Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. People

• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois
• Writing for the Court: MAGRUDER
• Citation: 33 N.E. 173,143 Ill. 434
• Decision Date: 02 November 1892
• Parties: ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. PEOPLE.

143 Ill. 434
33 N.E. 173

ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO.
v.
PEOPLE.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 2, 1892.

Appeal from circuit court, Alexander county; A. K. Vickers, Judge.

Mandamus by the people of the state of Illinois against the Illinois Central Railroad Company. From a judgment in favor of the petitioner, defendant appeals.

Bailey, C. J., dissenting.

[143 Ill. 437]Green & Gilbert, for appellant.

143 Ill. 438]Lansden & Leek, for appellee.
[143 Ill. 439]MAGRUDER, J.

[143 Ill. 436]This is a petition for a mandamus, filed on April 17, 1891, in the circuit court of Alexander county, in the name of the people, by the state's attorney of that county, against the Illinois Central Railroad Company, to compel that company to cause all of its regular passenger trains coming into the city of Cairo to be brought down to the passenger station at the intersection of Second and Ohio Levee streets, in that city, and there stopped a sufficient length of time to receive and let off passengers with safety. Amendments were made to the petition, and a demurrer to the amended petition was overruled. Amendments were also made to the answer. The circuit court sustained a special demurrer to certain paragraphs of the amended answer, and, replications being filed to certain other paragraphs thereof, a jury was waived, and the cause submitted to the

[33 N.E. 174

court for trial, by agreement, upon the issues of fact. The issues of fact were found in favor of the petitioner, and judgment was rendered in accordance with the prayer of the petition. From such judgment, the present appeal is prosecuted.

One of the defenses made by the respondent below, and the disallowance of which is here assigned as error, was that section 88 of chapter 114 of the Revised Statutes, being section 25 of the act of 1874, in relation to fencing and operating [143 Ill. 440]railroads, as amended in 1879, did not pass the lower house of the legislature, and never became a law. Section 25 of ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874, read as follows: ‘Every railroad corporation shall cause its passenger trains to stop, upon the arrival at each station advertised by such corporation as a place for receiving and discharging passengers upon and from such trains, a sufficient length of time to receive and let off such passengers with safety.’ Hurd, Rev. St. 1874, p. 811, c. 114, § 63. Among the laws of 1879, printed by authority of law, and certified by the secretary of state, is the following amendatory act: ‘An act to amend section 25 of ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874. Approved May 29, 1879, in force July 1, 1879. Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois, represented in the general assembly, that section 25 of an act entitled ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874, be amended so as to read as follows: ‘Sec. 25. Time of stop at stations. Every railroad corporation shall cause its passenger trains to stop, upon its arrival at each station advertised by such corporation as a place for receiving and discharging passengers upon and from such trains, a sufficient length of time to receive and let off passengers with safety: provided, all regular passenger trains shall stop a sufficient length of time at the railroad station of county seats to receive and let off passengers with safety.’ Approved May 29th, 1879.' Laws Ill. 1879, p. 225. The amendment of 1879 to section 25 of the act of 1874 was the proviso at the end of the section. It is claimed that the amendatory act above set forth was not adopted in accordance with the requirements of the constitution, and that, [143 Ill. 441]therefore, the said proviso is not now in force. The provision of the constitution which is alleged to have been violated in the passage of the act is the first clause of section 13 of article 4. That clause requires that ‘every bill shall be read at large on three different days, in each house.’

It is not denied that the amendatory act received the signatures of the speakers of both houses, and the approval of the governor. Such verification is prima facie evidence of its validity as a legislative enactment. But it is the settled law of this state that the journals of either branch of the legislature may be resorted to for the purpose of overcoming such prima facie evidence. It may be shown from the journals that an act was not passed in the mode prescribed by the constitution, Spangler v. Jacoby, 14 Ill. 297;Turley v. County of Logan, 17 Ill. 151;Prescott v. Board, 19 Ill. 324;People v. Starne, 35 Ill. 121. Accordingly, upon the trial below, the respondent introduced in evidence the official journal of the house of representatives of the thirty-first general assembly, and read therefrom so much as refers to said amendatory act of 1879. It was thereby proven that on March 25, 1879, Mr. Graham introduced house bill No. 833, a bill for ‘An act to amend ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874,' and the title was read, and the bill was referred to the committee on railroads. That, on March 26th, that committee made the following report: ‘The committee on railroads, to whom was referred house bill No. 833, being a bill for ‘An act to amend section sixty-three of ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874,' * * * report the same back to the house, and recommend that it do pass.' That said report was adopted, and the bill ordered to its first reading. That, on March 27th, house bill No. 833, for ‘An act to amend section 63 of ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, [143 Ill. 442]1874,' was read at large a first time, and ordered to a second reading. That, on April 7th, house bill No. 833, for ‘An act to amend section 63,’ etc., as last above described, was read at large a second time, and an amendment was offered and adopted, amending section 63, line 4, by inserting the word ‘passenger’ between the words ‘regular’ and ‘trains,’ so as to make it read: ‘Provided all regular passenger trains,’ and the bill was ordered engrossed for a third reading. That, on April 12th, the committee on enrolled and engrossed bills reported that ‘house bill No. 833, a bill for ‘An act to amend section 63,’ etc.,' as last above described, had been correctly engrossed, and was therewith returned. That, on April 23d, ‘house bill No. 833, for ‘An act to amend section 63,’ etc.,' as last above described, was taken up out of its order by consent, and the following amendment was offered and adopted: ‘Amend the title of the bill by inserting the words ‘twenty-five’ in lieu of the words ‘sixty-three;’ also amend the bill by striking out the words ‘sixty-three’ and figures ‘63’ wherever they occur in the bill, and insert in lieu thereof the words ‘twenty-five’ and the figures ‘25.” That the bill was thereupon engrossed for a third reading. That, on April 25th, the committee on engrossed and enrolled bills reported that ‘house bill No. 833, a bill for ‘An act to amend section twenty-five of ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874,'' had been correctly engrossed, and was therewith returned. That, on April 30th, ‘house bill No. 833, for ‘An act to amend section sixty-three of ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874,'' (having been printed,) was read at large a third time; and the question being, ‘Shall this bill pass?’

[33 N.E. 175]

it was decided in the affirmative,-‘Yeas, [names,] 83; nays, [names,] 20. Ordered, that the title be as aforesaid, and that the clerk inform the senate thereof, and ask their concurrence therein.’ That, on May 28th, the senate reported to the house [143 Ill. 443]that it had concurred with them in the passage of ‘house bill No. 833, a bill for ‘An act to amend section twenty-five of ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874.'' That, on May 29, 1879, the joint committee on enrolled bills reported that ‘house bill No. 833, ‘An act to amend section twenty-five of an ‘Act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874,'' had been correctly enrolled, and had been on that day laid before the governor for his approval. That, on May 30th, the governor sent a message to the house informing it that he had approved and signed ‘house bill No. 833, ‘An act to amend section twenty-five of ‘An act in relation to fencing and operating railroads,’ approved March 31, 1874, in force July 1, 1874.''

The position of the counsel for the appellant is that a bill numbered 833, for an act to amend section 63, etc., was read three times in the house, and passed by it, but that a bill to amend section 25 of the act in question was not read three times, nor passed by the house. It is therefore argued that the amendatory act of 1879, which was an act to amend section 25, never became a law. We are unable to concur in the view that the act of 1879 was not legally adopted. The original act of March 31, 1874, in relation to fencing and operating railroads, contained but 39 sections, when standing by itself, and apart from any other act, upon the general subject of railroads. It was first published in the revision of the statutes issued in 1874, denominated the ‘Revised Statutes of the State of Illinois, A. D. 1874.’ Chapter 114 of this revision is entitled ‘Railroads and Warehouses,’ and contains a number of acts of the legislature upon those general subjects. In the arrangement of these acts in the chapter the original numbers of the sections of each separate act are retained; but new numbers are...