Court Opinion

ID: 9534720
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:42:21.963746+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:32:05.107547
License: Public Domain

Barnes, J.,
filed the following concurring opinion, in which Horney, J., concurred.
I concur in the result reached by the majority of the Court, but in my opinion it was not necessary to reach the constitutional ground upon which the majority decided the case.
It is well settled in both Maryland and in the federal courts that a constitutional issue will not be decided if the case can be decided on other grounds. Middleman v. Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 232 Md. 285, 289, 192 A. 2d 782, 783 (1963).
In my opinion, we should apply this principle to this case because a proper construction of Section 42E (A-2) of Article 40 of the Maryland Code, Laws of Md. Spec. Sess. Oct., 1965, indicates a legislative intent that the Section was not intended to apply to Senatorial District 2. As I read this Section, it is clearly ambiguous. The first clause of the section would seem to apply to Senatorial District 2 as that district has more than one county and has two senators. Several lines later in the section, however, it is provided that the restriction shall not apply if “the population of that one county exceeds the population *429of all the remaining counties in the District in the aggregate.” The word “counties” is plural and obviously cannot apply to Senatorial District 2 as there is only one remaining county. The Section in its entirety applies literally only to Senatorial Districts 15 (Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Caroline and Talbot counties) and 16 (Dorchester, Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset counties) both of which have two senators and have more than two counties in them so that there are “remaining counties” to which the exception could apply. Under these circumstances it should be said that the language of the section is at least ambiguous in regard to whether it was the legislative intent that the section should apply to Senatorial District 2.
The purpose of all construction of statutes is to determine what the legislative intent was. State Department of Assessments and Taxation v. Ellicott-Brandt, Inc., 237 Md. 328, 338, 206 A. 2d 131, 135 (1965); Casey Development Corp. v. Montgomery County, 212 Md. 138, 147, 129 A. 2d 63, 68 (1957). If the language is clear and unambiguous, the ordinary meaning of that language discloses the legislative intent. Board of Supervisors of Elections of Baltimore City v. Weiss, 217 Md. 133, 136, 141 A. 2d 734, 736 (1958). But, if—as in this case, in my opinion—the language is not clear and unambiguous, the Court should then apply the usual maxims of construction to ascertain what the legislative intent was.
The first rule of statutory construction to be considered is that the general purpose of the legislation as a whole must be ascertained and if susceptible to more than one construction, the particular language being construed should be given a construction which will effectuate or carry out the purpose or object of the legislation. Department of Tidewater Fisheries v. Sollers, 201 Md. 603, 95 A. 2d 306 (1953). The general purpose of Senate Bill 5 as a whole was to seek to comply with the requirements of the arithmetical equal population principle enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States in Reynolds v. Simms, 377 U. S. 533, 84 S. Ct. 1362, 12 L. Ed. 2d 506 (1964) and other cases following the new constitutional requirement laid upon the States as a result of the decision of a majority of the Supreme Court in Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, 82 S. Ct. 691, 7 L. Ed. 2d 663 (1962), but at the same *430time to seek to preserve, as far as might be constitutionally permissible under the new constitutional doctrine, representation in the Senate of Maryland for counties having smaller populations than the more populous counties. The legislative intent clearly was to insure that the more populous counties were not favored or given a legislative advantage greater than that required by the new constitutional doctrine. If Section 42E (A-2) is construed to apply to Senatorial District 2, it accomplishes a result entirely contrary to the main purpose or object of the legislation and, in effect, guarantees to Frederick County, allegedly the more populous county in the two county Senatorial District, a nominee for senator regardless of how many votes are cast for that one candidate. In short, to construe the language as making the section applicable to Senatorial District 2, directly frustrates and defeats the purpose and overall object of the legislation. It is a construction which should not and, in my opinion, need not be made. Section 42E (A-2) should be construed by us as not applicable to Senatorial District 2.
We have applied the above discussed principle of statutory construction when the letter of the statute seems to be contrary to the statutory purpose or spirit as derived from the statute as a whole, and have held that in that situation the spirit or intention of the law prevails over the letter of the statute. See Baltimore Transit Employees’ Credit Union v. Thorne, 214 Md. 200, 134 A. 2d 84 (1957). In the case at bar, the language of the very sections being construed is, to my mind, ambiguous so that the application of this principle of construction is easily applied.
We are led by these two maxims of construction to the third applicable principle of construction which is that if one construction leads to a reasonable, just and intelligent result and the other construction would lead to an unjust, evil, offensive or absurd result, the courts will prefer the former construction to the latter construction, as it can hardly be assumed that the General Assembly intended an unjust, self-contradicting and absurd result from the legislation. See Read Drug & Chemical Co. v. Claypoole, 165 Md. 250, 166 Atl. 742 (1933) and Kolb v. Burkhardt, 148 Md. 539, 129 Atl. 670 (1925). The result of *431construing Section 42E (A-2) as applicable to Senatorial District 2 does indeed produce an unjust, self-contradictory and absurd result. In my opinion, this result was never intended by the General Assembly and the language of the section should be construed as not applicable to Senatorial District 2.
It is indicated in the majority opinion that the word “counties” includes the singular by virtue of the provisions of Code (1957), Article I, Section 8 that “The singular always includes the plural and vice versa, except where such construction would be unreasonable!’ (Emphasis supplied). It is clear to me that to construe the word “counties” as including the singular in Section 42E (A-2) is indeed unreasonable and the exception in Article I, Section 8 applies.
If we construed the language of the section as not being applicable to-Senatorial District 2, we would, of course, not reach the constitutional issues and would not find it necessary to declare the section unconstitutional. As I see it, this would be the better policy and would be entirely consistent with our prior decisions.
I am authorized to state that Judge Horney concurs in the views here expressed.