PEARSON
J., sitting.
OPINION
PEARSON, J.
In this
proceeding, it is asserted that a recent statute
providing for the incarceration of certain inmates of the
Ferris School for Boys in the New Castle County Workhouse is
violative of provisions of the state and federal
constitutions.
Paul
Robertson is a minor who was committed to the Ferris School
in 1943 by the Juvenile Court for New Castle County, upon a
finding that he was a delinquent child. An act of the General
Assembly adopted in April 1947, 46 Laws of Del
Chap. 201, provides:
"2505A.
Sec. 7A (a) That the Trustees of the Ferris School for Boys
shall have the power and authority, in case of any minor
committed to their care and custody, to make application to
any Judge of the Court of General Sessions for authority and
permission to place such minor in the New Castle County
Workhouse for correction or safekeeping.
"(b)
That such application shall be by petition and shall contain
an allegation under oath signed by a majority of the Trustees
that such minor is destructive to the program for the
rehabilitation and re-construction of other minors in said
School.
"(c)
That upon a proper petition, a Judge of the Court of General
Sessions finding as a fact, after a hearing, that such minor
is destructive to the program of the School, and is hindering
and delaying the rehabilitation and reconstruction of other
minors in said School, the said Judge may, in his discretion,
authorize the Trustees to place such minor in the New Castle
County Workhouse, with the Warden thereof acting as agent for
the said Trustees in the care and maintenance of such minor.
The incarceration of such minor in said New Castle County
Workhouse may be determinate or indeterminate as to time,
with the exception that no minor shall be incarcerated in
said
Workhouse, with the Warden as agent for the Trustees, after
such minor has reached the age of twenty-one
years; that in case of the placing of a minor in the New
Castle County Workhouse for an indeterminate time, the Warden
and Trustees, upon a petition, may request the return of such
minor to the Ferris School for Boys upon a showing that in
the opinion of the Trustees and the Warden the minor has been
rehabilitated to such an extent that he is no longer
destructive to the program of the said School.
"(d)
That in the case of any minor sent to the New Castle County
Workhouse hereunder, at the time of the admittance of the
minor to the said New Castle County Workhouse, there shall be
presented to the Warden an order of the authorizing Judge,
stating the circumstances under which the minor is committed
to the Warden of the New Castle County Workhouse as agent for
the Trustees of the Ferris School for Boys, and that in all
cases the said Warden shall hold such minor separate and
apart from the more hardened criminals. * * *"
In May
1947, the Trustees of the School petitioned the Court of
General Sessions for authority to place Robertson in the New
Castle County Workhouse, pursuant to the statute. A hearing
was held, at which Robertson and his mother were present. The
court found from the evidence that Robertson was destructive
to the program of the School, and was hindering and delaying
the rehabilitation and reconstruction of other minors in the
School, and entered an order authorizing the placement of
Robertson in the Workhouse, subject to certain reservations,
which include the power to modify the order, and a direction
that the Trustees bring Robertson before the court at the
November Term, 1947, when it will be determined whether he
shall continue to be confined at the Workhouse.
Robertson
and his mother, through their attorney, objected
to the entry of the order, and subsequently filed a motion to
vacate it on the following grounds:
"1.
That the Act in question confers judicial power on the said
Trustees, who are merely administrative officers, contrary to
Article 4, Section 1 of the Constitution of this State, which
provides that judicial power shall be vested only in the duly
constituted Courts therein mentioned.
"2.
That in providing for and permitting the transfer of the
above named minor from the said School to the Workhouse the
said Act authorizes the infliction of cruel and unusual
punishment on him, contrary to Article 1, Section 10 [11] of
the Constitution of this State, and Article 8 of the
Constitution of the United States."
The
brief in support of the motion does not deal with the first
ground, and it is assumed to have been abandoned. In any
event, I see no merit whatever in the contention that the Act
confers judicial power upon the Trustees of the School. By
the terms of the Act, the power to hear and determine whether
authority should be granted to place a minor in the Workhouse
is reposed in "any Judge of the Court of General
Sessions" to whom application is made. It is hence
unnecessary to consider whether such power could properly be
vested in the Trustees.
As to
the second ground, the citations of the constitutions are
apparently erroneous, and I take it that what was intended
was Article 1, Section 11 of the State Constitution, and
Article 8 of ...
