Ex parte Smith, 4 Div. 656.

• Decision Date: 21 January 1941
• Docket Number: 4 Div. 656.
• Citation: 30 Ala.App. 24,200 So. 114
• Parties: EX PARTE SMITH, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
• Court: Alabama Court of Appeals

200 So. 114

30 Ala.App. 24

EX PARTE SMITH, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY.

4 Div. 656.

Court of Appeals of Alabama

January 21, 1941

Original proceeding by T. Weller Smith, as Director of Public Safety for a writ of mandamus to require G. A. Ward, as Judge of the Inferior Court of Geneva County, to vacate and annul an order reinstating a driver's license which had been revoked.

Writ granted.

Thos S. Lawson, Atty. Gen., and Prime F. Osborn, Asst. Atty. Gen for petitioner.

E. C. Boswell, of Geneva, for respondent.

SIMPSON Judge.

Proceeding of mandamus against Hon. G. A. Ward, as Judge of the Inferior Court of Geneva County.

One John Easter Griggs was convicted of the charge of driving an automobile upon a public highway of said county "while under the influence of intoxicating liquor." Thereupon and in accordance with the provisions of the Driver's License Act of Alabama, General Acts, Reg. and Spec.Sess., 1939, p. 300 et seq., the Director of Public Safety, petitioner here, was duly notified of said conviction, and accordingly revoked the driver's license of said Griggs.

The Director acted pursuant to Section 10, subsection (h) 2, of said Act, which is: "(h) The Director of Public Safety shall forthwith revoke the license of any driver upon receiving a record of such driver's conviction of any of the following offenses, when such conviction has become final: * * * 2. Driving a motor vehicle by a person who is an habitual user of narcotic drugs or while intoxicated."

Thereafter, and within thirty days, said Griggs filed with said Inferior Court a petition for the restoration of his driver's license under subsection (n) of Section 10 of said Act, pp. 305-6, which provides: "(n) Any person denied a license or whose license has been cancelled, suspended or revoked by the Director of Public Safety except where such cancellation or revocation is mandatory under the provisions of this Act shall have the right to file a petition within thirty (30) days thereafter for a hearing on the matter in the County Court, Circuit Court or court of like jurisdiction in the county wherein such person resides, and such court is hereby vested with jurisdiction and it shall be its duty to set the matter for hearing upon thirty (30) days' written notice to the Director of Public Safety, and thereupon to take testimony and examine into the facts of the case and to determine whether the petitioner is entitled to a license or subject to suspension, cancellation, or revocation of license under the provision of this Act." (Emphasis supplied.)

Upon the hearing of said petition the Director of Public Safety, by proper pleading, challenged the authority and jurisdiction of said Inferior Court to hear and determine the petition. The court overruled these various pleas, decreed that the offense for which Griggs had been convicted was not one in which revocation of his driver's license was mandatory, that subsection (h) 2 and the exception in subsection (n), Section 10 of the Act, supra, were not controlling, and ordered that said driver's license be restored to him.

This petition for mandamus challenges the propriety of the aforesaid order of the Inferior Court of Geneva County and prays that this court direct the judge of said Inferior Court to vacate and annul the said order reinstating Griggs' driver's license.

It is the opinion of this court that said Inferior Court acted wholly without authority of law in entertaining the petition of Griggs and in ordering the restoration of his driver's license.

The contention of respondent here, as was that of Griggs before the Inferior Court, is that the conviction in the Inferior Court was...