State v. Chandler

• Citation: 161 A. 148
• Parties: STATE v. CHANDLER.
• Decision Date: 25 June 1932
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

161 A. 148

STATE

v. CHANDLER.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

June 25, 1932.

Report from Superior Court, York County.

John P. Chandler was arrested for operating a motor vehicle on the public highways without a license, and the case was reported from the superior court on an agreed statement.

Case remanded.

Argued before PATTANGALL, C. J., and DUNN, STURGIS, BARNES, and THAXTER, JJ.

Ralph W. Hawkes, Co. Atty., of York Village, for the State.

John P. Deering, of Saco, for respondent.

STURGIS, J.

The respondent, a resident of Florida, permitted by the laws of that state to operate a motor vehicle without a license, on July 17, 1931, while touring in Maine, was arrested for operating a motor vehicle on the public highways without the license required by the Motor Vehicle Law. The case is reported from the trial court on an agreed statement.

The following summary indicates the scope of the licensing provisions of the law as set out in the several, sections of chapter 29 of the Revised Statutes.

"No person shall operate a motor vehicle upon any way in this state unless licensed according to the provisions of this chapter." Section 39. This provision "shall not apply * * * to a nonresident operator other than the operator of any such vehicle belonging to a foreign corporation doing business in this state, * * * provided said operator has complied with the provisions of law of the state or country of his residence relative to operators' licenses. But this exemption regarding operators' licenses shall not apply to any operator resident in any other state or country whose laws do not require such operators' licenses." Section 40. Except as suspension or revocation of a license of a nonresident in the state of his residence is ground for similar action here, his right to operate cars in this state is subject to suspension or revocation for the same causes, under the same conditions, and in the same manner as is that of residents. The penalties for operation thereafter are those prescribed for operation by a resident without a license. Section 45.

The annual fee for an operator's license is $2, payable to the secretary of state to be transmitted with other moneys collected from his administration of the Motor Vehicle Law to the state treasurer. Section 33. These moneys are appropriated for and are to be used (or an amount equivalent thereto) for the administration of the office and duties of the state highway commission, including the expenses of administering the motor vehicle department and licensing of operators and registration of vehicles, to meet all provisions or bond issues for state highway construction, to fulfill the requirements of the joint fund for the construction and permanent improvement of state aid highways and for the repair and maintenance of state and state aid highways. Section 117.

The respondent maintains that this license regulation denies to him, as a resident of Florida which permits motor vehicles to be operated on its highways without a license, privileges which are accorded to the residents of many states, outside of Maine, which have this requirement. This he charges is a denial of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed to him by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The right of a state in the exercise of its police power to prescribe uniform regulations necessary for public safety and order in respect to the operation of motor vehicles on its highways has been repeatedly recognized and sustained. Hodge Drive-It-Yourself Co. v. Cincinnati, 284 U. S. 335, 52 S. Ct. 144, 76 L. Ed. 323; Sprout v. South Bend, 277 U. S. 163, 168, 48 S. Ct. 502, 72 L. Ed. 833, 62 A. L. R. 45; Morris v. Duby, 274 U. S. 135, 45 S. Ct. 548, 71 L. Ed. 966; Kane v. New Jersey, 242 U. S. 160, 37 S. Ct. 30, 61 L. Ed. 222; Hendrick v. Maryland, 235 U. S 610, 35 S. Ct. 140, 59 L. Ed. 385. See State v. Mayo, 106 Me. 62, 75 A. 295, 26 L. R. A. (N. S.) 502, 20 Ann. Cas. 512; State v. Phillips, 107 Me. 249, 78 A. 283; McCarthy v. Leeds, 116 Me. 275, 279, 101 A. 448, L. R. A. 1918D, 671. It includes the right to require licenses for operation of such vehicles on its ways and the charge of a fee therefor reasonably required to defray the expense of administering the regulations, or even including a reasonable charge as a fair contribution to the cost of constructing and...