Starbird v. Brown
| Citation | 84 Me. 238,24 A. 824 |
| Parties | STARBIRD v. BROWN. |
| Decision Date | 08 February 1892 |
| Court | Supreme Judicial Court of Maine (US) |
(Official.)
Exceptions from supreme judicial court, Androscoggin county.
Trespass by John Starbird against David Brown. There was a judgment of dismissal, and plaintiff excepts. Exceptions overruled.
McGillicuddy & Morey, for plaintiff.
White & Carter, for defendant.
The municipal court for the city of Lewiston was created by special act in 1871. See chapter 636, Sp. Laws of that year. Section 4 of the act provides that a term of the court shall be held on the first Tuesday of each month, and all writs be made returnable to one of the two terms to be begun or held next after the commencement of the action. By chapter 177 of Private and Special Laws of 1872 the original act was amended by excepting the month of August from the list of terms of court.
in 1876 an act was passed, (chapter 138, Pub. Laws 1876,) incorporated in the Revised Statutes of 1883, (Rev. St. c. 83, § 7.) providing that writs in civil actions before any municipal or police court may be made returnable at any term thereof, to be held not less than 7 nor more than 60 days from their date.
The present action was made returnable to a term more than 60 days from the date of the writ, and for that reason was, upon motion of the defendant, seasonably made, dismissed.
The question, therefore, is whether the later general or the earlier private act governs the decision of the case. Is or not the special act amended by the general act so as to become conformable thereto? We think it is.
It is not always easy to decide questions of this kind, and for that reason cases are to be found near to the dividing line on either side of it. But the precedents are numerous in support of a general rule which is applicable when it is claimed that one statute effects the repeal of another by necessary implication.
The test is whether a subsequent legislative act is so directly and positively repugnant to the former act that the two cannot consistently stand together. Is the repugnancy so great that the legislative intent to amend or repeal is evident? Can the new law and the old law be each efficacious in its own sphere? Brown v. City of Lowell, 8 Mete. (Mass.) 172; Bouv. Law Dict. "Statute."
It is reasonably certain that the design of the general statute invoked in the present case was to secure uniformity of practice in the matter of serving writs returnable to police and municipal courts, and to prevent mistakes that are occasioned by too long a period elapsing between the service and return day of a writ. There was just as much...
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State v. London
...v. Sullivan, 71 Me. 150; Staples v. Peabody, 83 Me. 207, 22 Atl. 113.' We quote the following statement from the case of Starbird v. Brown, 84 Me. 238, 240, 24 A. 824. '* * * the precedents are numerous in support of a general rule which is applicable when it is claimed that one statute eff......
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Lewiston Firefighters Ass'n, Local 785, Intern. Ass'n of Firefighters, AFL-CIO v. City of Lewiston
...from enforcing even supplemental or consistent regulations. Chavez v. Sargent, 52 Cal.2d 162, 339 P.2d 801 (1959); see Starbird v. Brown, 84 Me. 238, 24 A. 824 (1892). In such a case, the conflict is one of jurisdiction between the state and a lesser political In the present case, we believ......
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Blaney v. Rittall
...statute is repugnant to or inconsistent with an earlier statute.' 156 Me. at 127, 162 A.2d at 152. Also quoting from Starbird v. Brown, 84 Me. 238, 240, 24 A. 824 (1892), the Court notes '(t)he test is whether a subsequent legislative act is so directly and positively repugnant to the forme......
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Hamilton v. Portland State Pier Site Dist.
...that the Legislature by the granting of the pier site charter intended to repeal or alter the city charter. 36 Cyc. 1094; Starbird v. Brown, 84 Me. 238, 24 Atl. 824; State v. Donovan, 89 Me. 452, 36 Atl. 982. If the vote accepting the pier site district charter were a vote involving "the ap......