Court Opinion

ID: 9696230
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:41:36.245015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:16:14.409548
License: Public Domain

Montgomery, J.:
I cannot concur in the broad interpretation given by the majority to the statute under consideration (Act of July 13,1961, P. L. 587, 28 P.S. §307.1 et seq.). Such *286an interpretation would justify the use of blood grouping tests to negate paternity not only in cases of fornication and bastardy, and actions for support of a bastard child, approval for which was given under the 1951 Act in Commonwealth ex rel. O’Brien v. O’Brien, 390 Pa. 551, 136 A. 2d 451, but would also countenance its use on the motion of any party to the litigation in those other cases enumerated by Mr. Justice Cohen in his opinion in that case, namely: husbands bringing an action for divorce on the ground of adultery, actions for annulment because of fraudulent representations as to parenthood, mothers seeking custody of children, parties seeking a determination that they are the parents of a child of whom another claims to be the father, parties disputing the claim of a child to share in an estate, parties attempting to prove non-citizenship of a child, defendants in prosecutions for rape in which the prosecuting witness testified that as a consequence of the rape she became pregnant and gave birth to a child, as well as others not mentioned.
Although the body of the 1961 Act may indicate the intention of the Legislature to have blood grouping tests used in all cases, I find nothing in the title of the Act which in any reasonable way indicates that intention. The short title of the Act makes no change in its objective from the objective of the 1951 Act. The short title describes it as a “Uniform Act on Blood Tests to Determine Paternity.” (Emphasis ours.) The underlined words are identical with those used in the 1951 Act which the O’Brien case limited to those two cases previously mentioned. Looking to the general title, we find nothing more than a bestowal of authority on the court “to order the parties under certain circumstances to submit to blood grouping tests . . .” and providing “. . . the effect thereof.” Thus the main objective, as expressed in this general title, is the authbrizatibn of blood tests, and except for the phrase *287“the effect thereof”, no mention is made of any intention to unsettle or change the laws of inheritance, as to presumptions of legitimacy of children horn in wedlock, or any of the other subjects previously mentioned. I cannot subscribe to an interpretation that would make this statute so clearly violative of article 3, section 3, of the Pennsylvania Constitution providing that “No bill, except general appropriation bills, shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”
This provision of our Constitution has been the subject of consideration in many cases. Certain principles have been well established concerning it, viz.: The title of an act must be considered as part of it; it limits its scope, and may properly be resorted to as an aid to its construction, Wilkes-Barre v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 164 Pa. Superior Ct. 210, 63 A. 2d 452; although the title need not be an index or synopsis of its contents, nevertheless it must sufficiently and fairly give notice of the real subject of the act so as reasonably to lead to an inquiry into what is contained in the body of same; and the court cannot look beyond the title and into the body of the bill to determine its validity. Stewart v. Hadley, 327 Pa. 66, 193 A. 41; Phillips’s Estate, 295 Pa. 349, 145 A. 437.
Applying these rules to the present situation, I find nothing in the title of this Act indicating that the General Assembly intended to extend its application beyond that which the Supreme Court in the O’Brien case gave to the 1951 Act. There is nothing to indicate its extension to all cases, civil and criminal; there is nothing to indicate that the right to demand a blood test is given to everyone involved in the litigation; there is nothing to indicate that it is applicable in every case where paternity is a relevant factor; there is nothing to indicate that it is applicable to all the types of proceedings previously mentioned.
*288I appreciate that questions, even though constitutional in nature, which are not raised in the court below may not be considered on appeal. Rome Township Referendum Recount Case, 397 Pa. 331, 155 A. 2d 361. However, I do not think this principle precludes a consideration of the title in arriving at a proper interpretation of a statute. Wilkes-Barre v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, supra.
It appears to me that the majority is reading into the title of the Act a main objective or purpose not expressed therein, viz., that in every case of litigation, civil or criminal, in which paternity, parentage, or identity of a child is a relevant fact, the long established rule that children born in wedlock are presumed to be legitimate is legally rebutted if the results of a blood test or a blood group test establish that the alleged father could not be the real father of the child; whereas the real object as set forth in the title is to bestow power upon the courts to authorize blood tests under certain circumstances. I cannot give to the phrase “the effect thereof” the broad meaning given by the majority to include the objectives I have just stated and to cover all of the subjects previously mentioned. In my opinion, these words fail to reasonably indicate the vast changes in the law which will result from the view adopted by the majority. If its view is adopted, then, in every proceeding, civil or criminal, wherein paternity, parentage, or the identity of a child is involved (the child may be an infant or a septuagenarian), the charge of illegitimacy may be raised by any party to the litigation. Families may live together for many years before this charge is asserted. This is clearly against all reason, common sense, and morals, in the light of the sanctity which we have given to the family unit in our way of life.
In order to recognize the Act of 1961 as a proper constitutional enactment, and using its title to limit *289the scope of its effect, I would give it the same interpretation as was given to the 1951 Act in the O’Brien case. I would reverse the order of the lower court in authorizing a blood grouping test and would deny the petition for same.
I respectfully dissent.
Watkins, j., joins in this dissent.