Court Opinion

ID: 9848245
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:15:16.124495+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:09.576467
License: Public Domain

Duckworth, Chief Justice,
concurring specially. The opinion points out one solid reason why the basis of classification, to wit: 50 or more subscribers who receive the publication in the county, is arbitrary and void. I believe we should point out all reasons why it is void, in order that future legislatures might be fully informed. In Geele v. State, 202 Ga. 381 (43 S. E. 2d 254, 172 A. L. R. 196), a fire-protection statute, contained a classification making it applicable to hotels and inns charging guests $2 per day and more, was by this court held unconstitutional because the classification was arbitrary and the basis had no bearing upon the purpose of the law, which was to protect from the hazards of fires. That ruling controls the instant case. The classification by this act of publishing corporations on the basis of 50 or more subscribers in a county to whom the publication goes, and making it applicable to those only and inapplicable to those having one or more up to fifty such subscribers, is clearly arbitrary and bears no relation to the purpose of the act, which is to fix the domicile of such corporations and the venue of suits for tort against them in such counties. Every conceivable legitimate reason for fixing domicile and venue of suits against publishing corporations that applies to those with 50 or more subscribers applies, for the same reason, to those who have one subscriber or reader in that county, from the standpoint of the injured person or the publisher. The need to sue, the liability to suit, the convenience of either, and the expense of either in such suits is wholly unaffected by the number of subscribers. Indeed, the extent of the injury or cause of action is unaffected by the number of subscribers. Therefore no arbitrary classification upon a basis of the number receiving the publication by whatever manner can be held valid under the Constitution.
For the reasons here stated, together with those in the opinion, I concur in the judgment. I am authorized to state that Candler and Hawkins, JJ., concur in this special concurrence.