In re Application of Miller

Decision Date27 February 1926
Docket NumberCivil 2504
Citation29 Ariz. 582,244 P. 376
PartiesIn the Matter of the Application of BERT H. MILLER for Admission to Practice as an Attorney and Counselor at Law in All of the Courts of the State of Arizona
CourtArizona Supreme Court

Original proceeding. Motion of applicant denied.

Mr. C H. Young and Mr. W. A. Ricks for Applicant.

Mr John W. Murphy, Attorney General, and Mr. Earl Anderson and Mr. Frank J. Duffy, Assistant Attorneys General, for the State.

OPINION

McALISTER, C. J.

This is an original proceeding in which Bert H. Miller seeks to be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at law in the courts of this state. His admission has been moved by a member of the Arizona bar, C. H. Young, and in support of this motion the following credentials are presented: First, a certificate of the clerk of the Supreme Court of the state of Idaho showing that he is a member of the bar of that state in good standing, and has been in the active practice in that court for more than ten years last past; second, a letter signed by the five members of the Supreme Court of the state of Idaho recommending him for admission to the bar of this state; third, the affidavit of Mr. Miller, the applicant, showing that he is forty-eight years of age, a citizen of the United States and Arizona, that he was admitted to the practice of the law in the state of Idaho more than ten years ago and since that time has been continuously and actively engaged in such practice in that state, that he has never been charged with any criminal offense and is in good standing in that court; fourth, the affidavit of J. D. Kilpatrick of Phoenix, Arizona, showing that he has been personally and well acquainted with Bert H. Miller for more than fifteen years last past, and that to his knowledge said Bert H. Miller has been continuously and actively engaged in the practice of the law for more than fifteen years last past, and that he is a man of good moral character, of honesty and integrity.

There is no question but that this showing would entitle Mr. Miller to admission under the law as it stood prior to the enactment of chapter 56, Session Laws of Arizona 1925, but with the passage of this act admission upon motion, regardless of the character of the credentials presented, seems to be prohibited; at least we undertand such is the construction placed upon the act by the board of bar examiners, and the application in this case is made upon this theory. The applicant contends, however, that this chapter is unconstitutional and void and, therefore, that his right to admission rests wholly upon the law as it stood previous to its passage. The validity of the act is attacked upon several grounds. The first is that its title does not conform to the requirements of article 4, section 13, of the Constitution of this state, which reads as follows:

"Section 13. Every act shall embrace but one subject and matters properly connected therewith, which subject shall be expressed in the title; but if any subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be embraced in the title."

Both the title and the act are short and are in this language:

"An act to amend paragraph 263, chapter 1, title 3, Revised Statutes of Arizona, 1913, Civil Code, as amended by chapter 43, Session Laws of Arizona, 1919, entitled 'Attorneys at Law'; and repealing paragraph 262 of the Revised Statutes of the state of Arizona, 1913, Civil Code, and all acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith.

"Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Arizona:

"Section 1. That paragraph 263, chapter 1, title 3, Revised Statutes of Arizona, 1913, Civil Code, as amended by chapter 43, Session Laws of Arizona, 1919, be and the same are hereby amended to read as follows:

263. Every person who shall be of full age, a resident of this state and a citizen of the United States, and of good moral character, may be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at law in all of the courts of this state, but the applicant shall first produce a certificate from the board of examiners, that he possesses sufficient learning in the law, and is of good moral character, and is possessed of sufficient ability to enable him to properly practice as an attorney and counselor at law in the courts of this state. Before any person, who has been admitted to practice any person, who has been admitted to practice in any other state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, may be allowed to take the examination of the board of examiners, he shall produce satisfactory evidence by certificate or affidavits that he is still in good standing in each state territory in which he has practiced, and by certificate from the bar association, if any there be in such states, territories or District of Columbia, that he is an attorney in good standing. No person shall be entitled to practice as an attorney and counselor at law in any of the courts of this state until he shall be licensed so to do by the Supreme Court of the state. The clerk of said Supreme Court shall be entitled to receive from each person admitted, for the issuance of any such person license certifying that paid person is entitled to practice his profession in all of the courts of this state, the sum of ten dollars; provided that an attorney practicing in another state, territory or in the District of Columbia, may be permitted on motion to be associated with local counsel in the trial of any particular action in courts of this state, and only for the purpose of such case.

"Section 2. That paragraph 262, Revised Statutes of Arizona, 1913, Civil Code, and all other acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act, be and the same are hereby repealed.

"Approved March 12, 1925."

The contention is that the title fails to state briefly or even mention any of the matters with which the act itself deals, and that it therefore violates said section 13, article 4. It is argued that this is true because no one can read the title and gain therefrom the information, or even an intimation, that in order to be admitted to practice law in this state an applicant shall be of full age, a resident of the state, and a citizen of the United States; that he must procure a certificate from the board of bar examiners showing that he possesses sufficient learning in the law, is of good moral character, and has sufficient ability to enable him to properly practice law in the courts of this state, and that everyone, regardless of the number of years he may have practiced in some other state or territory, must take an examination before a board of bar examiners.

The title discloses that the purpose of the act is to amend paragraph 263, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1913, as amended by chapter 43, Session Laws of 1919, entitled "Attorneys at Law," and to repeal paragraph 262 of the same Code. As incorporated in the Revised Statutes of 1913, this paragraph provided that "every other person" applying for admission to practice in Arizona (the preceding paragraph [262] having authorized the admission upon motion of attorneys who had been in the active practice in another state for the three years last past) should produce a certificate from the board of examiners that he possesses sufficient learning in the law and ability to practice as an attorney in this state before he could be admitted. But in 1919, in an act entitled "An act to amend paragraph 263, chapter 1, title 3, Revised Statutes of Arizona, 1913, Civil Code, entitled 'Attorneys at Law'" (chapter 43, Session Laws of that year), the legislature amended this paragraph by adding to it a provision excepting from its terms two classes of persons whose admission upon motion is permitted, namely, graduates in the law course of the University of Arizona and attorneys who, with certain other qualifications, had been admitted to practice in a court of record of another state for ten years. The seventh legislature, however, came to the conclusion that every applicant, including the two classes just mentioned, should be required to pass an examination before being admitted, and to give effect to this policy it enacted chapter 56, Session Laws of 1925, in which it amended paragraph 263, as it stood after the amendment of 1919, by eliminating the provision enacted that year permitting the admission upon motion of University graduates and those who had been admitted to practice for ten years and inserting in its stead one requiring every applicant, regardless of the number of years he had practiced, to pass an examination, and then specifically repealed paragraph 262.

It is clear, therefore, that paragraph 263 and both acts amendatory thereof concern the one subject "attorneys at law," and the qualifications they must possess as a prerequisite to their admission to practice in this state. The title of chapter 56, which, it is claimed, does not embrace the contents of the body of the act itself, does not, it is true contain detailed information relative thereto, but no one can read it without being advised that the act deals with the general subject "attorneys at law," and when this term as a subject of legislation is spoken of those aspects of the question legislative bodies ordinarily concern themselves with, namely, the admission and disbarment of attorneys, naturally come to mind. The fact that it fails to mention, even briefly, the various phases of the subject treated in the act is immaterial if these matters are germane to or properly if these matters are germane to or properly connected with the general subject, and nothing, it seems to us, could be more...

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  • Application of Kaufman
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
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    ...with the court. Whether he shall be admitted, or whether he shall be disbarred, is a judicial and not a legislative question.' Re Miller, 29 Ariz. 582, 244 P. 376; Matter of Mosness, 39 Wis. 509, 20 Am.Rep. In re Day, 181 Ill. 73, 54 N.E. 646, 50 L.R.A. 519; In re Burton, 67 Utah 118, 246 P......
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