Court Opinion

ID: 9548282
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:01:02.65943+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:18:45.586759
License: Public Domain

Weaver, J.
(concurring in the result)—Article XI, § 10, of the Washington constitution, which reads as follows:
*739“. . . Said proposed charter shall be published in two daily newspapers published in said city, for at least thirty days prior to the day of submitting the same to the electors for their approval, as above provided . . . ”
is, to my mind, clear and unambiguous. It would be difficult to state the obvious intention of the framers in more compendious or terse language.
“Where the intention is clear there is no room for construction and no excuse for interpolation or addition.” United States v. Sprague, 282 U. S. 716, 75 L. Ed. 640, 51 S. Ct. 220, 71 A. L. R. 1381 (1931).
Hence, I am unable to appreciate the applicability, to the instant case, of the excellent discussions of constitutional interpretation contained in both the majority and dissenting opinions.
It is my firm belief that the sole question, meriting consideration on this appeal, is one of fact—namely, was the Clark County News a daily newspaper during the period it published the proposed city charter? If it were, then there has been compliance with the constitution.
Bearing in mind that the apparent and obvious purpose of the constitutional provision is to give notice to the electorate for a prescribed period, the nature of the paper prior to the first publication and subsequent to the last is immaterial. It is the nature of the paper during the period the charter is published which is controlling. See State ex rel. Law & Credit Co. v. Thomas, 203 Mo. App. 452, 457, 220 S. W. 702 (1920); People ex rel. Utica Sunday Tribune Co. v. Hugo, 93 Misc. 618, 625, 158 N. Y. S. 490, affirmed 174 App. Div. 901, 159 N. Y. S. 1136 (1916).
Agreed facts, established by stipulation and admissions of counsel, are the only ones before us. Turning to the stipulation and admissions, the following appears pertinent to this question:
“. . . that the Clark County News was at all times mentioned herein a Weekly newspaper, published in said City.
“That subsequent to the framing of said proposed Charter the duly elected and qualified officials of said City entered *740into a contract with the above named newspapers to publish said purposed [sic] Charter for 30 days, the said Clark County News agreeing to issue its Newspaper 5 days each week [the trial court’s memorandum opinion states it was published six days each week] until it had published said proposed Charter in 30 issues;
“That the Clark County News distributed the daily edition of its paper printed in accordance with its bid, copy of which is attached hereto and made a part hereof, by having it distributed from house to house by high school students; . . . ” (Italics in the above quotation are mine.)
Nowhere in the record before us, nor in argument of counsel, is it suggested that the Clark County News was not a newspaper. It is so stipulated by counsel (as I have indicated), and found to be such by the trial judge in his memorandum. Since the cause was submitted on stipulation of agreed facts, the trial judge made no findings of fact.
Contrary to the stipulation (either by oversight or design), no copy of the News has been submitted for our inspection. However, in the absence of any proof to the contrary, we can only accept the agreement of counsel and the finding of the trial court that it was a newspaper. There is no evidence that it was a “handbill.”
Did publication for five (or six) days a week comply with the constitutional provision? I believe it did. In Fairhaven Publishing Co. v. Bellingham, 51 Wash. 108, 109, 98 Pac. 97 (1908), this court said:
“The only question we are required to notice is whether The Morning Reveille is a daily paper [published five days each week], within the meaning of that term as it is used in the city charter. We think it is. The term daily, as applied to the publication of newspapers, is relative. It has never been given the exclusive meaning of every day of the week, month or year, but papers published every day except Sunday, or every day except Monday, or every day except both Sunday and Monday, are regarded by the general public as daily papers.”
Thus, on the short record before us, I believe that the Clark County News, during the period in question, was a *741daily newspaper. Publication of the charter therein complied with the constitutional provision.
I prefer to affirm the judgment of the trial court for the reasons I have stated.