Fortune v. Braswell

• Decision Date: 11 March 1913
• Citation: 77 S.E. 818,139 Ga. 609
• Parties: FORTUNE v. BRASWELL.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

77 S.E. 818

139 Ga. 609

FORTUNE v. BRASWELL.

Supreme Court of Georgia

March 11, 1913

Syllabus by the Court.

Civil Code 1910, §§ 3712, 3713, which provide that when the relation of employer and employé, or of landlord and tenant of agricultural lands, or of landowner and cropper, has been created by written contract, or by parol contract partly performed, made in the presence of one or more witnesses, it shall be unlawful to employ, or to rent lands to, or to furnish land to be cropped by, such employé, tenant, or cropper, without first obtaining the written consent of the employer, landlord, or landowner, as the case may be, and providing that any person violating the statute shall, at the option of the party alleged to have been injured, be prosecuted and upon conviction punished as for a misdemeanor or shall be liable in damages in a sum not less than double the wages of the employé, or, in case of landlord and tenant or landowner and cropper, in a sum not less than double the rental value of the land, which is fixed at 1,000 pounds of middling lint cotton to the plow, offends the constitutional guaranty that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, except by due process of law, in that power is delegated to a private individual, at his option, to classify the act denounced by the statute to be a crime punishable by imprisonment or to be a private wrong redressable in damages and further because it lays an unreasonable restriction on the right to contract with reference to one's labor or the right to employ such labor.

Certified Questions from Court of Appeals.

Action between Mrs. R. B. Fortune and W. G. Braswell. Certified questions from Court of Appeals. Questions answered.

O. Roberts, of Monroe, and R. B. Fortune, of Logansville, for plaintiff in error.

R. L. Cox, of Monroe, for defendant in error.

EVANS P.J.

The Constitution of Georgia declares that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, except by due process of law." Civil Code 1895,§ 5700. The Court of Appeals desires an instruction whether Civil Code, §§ 3712, 3713, are violative of this provision of the Constitution. These sections are as follows:

"Sec. 3712. Interfering with Certain Relations.--When the relation of employer and employé, or of landlord and tenant of agricultural lands, or of landowner and cropper has been created by written contract or by parol contract partly performed, made in the presence of one or more witnesses, it shall be unlawful for any person during the life of said contract, made and entered into in the manner above prescribed, to employ, or to rent lands to, or to furnish lands to be cropped by said employé, tenant, or cropper, or to disturb in any way said relation, without first obtaining the written consent of said employer, landlord, or landowner, as the case may be.

"Sec. 3713. Penalty.--Any person violating the provisions of the foregoing section shall, at the option of the party alleged to have been injured, be prosecuted and upon conviction punished as for a misdemeanor; or he shall be liable in damages to said alleged injured party, as follows: (1) In case of employer and employé, the damages shall not be less than double the amount of wages or salary for the entire period of said contract. (2) In case of landlord and tenant, or of landowner and cropper, the damages shall not be less than double the annual rental value of the lands rented or cropped, said value to be fixed at 1,000 pounds of middling lint cotton to the plow."

It is urged that an enforcement of the statute will deprive a citizen of his right to labor and to contract with reference thereto without incurring the penalties written in the statute, and therefore deprive him of his property. "The right of property preserved by the Constitution is the right not only to possess and enjoy it, but also to acquire it in...