Ex parte Steckler

• Decision Date: 26 February 1934
• Docket Number: 32769
• Citation: 154 So. 41,179 La. 410
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: Ex parte STECKLER et al

154 So. 41

179 La. 410

Ex parte STECKLER et al

No. 32769

Supreme Court of Louisiana

February 26, 1934

Rehearing Denied March 14, 1934

Application denied.

Thomas Gilmore, of New Orleans, for petitioners Lester Richard Steckler and Hilary Joseph Gaudin.

Paul M Hebert and Henry G. McMahon, both of New Orleans, for Loyola University, amicus curiae.

Charles Rosen, Walker B. Spencer, J. Blanc Monroe, Joseph W. Carroll and Esmond Phelps, all of New Orleans, Law Committee of Administrators of the Tulane Education Fund.

Robert Lee Tullis, of Baton Rouge, for Louisiana State University Law School.

Charles Vernon Porter, of Baton Rouge, C. Arthur Provost, of New Iberia, and Eldon S. Lazarus, of New Orleans, for Louisiana State Bar Ass'n.

O'NIELL Chief Justice. ST. PAUL, J., absent.

OPINION

O'NIELL, Chief Justice.

Two graduates of a law school are applying to be licensed to practice law, without having to pass the examination prescribed by the Supreme Court Examining Committee, as required by Act No. 113 of 1924, and by rule 15 of the Supreme Court Rules (171 La. xiv), fixing the requirements for admission to the bar. The petitioners contend that the statute and the rule of the court are unconstitutional in denying the right of a holder of the degree of Bachelor of Laws from Tulane University to practice law without further examination. The degree of Bachelor of Laws was conferred upon Steckler by Tulane University, and upon Gaudin by Loyola University. Gaudin does not contend that the act of 1924 and rule 15 of the Supreme Court Rules, requiring all applicants for admission to the bar to pass an examination by the Supreme Court Examining Committee, are unconstitutional in requiring graduates of the law school of Loyola University or of Louisiana State University to pass such an examination, unless the statute and the rule of court are unconstitutional in requiring the graduates of the law department of Tulane University to pass such an examination. Gaudin's argument is that, if the act of 1924 and the court rule adopted in pursuance thereof are unconstitutional -- as he contends they are -- in so far as they attempt to require a graduate of the Law School of Tulane University to pass an examination by the Supreme Court Examining Committee, the statute and the rule of court should be declared entirely unconstitutional, because, to leave the statute in effect against the graduates of the two other law schools in this state, but without effect against the graduates of Tulane University Law School, would be making a law which would discriminate against the two other law schools, and which the Legislature did not intend to make. Gaudin's argument in that respect is supported by the fact that the Legislature has declared, by Act No. 93 of 1908, that the diplomas and degrees granted by the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University "shall be recognized by the courts and other officials of Louisiana as entitling the graduates holding said diplomas or degrees to the same rights, immunities and privileges in the State of Louisiana as the diplomas or degrees of any other institution of learning whatsoever," and by the fact that the Legislature has since declared, by Act No. 136 of 1912, in the same language as in Act No. 93 of 1908, that the diplomas and degrees granted by Loyola University shall have the same recognition as those granted by any other university or institution of learning. Gaudin's alternative argument, therefore, is so well founded that we consider that he has the same interest that Steckler has in the question of constitutionality of Act No. 113 of 1924 and of rule 15 of the Supreme Court Rules.

Act No. 113 of 1924 requires every applicant for admission to the bar -- even those holding a diploma from a law school -- to pass a satisfactory examination before the examining committee appointed by the Supreme Court, on such subjects and under such rules as may be prescribed by the court; and the statute provides that applicants for admission to the bar who have not received a diploma from an approved law school shall have pursued a course of study under the supervision of a reputable Louisiana lawyer for a period not less than three years.

Rule 15 of the Supreme Court Rules (171 La. xiv) provides for the appointment of the examining committee, prescribes the particular subjects of the examination, and adds to the qualifications and conditions required by the statute.

The claim of the petitioners here is founded upon a simple statement of the laws on the subject. By Act No. 43 of 1884, which was adopted as an amendment of the Constitution of 1879, Tulane University of Louisiana was created, by the changing of the name of the University of Louisiana, in New Orleans, to that of Tulane University of Louisiana. By the terms of the constitutional amendment, the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Education Fund was incorporated as the successor of the Board of Administrators of the University of Louisiana, which had been incorporated by Act No. 320 of 1855; and the constitutional amendment declared: That the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Education Fund, as administrators of the University of Louisiana, shall have the rights, powers, privileges, franchises and immunities, now vested in the Board of Administrators of the University of Louisiana by existing laws." The administration and control of all of the property of the old university was ordered turned over to the new board, and was exempted from taxation; and, in consideration therefor, the new board was obligated to use perpetually the powers conferred by the act, and all powers vested in the board, for the purpose of maintaining in the city of New Orleans a great university, devoted to the intellectual, moral, and industrial education and advancement of the youth of the state, under the terms of the donation by Paul Tulane. In further consideration of the powers conferred upon the new board of administrators, the board was obliged to waive all claim for appropriation by the state, and to give, continuously, free tuition to one student, in the academic department, from each senatorial district, and from each representative district or parish, to be nominated by the member of the Legislature, from among tim bona fide residents of his district or parish.

Among the rights or privileges that were vested originally in the Board of Administrators of the University of Louisiana, and that were therefore transferred to the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Education Fund, by the constitutional amendment of 1884, was the right to confer diplomas and degrees; which right was given originally by section 9 of Act No. 320 of 1855, which section became section 1359 of the Revised Statutes of 1870, viz.:

"They [the administrators] shall have the right of conferring under their common seal, on any person whom they may think worthy thereof, all literary honors and degrees known and usually granted by any university or college in the United States or elsewhere.

"The degree of Bachelor of Law * * * granted by them shall authorize the person on whom it is conferred to practice law * * in this State."

The provisions of the constitutional amendment of 1884 were recognized in article 255 of the Constitution of 1898 and in article 256 of the Constitution of 1913, thus:

"The Tulane University of Louisiana, located in New Orleans, is hereby recognized as created and to be developed in accordance with the provisions of legislative act No. 43, approved July 5, 1884, and by approval of the electors, made part of the Constitution of the State."

The same recognition appears in section 24 of article 12 of the Constitution of 1921, viz.:

"The Tulane University of Louisiana, located in New Orleans, is hereby recognized as created and to be developed in accordance with the provisions of the Legislative Act No. 43, approved July 5, 1884."

It is observed that, in the adoption of section 24 of article 12 of the Constitution of 1921, there was omitted the latter part of the language of article 255 of the Constitution of 1898 and of article 256 of the Constitution of 1913, viz., "and by approval of the electors, made part of the Constitution of the State." We shall not give further consideration to the omission of that expression, because it seems to have been only descriptive of the constitutional amendment, in accordance with which Tulane University was said to be "created and to be developed"; and it is likely that the writers of section 24 of article 12 of the Constitution considered that that part of the description of the constitutional amendment, relating to Tulane University, was unnecessary and superfluous description. The purpose of the reference to Tulane University, in each of the three Constitutions adopted after the amendment of the Constitution of 1879 pursuant to Act No. 43 of 1884, was to recognize that the constitutional amendment, according to Act No. 43 of 1884, was an irrevocable contract between the state of Louisiana and the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Education Fund. It is so declared in the seventh section of Act No. 43 of 1884, viz.:

"That this act, in all its provisions, be and the same is hereby declared to be a contract between the State of Louisiana and the Administrators of the 'Tulane Education Fund,' irrevocably vesting the said Administrators of the 'Tulane Education Fund,' with the powers, franchises, rights, immunities and exemptions herein enumerated and hereby granted, and irrevocably binding said administrators to develop, foster and maintain as above provided, the University as aforesaid in the city of New Orleans, subject to and in accordance with the terms of this act."

The argument of the petitioners...