Court Opinion

ID: 9561091
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:02:56.714854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:34.784735
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Duckworth, C. J., Aumand, P. J., Nichols and Frankum, JJ.
The motion for a rehearing advances arguments that we cannot let pass unchallenged. The first argument is that “it does not appear that the five Justices who concurred in the majority decision did so on the basis that they were of the opinion that the provisions of the Milk Control Act empowering the Milk Commission to fix prices was unconstitutional as being in violation of the due process clause of the Constitution of this State” in that it appears the decision is predicated solely upon the proposition that Harris v. Duncan, 208 Ga. 561 (67 SE2d 692), a full bench decision, controlled our judgment. A casual *764reading of the headnote in the instant ease discloses that the majority expressly held the price fixing of the Milk Control Act violated the due process clause of the State Constitution. Justice Mobley in the first sentence of his dissent said: “I do not agree with the ruling of the majority that the price fixing provision of the Milk Control Act violates the due process clause of the Constitution of this State.” Even if the unanimous decision in Harris v. Duncan, supra, was not in existence, we would hold such price fixing to be violative of the due process clause of the Georgia Constitution.
The second argument is that Code § 6-1611 which provides how full bench decisions of this court can be overruled or modified, has not had legal existence since the adoption of the 1945 Constitution because Art. VI, Sec. II, Par. VII of that Constitution (Code Ann. § 2-3707) expressly withdrew the power from the General Assembly to enact regulations governing the manner in which this court could hear and determine cases by providing the “Supreme Court shall have power to hear and determine cases when sitting in a body, under such regulations as may be prescribed by it.” With this we agree. See our rules.
Before and since the adoption of the 1945 Constitution, this court has deliberately and consistently required a unanimous decision to overrule a unanimous decision. See Cody v. Cody, 221 Ga. 677 (146 SE2d 778); Hood v. First Nat. Bank, 219 Ga. 283 (133 SE2d 19); and Rivers v. Cole Corp., 209 Ga. 406 (73 SE2d 196). Indeed by requiring the concurrence of seven Justices, whereas Code § 6-1611 requires only six, we demonstrate that we do not recognize it.
This court since its creation in 1845 has considered itself bound by its unanimous decisions and will respect and follow such decisions, overruling them only by a unanimous court which can be done without legislative authority.
Stare decisis et non quieta movere (Stand by the decisions and do not disturb settled points). The application of this doctrine is essential to the performance of a well-ordered system of jurisprudence. Cobb v. State, 187 Ga. 448, 452 (200 SE 796).

Motion for rehearing denied.