Court Opinion

ID: 9770203
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 15:54:16.717985+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:15.754481
License: Public Domain

COMBS, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result of the majority opinion, but on entirely different grounds.
Being mindful of the despotic and arbitrary powers of the executive (the crown), the legislature (parliament), and the judiciary, our founding fathers sought to create a government of laws and not of men, where the just powers of the government are derived from the consent of the governed. All of these principles are succinctly stated in our Declaration of Independence.
In order to prevent a re-growth of such arbitrary powers, the framers of our constitution divided our government into three branches. Article 1, § 1 gives all legislative power to the Congress. Section 8 of Article 1 defines the powers of Congress. Section 2 sets forth the powers of the executive branch. Article 3 sets forth the judicial powers. Article 6, cl. 2 provides that the constitution, acts of Congress enacted pursuant thereto, and treaties shall be the supreme law of the land. It does not include judicial opinions.
This omission is significant. Thirty-four of the fifty-five contributors to the constitution were among the most outstanding lawyers in the colonies. They knew what they had been up against and they didn’t want it to recur.
Kentucky’s constitution is basically the same. Section 4 of our constitution reminds us that the people have all the power and that we in government have only those powers that were delegated to us. Section 14 demands that the courts be open for all persons (including corporations) suffering injury to their property, for remedy by due course of law. Section 27 divides our government into the three branches, and Section 28 prohibits each from exercising any power over the other. Section 29 gives the legislative power to the General Assembly. Sections 109-116 set forth the judicial powers, and do not give the judiciary lawmaking power, only the power to prescribe rules of practice before the Supreme Court and practice and procedure before the Court of Justice.
The powers granted to each of the branches are non-delegable powers.
KRS 417.018 purports to close the courthouse doors as to mistakes of law and fact, to persons who have elected to be bound by arbitration. This statute represents a usurpation of the judicial power by the legislature in that it purports to give finality to the conclusions of law of the arbitrators. Only the people have the power to change the constitution. Section 26 of our constitution provides that all things contrary to the Bill of Rights and this constitution are null and void.
There is a need to expedite the termination of controversies. Arbitration may be one such vehicle. But under our constitution neither the parties nor the arbitrators can tie the hands of the court on questions of law.