Court Opinion

ID: 9535227
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:47:01.567881+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:11.860581
License: Public Domain

DYKMAN, P.J.
(dissenting). Courts do not have inherent authority to do whatever they please.1 In State v. Braunsdorf, 98 Wis. 2d 569, 297 N.W.2d 808 (1980), the court determined that a Wisconsin trial court did not have inherent authority to dismiss a criminal case with prejudice even though an assistant district attorney had unilaterally directed the clerk of courts to dismiss a jury panel, making it impossible to try a criminal case as scheduled. The court examined a number of cases and other authority and noted: "These cases teach that an inherent power is one without which a court cannot properly function." Id. at 580, 297 N.W.2d at 813. The court concluded "that the power to *285dismiss a criminal case with prejudice prior to jeopardy on nonconstitutional grounds is not essential to the existence or the orderly functioning of a trial court, and it is not, therefore, an inherent power of the trial courts of this state." Id. at 585, 297 N.W.2d at 815-16.
The court reaffirmed Braunsdorf in Breier v. E.C., 130 Wis. 2d 376, 387 N.W.2d 72 (1986). There, the court determined that a circuit court did not have inherent authority to order the expunction of a juvenile's arrest record when a delinquency petition was dismissed. An extensive list of cases affirming the principle that inherent powers are only those which are necessary is found in State ex rel. Friedrich v. Circuit Court, 192 Wis. 2d 1, 17 n.7, 531 N.W.2d 32, 37 (1995).
By issuing an order for appearance, a municipal court gives the appearance of favoring the municipality. A court should be a neutral dispenser of justice. Parties bring their cases before courts. Using evidence the parties present, a court determines who wins and who loses. The job of a court is not to perform counsel's task or to make it easier for one side or the other to prevail. If a plaintiff fails to prove up a case, the case should be dismissed. If a plaintiff proves up a case and the defendant's defenses are unpersuasive, the plaintiff should win. It is unseemly for a court to appear to favor one side or the other.
I accept the factual portions of the reasons given by the municipal court for issuing its order for appearance. It is only the legal significance of those facts which causes me to disagree with the majority. For instance, the municipal court noted that issuing an order for appearance enhances the search for the truth because the court can then question the defendant. I am required to and do accept that as true. But a subpoena accomplishes the same thing without the *286implication that the court is assisting in the prosecution of the case. Courts in the United States have traditionally not assumed a prosecutorial function. We leave that duty to the executive branch of government.
Although courts and attorneys may issue subpoenas, it is up to the parties to serve them. Sections 805.07 and 885.01-.04, Stats. If a party wants a witness to appear at trial, it is required and commonplace that the party or the party's attorney subpoena the witness. If a party fails to subpoena a witness, the court decides the case without the witness. There is no need to repeal the statutory procedure for obtaining and serving subpoenas by substituting orders for appearance. It is certainly less work for attorneys, and it brings witnesses before the court without the witness fee required by § 814.67, Stats. But the test is not one of ease or cost. The test is whether a court can exist or function in an orderly manner if it cannot issue orders for appearance in municipal ordinance violation cases. See Braunsdorf, 98 Wis. 2d at 585, 297 N.W.2d at 815-16.
Courts have existed for a long time without the need for orders for appearance in ordinance violation cases. Most municipal courts still do. The municipal court for Sun Prairie will not cease to function if it cannot order the appearance of litigants. It can continue its traditional judicial function in an orderly manner if it requires parties who appear before it to decide which witnesses will testify. It can decide cases upon the evidence presented without resorting to orders for appearance. It is not necessary for a municipal court to use an order to compel the attendance of *287witnesses. Accordingly, there is no inherent authority to do so.

 The doctrine of inherent authority derives from Wisconsin's separation of governmental power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Breier v. E.C., 130 Wis. 2d 376, 385, 387 N.W.2d 72, 76 (1986).