Berberian v. Lussier

• Decision Date: 26 March 1958
• Docket Number: No. 2606,2606
• Citation: 87 R.I. 226,139 A.2d 869
• Parties: Aram K. BERBERIAN v. Laure B. LUSSIER, Registrar of Motor Vehicles. Eq.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 869

139 A.2d 869

87 R.I. 226

Aram K. BERBERIAN v. Laure B. LUSSIER, Registrar of Motor Vehicles.

Eq. No. 2606.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

March 26, 1958.

Aram K. Berberian, Harold W. Demopulos, Providence, for complainant.

William E. Powers, Atty. Gen., Archie Smith, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

Arthur A. Thomas, Joseph A. Kelly, Providence, Charles C. Collins and Ross D. Netherton, Jr., Washington, D. C. Bar, Joseph H. Braun, Hugh Neill Johnson and Robert G. Corbett, Chicago, Ill., Illinois Bar, for American Automobile Ass'n, Inc., amici curiae.

ROBERTS, Justice.

This is a bill in equity wherein the complainant seeks to enjoin the registrar of motor vehicles from suspending his operator's license because of his failure to deposit security with the registrar as provided in General Laws 1956, title 31, chapter 32, sometimes hereinafter referred to as the financial responsibility act. The cause was heard by a justice of the superior court who thereafter denied the prayer for injunctive relief and dismissed the bill. From the entry of a decree pursuant to that decision, the complainant has appealed to this court.

The provisions of the act which are pertinent to the issues raised herein are set out in §§ 31-32-1 and 31-32-2. Under the terms of § 31-32-1 the operator of a motor vehicle which has been involved in an accident is required to make a report concerning such accident to the registry of motor vehicles. It is also provided therein that unless such operator has, within a prescribed period, filed with the registry evidence that he has been released from liability for injuries or damages resulting from the accident, the registry 'shall determine the amount of security which shall be sufficient in its judgment to satisfy any judgment or judgments for damages resulting from such accident * * *.' It is further provided in § 31-32-3 that after the lapse of another prescribed period of time the registry shall 'suspend the license of each operator * * * unless such operator * * * shall deposit security in the sum so determined by the registry * * *.' In § 31-31-6 provision is made for judicial review of the action of the registry.

It is not disputed that complainant was involved in an automobile accident in the city of Providence on February 1, 1957. He concedes that he did not file evidence of financial responsibility with the registry and that after having been given proper notice he has refused to deposit security in an amount designated by the registry.

The complainant's position is that the act is violative of the provisions of the federal and state constitutions relating to due process, equal protection and division of the powers of government. With respect to due process of law he claims that the act deprives him thereof in that it authorizes a suspension of his license without a prior hearing and without a showing of negligence on his part.

We considered the question of whether a license to operate a motor vehicle is property within the meaning of the constitutional prohibition in the case of LaPlante v. State Board of Public Roads, 47 R.I. 258, 131 A. 641, and we concluded that a suspension of such a license without a prior hearing was not violative of the due process clauses because it was neither property nor a contract. The complainant now seeks to have that case overruled on the ground that, even though it be not property within the constitutional purview, such a license partakes of the nature of a common right or liberty which is within the constitutional limitation. The state, on the other hand, contends that the law as stated in the LaPlante case should be continued as the law in this jurisdiction.

We have, however, come to the conclusion that we can no longer completely subscribe to the proposition for which the LaPlante case stands. The use of the automobile as a necessary adjunct to the earning of a livelihood in modern life requires us in the interest of realism to conclude that the right to use an automobile on the public highways partakes of the nature of a liberty within the meaning of the constitutional guarantees of which the citizen may not be deprived without due process of law. In State v. Dalton, 22 R.I. 77, at page 86, 46 A. 234, at page 237, 48 L.R.A. 775, this court pointed out that the liberty which is guaranteed to every person by both our state and federal constitutions includes the right to be free from unreasonable interference in the pursuit of a livelihood. In the Dalton case at page 86, of 22 R.I., at page 237 of 46A., quoting from People v. Gillson, 109 N.Y. 389, at page 399, 17 N.E. 343, at page 345, we stated: "Liberty in its broad sense, as understood in this country, means the right not only of freedom from servitude, imprisonment, or restraint, but the right of one to use his faculties in all lawful ways, to live and work where he will, to earn his livelihood in any lawful calling, and to pursue any lawful trade or avocation." The Court of Appeal of Louisiana in the case of Hughes v. Department of Public Safety, 79 So.2d 129, recognized that although an operator's license was not a property right, it was a right which was protected by the due process clause. In that case the court stated at page 130: 'A license to operate a vehicle upon the highways of the State is a privilege and not a property right, although the State may not deny this privilege to any of its citizens arbitrarily or capriciously.' The proposition that a license to operate motor vehicles and to use them on the public highways is something more than a mere privilege was also recognized in Thompson v. Smith, 155 Va. 367, 154 S.E. 579, 71 A.L.R. 604, and in Escobedo v. State Department of Motor Vehicles, 35 Cal.2d 870, 222 P.2d 1.

Whatever may be its nature, the right to use the public highways for travel by motor vehicles is one which properly can be regulated by the legislature in the valid exercise of the police power of the state. Financial responsibility statutes have been held to constitute a reasonable regulation of the public highways and a proper measure for protecting the public safety. Ballow v. Reeves, Ky., 238 S.W.2d 141. The question of whether the financial responsibility act violates the due process clauses of the federal and state constitutions depends upon whether the legislature enacted it in a valid exercise of the police power, since a proper exercise of such power is not violative of the fourteenth amendment of the federal constitution even though protected interests are affected. 2 Cooley's Constitutional Limitations (8th ed.), p. 1235.

Where the purpose of an act is to protect the public using the highways from financial hardship resulting from the operation of motor vehicles by persons financially irresponsible, it is referable to the police power of the state. This power is inherent in sovereignty and permits the enactment of laws, within constitutional limits, to promote the general welfare of the citizens. Hadden...