Court Opinion

ID: 9864358
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 12:53:51.675322+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:10:32.960287
License: Public Domain

Ed. F. McF addin, Justice (concurring). I concur in order to particularly call attention to the fact that I can see no real distinction between the holding in the case at bar and the majority holding in Howell v. Howell (opinion of January 12, 1948, infra, p. 298, 208 S. W. 2d 22). If there is no real distinction between the two cases, then the effect of the instant opinion is to cast a grave doubt on the ruling effect of Howell v. Howell; and this — • I hope — is true. In Howell v. Howell those of us in the minority insisted that Act 42 of 1947 created a court; and that the court was de jure and the appointee was cle facto. But the majority held that the Act creating the court was void in its entirety, since the Act undertook to appoint the judge by an unconstitutional procedure. Here is the language of the majority in Howell v. Howell; Argument that the creative sections- — 1, 2 and 3— would not have been enacted had it been known the vacancy could be filled only by executive appointment .or election, finds support in the fact that the three sections lead logically into § 4. It is our view that the Act was intended as a whole. It was a new departure. Legislators must have been cognizant of the unusual power they were attempting to exercise and unquestionably there was doubt regarding constitutionality of the method adopted; and yet, in spite of this, no alternative was expressed— only the provision for an election to be held more than twenty months in the future. ’ ’ Ordinance No. 375 of Clarksville, Arkansas (upheld in this present case) undertook to do exactly the same thing as regards the creation of a municipal court that Act 42 of 1947 attempted to-do towards the creation of a second division chancery court. The ordinance No 375 is copied in its entirety in a footnote to this concurring opinion.* In Howell v. Howell the majority struck down the entire legislative enactment, whereas here we are sustaining all of the ordinance except the appointive section, which is § 3 of the ordinance. I submit that § 3 of the ordinance is similar in all respects to § 4 of Act 42 of 1947, and that the holding in the present case cannot be reconciled with the holding of the majority in Howell v. Howell. In the present case the majority attempts to make this distinction: “The distinction between this case and the recent cases of Howell v. Howell and Stevens v. Stevens, involving the second division of the Pulaski Chancery Court, is that in those cases the court held the Act attempting to create the second division of said court was unconstitutional and void and, therefore, the incumbent’s title to the office could be questioned collaterally by a litigant in said court, while in the case at bar ordinance No. 375 did create a municipal court in Clarksville, and the fact that it named a judge of said court who was ineligible to serve because not a lawyer, or for any other reason, cannot be raised in this proceeding.” I submit. that the foregoing distinction is not a sound one, and that the effect of the holding in the case at bar is to cast grave doubt on the ruling effect of Howell v. Howell, insofar as concerns those portions of the opinion relating to (a) the severability clause and (b) the de facto court. Believing that Howell v. Howell is wrong on these two points, I am happy to concur in the present opinion.   Ordinance No. 375 reads: “An Ordinance Establishing a Municipal Court in the City of Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas, Under the Provisions of Act No. 60 of the Acts of the General Assembly of Arkansas for the Year 1927, and all Acts Amendatory Thereto, Fixing the Salary of the Municipal Judge and the Salary of the Clerk of the Municipal Court and Naming the Person to Serve as such Judge Until the Next General City Election, and for Other Purposes. Be it Ordained by the City Council of the City of Clarksville, Arkansas: “Section 1. There is hereby created a Corporation Court for the City of Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas, to be styled ‘Municipal Court of Clarksville, Arkansas,’ which said Court shall be a Court of record, having a seal with the name of the State in the center and the words ‘Municipal Court of Clarksville, Ark., around the margin. This court is hereby created under the provisions of Act No. 60 of the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas for the year 1927, and all Acts amendatory thereto, and shall have all the authority, duties, responsibilities, jurisdiction and limitations as provided for such Courts under the laws of the State of Arkansas, and the Mayor’s Court heretofore existing in said City is hereby abolished. “Section 2. All provisions of the laws of the State of Arkansas, relative to such Courts are hereby adopted, and the salary of the Judge of the Municipal Court shall be $1,800 per year, payable in equal monthly installments, and the salary of the Clerk of said Court shall be $600 per year, payable in equal monthly installments. The Municipal Judge shall have the privilege of acting as his' own clerk, and when so doing, his salary shall be $2,400 per year payable in equal monthly installments while so acting. “Section 3. Sam Harris, a citizen and qualified elector of the City of Clarksville, Arkansas, having been found to possess all the qualifications in compliance with the law to serve as Municipal Judge, is hereby elected to serve as such Municipal Judge until the next regular city election. “Section 4. If any part of this ordinance shall be held to be unconstitutional or void for any reason, the same shall not affect the remainder of said ordinance not so held. Section 5. Whereas it is found by the City Council that confusion exists by reason of present methods of law enforcement in the City and County, and by reason of the present set-up of Courts, an emergency is hereby declared, and this ordinance being deemed necessary for the preservation of the public health, peace and safety of the City of Clarksville, in Johnson County, Arkansas, shall take effect and be in force immediately from and after its passage and approval and publication. “Passed and approved'this 30th day of June, 1947.”