Court Opinion

ID: 9525652
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:05:54.633816+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:16:06.508792
License: Public Domain

DICKSON, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority opinion has, in effect, revised Article 1, Section 22 of the Constitution of Indiana to read:
The privilege of the debtor to enjoy no more than the necessary comforts of life, shall be recognized by wholesome laws, exempting only a reasonable amount of property from seizure or sale, for the payment of any debt or liability hereafter contracted;....
Ind. Const, art. 1, § 22 (emphasized words not in original).
As originally framed and ratified, this provision required only the enactment of minimum reasonable exemption laws. It did not impose any maximum limitation upon the power of the Indiana General Assembly to enact generous exemption laws. Section 22 expressly recognizes the “privilege of the debtor to enjoy the necessary comforts of life,” not the “privilege of the creditor to collect all debts in excess of a debtor’s necessary comforts of life.”
*456The Indiana citizens whose ratification vote gave life to our state constitution were not voting to ratify individual speeches of particular delegates at the Constitutional Convention. Instead, they were approving the express language of the constitution as adopted by our convention delegates. The language of Section 22 is clear and unambiguous. I cannot agree that the framers and ratifiers intended to approve the version preferred by the majority today. The duty and function of this Court is to uphold our constitution as enacted, not to alter its clear and unambiguous provisions to conform with our beliefs about the policies possibly favored by some of the delegates to the convention.
The majority opinion further contradicts our obligation of judicial restraint. A statute may not be declared unconstitutional simply because a majority of the court considers it unwise or undesirable. Johnson v. St. Vincent Hosp., Inc. (1980), 273 Ind. 374, 382, 404 N.E.2d 585, 591. All reasonable doubts must be resolved in favor of a statute’s constitutionality. North Township Advisory Bd. v. Mamala (1986), Ind., 490 N.E.2d 725, 726. When a statute can be construed to support its constitutionality, such construction must be adopted. Miller v. State (1987), Ind., 517 N.E.2d 64, 71.
I therefore dissent from the majority’s declaration that Indiana Code § 34-2-28-1(a)(6) was unconstitutional as a violation of Article 1, Section 22 of the Indiana Constitution.