Board of Health of Nash County v. Board of Com'rs of Nash County
| Decision Date | 08 October 1941 |
| Docket Number | 89. |
| Citation | 16 S.E.2d 677,220 N.C. 140 |
| Parties | BOARD OF HEALTH OF NASH COUNTY et al. v. BOARD OF COM'RS OF NASH COUNTY et al. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Leon T. Vaughan, of Nashville, and W. H. Yarborough, of Louisburg for plaintiff.
J P. Bunn and F. S. Spruill, both of Rocky Mount, for defendant.
This controversy is over the appointment of a health officer for Nash County.
The general law on this subject is found in C.S. § 7067 Michie's Code of 1939, and is as follows:
Two statutes were enacted by the 1941 General Assembly specially applicable to the County of Nash. Chapter 6, Public Laws of 1941, and Chapter 193, Public Laws of 1941, amendatory of the prior statute. These statutes provide substantially that the appointment of a health officer of Nash County "shall not become effective until approved by the Board of Commissioners of the County of Nash", and in Chapter 193 there is the further provision that if the health officer appointed by the board of health shall be disapproved by the Board of County Commissioners "the person so appointed shall become ineligible for such appointment, and the County Board of Health shall, within thirty days thereafter, appoint some other person for such position; and, should the Board of County Commissioners fail to approve this other person so appointed, the secretary of the State Board of Health shall appoint", etc.
The Board of Health, at the regular stated time for such action, appointed Dr. T. O. Coppedge as Health Officer for a term beginning on the second Monday in January, 1941, and ending on the second Monday in January, 1943. The defendants have disapproved such election. The Board of Health has taken no further action in the matter, contending that Chapters 6 and 193 of the Public Laws of 1941, above quoted, are unconstitutional and void because in violation of Article II, section 29, of the Constitution of North Carolina.
The pertinent part of Article II, section 29, of the Constitution reads as follows: "The General Assembly shall not pass any local, private, or special act or resolution *** relating to health, sanitation, and the abatement of nuisances."
In the present proceeding, the parties present this question to the court in a controversy without action under C.S. § 626, and under such provisions of the Declaratory Judgment Act, Chapter 102, Public Laws of 1931, and amendments, as may be applicable. Neither party has raised any question of the jurisdiction of the court, and we are of opinion that such jurisdiction obtains. C.S. § 626; Chapter 102, Public Laws of 1931; Michie's Code, secs. 628(a) et seq., (l), (m), Carolina Power & Light Co. v. Iseley, 203 N.C. 811, 820, 167 S.E. 56, 60, 61. In invoking the jurisdiction of the Court, the parties are entitled to the aid of any statute, without specifically naming it, under which such jurisdiction may be exercised, provided substantial compliance had been made with its terms in presenting the controversy.
"It has been said that public officers are entitled to have their legal duties judicially determined by a proceeding" of this kind "for in this way only can the disastrous results of well-intentioned but illegal acts be avoided with certainty". 16 A.J. 330, sec. 60. The controversy here is between two important public boards, the County Board of Health and the Board of County Commissioners, over a matter importantly affecting the administration of the health laws, and directly affecting the functions, powers and duties of the said boards, which, because of the alleged uncertainty of the statutes under which they derive their powers, and accordingly as these duties are determined, might be subject to mandamus to compel the performance of omitted public duties. It is easily seen that the matters involved are important not only to the local authorities and community, but to the people of the whole state.
There is no room to doubt that Chapters 6 and 193, Public Laws of 1941, are local. By the terms of the statute they apply only to Nash County, one out of the one hundred counties of the State. Chapter 6, section 3, Public Laws of 1941; State v. Dixon, 215 N.C. 161, 1 S.E.2d 521; State v. Chambers, 93 N.C. 600.
This court is also committed to the proposition that a law affecting the selection of officers to whom is given the duty of administering the health laws is a law "relating to health." Sams v. Board of Commissioners of Madison County, 217 N.C. 284, 7 S.E.2d 540.
We have become increasingly conscious of the fact that many of the problems which heretofore we have considered purely local are so related to the welfare of the whole state as to demand uniform and coordinated action under general laws. We believe the section of the Constitution which the plaintiffs have invoked was not intended merely as a device to free the legislature from the enormous amount of petty detail that had theretofore occupied every session, but we think it was also framed upon the principle that we have just stated, and therefore it should not be so construed as to minimize the provision it has made locking to this result. It is remedial in its nature, and its application should not be denied on an unsubstantial distinction which would defeat its purpose. It especially mentions general "laws relating to health" as being within its protective purview recognizing that the alleviation of suffering and...
To continue reading
Request your trial