In re Constitutionality of House Bill 88

• Decision Date: 08 February 1949
• Citation: 64 A.2d 169,115 Vt. 524
• Parties: IN RE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF HOUSE BILL 88
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

64 A.2d 169

115 Vt. 524

IN RE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF HOUSE BILL 88

Supreme Court of Vermont

February 8, 1949

OPINION

"February 8, 1949

The Honorable Sherman R. Moulton

Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court

178 South Prospect Street

Burlington Vermont

Dear Mr. Chief Justice:

The Legislature of the State of Vermont has passed, and I have signed, House Bill No. 88 entitled "AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR OPINIONS BY THE SUPREME COURT ON THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF PENDING OR PROPOSED BILLS OR RESOLUTIONS AND ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS." The following requests are made by virtue of this law.

I have grave doubts as to the constitutionality of House Bill No 88, and I particularly refer to Section 5 of Chapter 2 of the Constitution of Vermont which reads "Section 5. The legislative. executive and judicial departments, shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercises the powers properly belonging to the others."

As Governor of the State of Vermont, I respectfully request your Court for an opinion as to the construction of this Section of our State Constitution and as to whether or not H. 88 is or is not constitutional.

If you find that H88 is, in the Court's opinion, constitutional, then I call the Court's attention to another Bill, House Bill No. 40, entitled "AN ACT TO ENABLE A TOWN TO AUTHORIZE ITS SCHOOL DIRECTORS TO CONTRACT WITH OTHER TOWNS TO PROVIDE MEANS AND FACILITIES FOR EDUCATION." H40 is pending legislation. It has been passed by both Houses of the Legislature and will be delivered to me within the next day or two.

The particular question in my mind arises in connection with Section 64 of the Vermont Constitution, which, among other things, provides... "A competent number of schools ought to be maintained in each town for the convenient instruction of youth..." It seems to me that a determination of the word "ought" is necessary so that the constitutionality of H40 may be determined. In this connection I respectfully propound the following questions:

1. Is House Bill No. 40 constitutional?

2. Is a town required to maintain a school within its town limits?

3. May two or more towns consolidate for the purpose of maintaining schools for the benefit of the youth in the respective towns? Respectfully, Ernest W. Gibson Governor" February 11, 1949

To His Excellency

The Honorable Ernest W. Gibson,

Governor of the State of Vermont:

In reply to your communication of February 8, 1949, addressed to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of this State, in which you ask for an advisory opinion by the Supreme Court as to the constitutionality of House Bill No. 88, which has been signed by you, and if that Act be held to be constitutional, a further advisory opinion as to certain specified portions of House Bill No. 40, we have to say that, after consideration of the powers and function of the Vermont Supreme Court and its position with respect to the other coordinate departments of the government as prescribed by the Constitution of this State, we are obliged most respectfully to decline to comply with your request, for reasons which will be hereinafter stated.

House Bill 88 is as follows:

"AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR OPINIONS BY THE SUPREME COURT ON THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF PENDING OR PROPOSED BILLS OR RESOLUTIONS AND ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS.

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:

Section 1. The governor, or the senate and house of representatives by joint resolution, may request of the Supreme Court, whether or not in session, an opinion as to the constitutionality of a pending or proposed bill or resolution, or an opinion as to the construction of a section, paragraph, clause or word of the Vermont constitution.

Sec. 2. The request of the governor, or a copy of such resolution, when adopted by the senate and house of representatives and approved by the governor, certified by the secretary of state, shall be by the governor or said secretary, as the case may be, transmitted to the chief justice of such court.

Sec. 3. Upon receipt of such request or copy said court, if in session shall forthwith proceed to the consideration of the subject matter thereof, and if not in session shall be forthwith called in session by the chief justice for such purpose.

Sec. 4. When said court reaches a decision on the subject matter so submitted to it, it shall cause copies of its written opinion thereon to be forthwith transmitted by the clerk of said court to the governor, and, if the legislature is in session, to the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives, respectively; and such opinion shall be published in the same manner as other opinions of said court.

Sec. 5. This act shall take effect from its passage."

Advisory opinions, rendered by a court of last resort upon request of the executive or legislative departments, are sanctioned by the Constitutions of certain of the states of this country (Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and South Dakota), although in such cases the justices act not as a court but as constitutional advisors of the other branches of government, (In re Opinion of the Justices, 126 Mass. 557, 566) and opinions of this sort, while entitled to great consideration, do not have the force of judicial authority, since they are not given in the exercise of the judicial function, and are not regarded as binding upon the court, or upon the individual members thereof, even though the same question should be later presented in the regular course of judicial proceedings. Thayer "Advisory Opinions", Legal Essays, pp. 42-59; Laughlin v. City of Portland, 111 Me. 486, 90 A. 318, 323, 51 LRANS 1143. See also, Thayer "The Origin and Scope of the American Doctrine of Constitutional Law", 7 Harv. Law Rev. 129, 153.

But in the absence of a specific constitutional authorization and where the fundamental law distinguishes between the functions of the executive, legislative and judiciary departments, providing that neither shall exercise the powers and duties of the others, the courts of this country, whether Federal or State, have almost unanimously, when the question has been considered by them, declined to accede to an executive or legislative request for an opinion which cannot be considered otherwise than as extra-judicial.

An early application of this principle occurred in 1793 when President Washington addressed a letter to Chief Justice John Jay, asking whether he might receive the advice of the Supreme Court concerning certain questions involving the construction of the Treaty with France. After taking time carefully to consider the matter, an answer was returned, deferentially but firmly declining to give an opinion, and stating that the lines of separation drawn by the Constitution between the three departments of government, which were in certain respects checks upon each other, afforded "strong arguments against the propriety of our extra-judicially deciding the question alluded to..." Warren, "The Supreme Court in United States History" Vol. 1, pp. 108-111. And Mr. Warren adds this comment: "By the firm stand thus taken at so early a stage in the career of the new government, and by declining to express an opinion except in a case duly litigated before it, the Court established itself as a purely judicial body; and its success in fulfilling its function has followed this exclusive method of deciding questions of law and of constitutionality of statutes." See also, Hudson: "Advisory Opinions of National and International Courts", 37 Harv. Law Rev. 970, 975-6; Thayer; "Advisory Opinions" Legal Essays, 53-54.

The foregoing doctrine has been consistently applied by the United States Supreme Court. In Keller v. Potomac Electric Power Co., 261 U.S. 428, 444, 43 S.Ct. 445 449, 67 L.Ed. 731, it was held, upon authorities cited, that "the jurisdiction of this court and of the inferior courts of the United States ordained and established under and by virtue of the third article of the...