Dougherty County Council of Architects v. Beckanstin

• Decision Date: 16 July 1959
• Docket Number: No. 1,No. 37720,37720,1
• Citation: 100 Ga.App. 84,110 S.E.2d 85
• Parties: DOUGHERTY COUNTY COUNCIL OF ARCHITECTS, etc., et al. v. H. H. BECKANSTIN
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 85

110 S.E.2d 85

100 Ga.App. 84

DOUGHERTY COUNTY COUNCIL OF ARCHITECTS, etc., et al. v. H. H. BECKANSTIN.

No. 37720.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 1.

July 16, 1959.

Rehearing Denied July 28, 1959.

Judgment Reversed Nov. 4, 1959.

See 111 S.E.2d 361.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Where, by the terms of Code (Ann.) § 84-320, the General Assembly reposed the power to revoke the certificate of a licentiate, in the State Board for Examination, Qualification and Registration of Architects, making such action by the board final and conclusive, the superior court is without power to issue to such board a writ of certiorari in a given case where the board has revoked such a certificate, in order to review the action of the board.

2. Where this court discovers from the record that a judgment of a superior court has been rendered in a matter where it has no jurisdiction of the subject-matter, and the case has been brought here for review by writ of error, this court will, either on motion or ex mero motu, reverse the judgment so rendered.

On March 18, 1959, the Superior Court of Fulton County entered the following order: 'The foregoing certiorari coming on for hearing before me and after argument and review of the record, the court finds that there is no evidence of a material misrepresentation and it is ordered that the writ of certiorari is sustained and the action of the Georgia Board for Examination, Qualification and Registration of Architects in revoking the license and certificate of H. H. Beckanstin is reversed and set aside.' On March 30, 1959, the court entered the following order: 'The order of this court in the above stated case dated March 18, 1959, is hereby amended by adding thereto the following: It is the judgment of the court that petitioner, H. H. Beckanstin, is exonerated of the charge made against him in the complaint in this case.'

The plaintiffs in error in the oresent bill of exceptions assign error upon these orders and allege: 'Said court should not have found that there was no evidence to sustain the finding of the State Board for Examination, Qualification and Registration of Architects in revoking the defendant's license, and should not have written a final judgment in this case, and should not have exonerated the defendant, Beckanstin, of the charges made against him in the complaint in this case, but should have dismissed the certiorari, or should have sustained the certiorari and remanded the case back to the State Board for Examination, Qualification and Registration of Architects for another hearing.'

Eugene Cook, Atty. Gen., J. R. Parham, Asst. Atty. Gen., James P. Groton, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Wotton, Long & Jones, Grigsby H. Wotton, Atlanta, for defendants in error.

QUILLIAN, Judge.

1. Code (Ann.) § 84-319 provides in part: 'The State Board for Examination, Qualification and Registration of Architects may revoke any certificate after 30 days' motice, with grant of hearing to the holder thereof, if proof satisfactory to said board shall be presented, in the following cases: (a) When it is shown that the certificate was obtained through fraud or misrepresentation. * * *' By terms of Code, § 84-320 it is provided: 'Proceedings for the revocation of a certificate shall be begun by filing written charges against the accused with the Board for the Examination and Registration of Architects through the Joint-Secretary, State Examining Boards. A time and place for the hearing of the charges shall be fixed by the said Board. Where personal service or service through counsel cannot be effected, service may be made by publication once a week for four weeks in a newspaper published in the county wherein the holder of said certificate is supposed to reside. At the hearing the accused shall have the right to be represented by counsel, to introduce evidence, and to examine and cross-examine witnesses. The Joint-Secretary shall make a written report of the findings of the Board, which report shall be filed with the Secretary of State, and which shall be conclusive.' (Italics ours.)

While we deem it unfortunate that the General Assembly did not see fit to provide for an appeal to the superior court for licentiates from decisions of the Georgia State Board for the Examination and Registration of Architects upon questions involving the revocation of licenses and certificates of architects, and thus expedite and facilitate access to the courts as the General Assembly has done with reference to the various other profissional boards (See Title 84 of the Code of 1933, Annotated); and whether or not the board in the present case could be...