committee without being brought to a vote.
It is unfortunate that such has to be the fate of legislation which only seeks to afford all citizens the ordinary decency of being accepted on a standard of equality in places serving the general public. This appears to be plainly envisioned by the idealistic declarations in the documents upon which the foundations of our government rest, but which realistically it must be admitted are not given full and literal effect in practice. It is reassuring that there are signs of encouragement in recent years. There seems to have been a reawakening and a resurgence of the spirit of liberty in our land manifest in a movement toward a fuller and more practical recognition of the basic natural rights inherent in the often proclaimed ideal that “all men are created equal.” This question cannot be escaped: if we continue to prate of this ideal, why don’t we move toward its practice in reality and the elimination of second-class citizenship.
*152The origin and history of our state suggest that here of all places one could expect the rights of minorities to be safeguarded. We have ventured some pride in believing that in most areas of our social relationships we manifest a tolerant and humanitarian attitude toward all men. It seems anomalous that we should be among the backward states of the union in adopting civil rights legislation. The couplet of Alexander Pope is appropriate:
“Be not the first by whom the new is tried
“Nor yet the last to cast the old aside.”
Notwithstanding the merits of plaintiffs’ contention under the general ideals of our system of law and democracy, and the desirability of having their .rights and all similarly situated protected, it must be appreciated that the law-making power is in the legislature as the representatives of the people. It has spoken on the subject, selecting “innkeepers” as the only class of business in which discrimination is expressly prohibited. Howsoever desirable any objective may be, I agree that interpretation and application of the law is the extent of the judicial prerogative and that it does not extend to legislation. Under the state of our statute and decisional law, I see no other course than to concur in affirming the judgment.