Commonwealth v. Dodson

• Decision Date: 14 October 1940
• Docket Number: Record No. 2310.
• Citation: 176 Va. 281
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA v. E. GRIFFITH DODSON, CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, ETC.

Page 281

176 Va. 281

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA v. E. GRIFFITH DODSON, CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, ETC.

Record No. 2310.

Supreme Court of Virginia, Richmond.

October 14, 1940.

Present, All the Justices.

1. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Effect of Limitation in Section 76 of the Constitution. — The limitation in section 76 of the Constitution, giving the Governor power to veto any item or items of an appropriation bill, that the veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object, cuts down the items which may be vetoed but does not change or qualify its effect. The bill with an unconditional approval, together with valid vetoes, becomes a valid statute.

2. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Meaning of "Item" as Used in Section 76 of the Constitution. — The term "item" as used in section 76 of the Constitution, providing that "the Governor shall have power to veto any particular item or items of an appropriation bill, but the veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object," refers to something which may be taken out of a bill without affecting its other purposes or provisions. It is something which can be lifted bodily from it rather than cut out.

3. STARE DECISIS — Decisions within Doctrine — Decision Which Might Have Been Reached upon More than One Ground. — A decision in a given case is none the less authoritative because the conclusion might have been reached upon more than one ground.

4. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Power to Strike out Conditions or Restrictions. — The power to veto items in an appropriation bill, given by section 76 of the Constitution, does not carry with it power to strike out conditions or restrictions, for that would be legislation.

5. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — "Item" Different from Provision or Condition. — An item in an appropriation bill is an indivisible sum of money dedicated to a stated purpose. It is something different from a provision or condition, and where conditions are attached, they must be observed; where none are attached, none may be added.

6. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Provision for Appointment of Attorneys by Attorney General — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, an original application for mandamus, the Governor's veto of seven items in an appropriation bill was challenged. The first veto was of a provision in the appropriation for the department of law that all attorneys compensated out of money appropriated by the General Assembly should be appointed by the Attorney General.

Held: That the part vetoed was a provision or condition telling by whom these attorneys were to be employed and from what source they might expect compensation, and the veto was not authorized by section 76 of the Constitution.

7. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Provision for Legislative Director of Budget — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, an original application for mandamus, the Governor's veto of seven items in an appropriation bill was challenged. The second veto was of a part of the appropriation for the Division of the Budget which provided for a Legislative Director at a salary of six thousand dollars and provided how he should be elected or appointed. It further provided that it should be the duty of the Legislative Director to co-operate with the Executive Director of the Budget and the State Comptroller in the supervision of the expenditure of appropriations and to assist in the preparation of the budget.

Held: That this "item" was not one which did not affect other approved "item" or "items" and the veto could not be sustained under section 76 of the Constitution.

8. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Provision for Salaries of Employees of Legislative Director of Budget — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, an original application for mandamus, the Governor's veto of seven items in an appropriation bill was challenged. The third veto was of a provision for salaries and wages of the employees of the Legislative Director of the Budget.

Held: That if the Legislature had power to create the office of the Legislative Director of the Budget, it had power also to provide for salaries and wages of his employees, and the veto should not be sustained.

9. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Provision Prohibiting Use of Appropriation for Investigation of County Government — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, an original application for mandamus, the Governor's veto of seven items in an appropriation bill was challenged. The fourth veto was of a provision in the appropriation for the Virginia State Planning Board which declared that no part of the money appropriated should be used for the invesigation of county government.

Held: That this was a condition and not an item and could not be vetoed.

10. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Prohibiting Use of Money by Commission of Fisheries for Operation of Boat — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, an original application for mandamus, the Governor's veto of seven items in an appropriation bill was challenged. The fifth veto was of a provision that the Commission of Fisheries should use no money under its control for the operation of a certain boat recently purchased by it.

Held: That this was not an item and the veto was unauthorized, and, in addition, if funds were expended upon this boat they would be spent for a purpose not authorized by the Legislature.

11. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Provision for Reduction in Compensation of Certain Officers under Certain Circumstances — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, an original application for mandamus, the Governor's veto of seven items in an appropriation bill was challenged. The sixth provision vetoed dealt with state officers and employees whose compensation had been increased by the Governor to an annual rate in excess of four thousand dollars. It was provided that should general reductions become necessary, these salaries should be put back to four thousand dollars or to the annual rate of pay immediately in effect before such increase became effective.

Held: That plainly this was not an item to be vetoed but was a provision providing for a reduction in compensation in certain circumstances.

12. STATUTES — Veto — Appropriation Bill — Provision that Governor's Power to Require Information Should Not Extend to Legislature and Judiciary — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, an original application for mandamus, the Governor's veto of seven items in an appropriation bill was challenged. By one part of the bill the Governor was given power to require information from the heads of any departments upon subjects relating to their office, but the bill also declared that this provision should not apply to the Legislature or to the judiciary and this limitation was the subject of the seventh veto.

Held: That the Constitution has endeavored to keep as independent entities the executive, legislative and judicial departments and the limitation imposed was in keeping with that general policy, was not an "item" and as such could not be vetoed.

13. STATUTES — Expression of Object in Title — What Matters May Be Included. — Under section 52 of the Constitution, providing that no law shall embrace more than one object which shall be expressed in its title, matters germane to the object, made manifest by its title, may be included, and those things are germane which are allied, relative or appropriate.

14. STATUTES — Expression of Object in Title — Construction of Constitutional Provision. — The construction of section 52 of the Constitution, providing that no law shall embrace more than one object which shall be expressed in its title, must be liberal.

15. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — Validity of Statutes — Statutes Not to Be Declared Unconstitutional unless Conclusion Inevitable. — Statutes are not to be declared unconstitutional unless that conclusion is inevitable.

16. STATUTES — Expression of Object in Title — Generality of Title Not Usually Valid Objection. — Section 52 of the Constitution was never intended to hamper honest legislation, nor to require that the title should be an index or digest of the various provisions of the act, and it is rare that the generality of the title is a valid objection thereto. The fact that many things of a diverse nature are authorized or required to be done in the body of the act, though not expressed in its title, is not objectionable, if what is authorized by the act is germane to the object expressed in the title, or has a legitimate and natural association therewith, or is congruous therewith.

17. STATUTES — Expression of Object in Title — Doubt Resolved in Favor of Sufficiency of Title. — If there is doubt as to the sufficiency of the title of an act, the doubt must be resolved in favor of its sufficiency, as courts will not declare an act of the Legislature unconstitutional unless it is plainly so.

18. STATUTES — Expression of Object in Title — Title Should Fairly State General Subject Covered. — The title of an act must not be made a cover for surreptitious or incongruous legislation, nor be such as to mislead the Legislature or the people but should fairly state the general subject covered by the body of the act.

19. STATUTES — Expression of Object in Title — Sufficient if Title Not Misleading and Things Done Are Germane. — If the title of an act be not misleading and if those things are done which are germane to it, that is enough.

20. STATUTES — Expression of Object in Title — Purpose of Constitutional Provision. — Section 52 of the Constitution was intended to prevent the insertion of rights or reservations which cannot bear the light of public scrutiny and which, if uncovered, would not be tolerated.

21. STATUTES — Expression of Object in Title — Sufficient if Matters Connected with and Related to Single Subject. — It is not necessary that the connection, or relationship, of matters in an act shall be logical; it is...