Moore v. Alexander

• Decision Date: 20 January 1908
• Citation: 107 S.W. 395,85 Ark. 171
• Parties: MOORE v. ALEXANDER
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

107 S.W. 395

85 Ark. 171

MOORE v. ALEXANDER

Supreme Court of Arkansas

January 20, 1908

Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court; Edward W. Winfield, Judge reversed.

STATEMENT BY THE COURT.

April 29, 1901, the General Assembly passed an "act to provide for the completion of the State Capitol building, and for other purposes." Section 13 contained the following:

"That for the purpose of raising funds to carry out the provisions of this act, the sum of one million ($ 1,000,000) dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary be and the same is hereby appropriated for the purpose of completing the new State Capitol building, and, in order to raise said sum, a tax of one-half of one mill on each dollar of taxable property in this State is hereby levied said tax of one-half of one mill to be levied and collected for the year 1901, and annually thereafter as all other taxes are now levied and collected until the said Capitol building is completed."

Provisions for the raising of other funds for the completion of the building, and many details in regard to the work were contained in the act.

The General Assembly of 1903 passed another act entitled "An act to provide for the completion of the State Capitol building, and for other purposes."

A Board of Capitol Commissioners was appointed, and various provisions made looking to the completion of said capitol in the manner therein prescribed.

Section 10 of said act contained this provision:

"That, for the purpose of raising funds to carry out the provisions of this act, the sum of one million dollars ($ 1,000,000), or so much thereof as may be necessary, be and the same is hereby appropriated, for the purpose of completing the new State Capitol building; and, in order to raise said sum, there is hereby appropriated all funds in the State Treasury heretofore collected for or appropriated as a State Capitol fund, and the tax of one-half of one mill on each dollar of taxable property now levied in accordance with the act provided for the completion of the State Capitol building, and for other purposes, approved April 29, 1901, shall be continued to be levied and collected and appropriated as provided in said act until the said Capitol is fully completed." Acts 1903, c. 146, p. 257.

Neither the General Assembly of 1905 or of 1907 renewed the levy or appropriated the fund arising from this tax levy for the purpose of completing said Capitol Building or any other purpose.

This is an action by one of the Capitol Commissioners to mandamus the Auditor to issue a warrant for his compensation and mileage in attending a meeting of the Capitol Commission. The Auditor refused to do so on the ground that there was no appropriation available therefor. The mandamus was awarded, and the Auditor has appealed.

Judgment reversed and mandamus denied.

William F. Kirby, Attorney General, and Daniel Taylor, Assistant, for appellant.

It is written: "No money shall be drawn from the treasury except in pursuance of specific appropriation made by law, the purpose of which shall be distinctly stated in the bill, and the maximum amount which may be drawn shall be specified in dollars and cents, and no appropriations shall be for a longer period than two years." Art. 5, § 28, Const. "No moneys shall be paid out of the treasury until the same shall have been appropriated by law, and then only in accordance with said appropriation." Art. 16, § 12, Const. This appeal calls for the construction of the foregoing provisions of the Constitution, together with the following statutes: Kirby's Digest, § § 3415 to 3418, 3441. The primary object of these provisions of the Constitution and the statutes above named is to prevent the expenditure of the people's money without their consent in the organic law or constitutional acts of the Legislature. A specific appropriation by the Legislature in the manner set out in section 28 art. 5, Const., is an absolute prerequisite, a condition precedent, to the drawing from, or paying out of, the treasury of any money. Its scope is all-comprehending. No money at all can legally be drawn from the treasury, except under the forms of law declared by the people in their Constitution, or by their representatives in the Legislature. Supra; 27 Ark. 129; 42 Ark. 233; 28 Ark. 348. Section 10 of the act of April 16, 1903, appropriating "the sum of one million dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the purpose of completing the new State Capitol building," is a "specific appropriation," with its "purpose distinctly stated," and the "maximum amount" which may be drawn thereunder "specified in dollars and cents," and the further provision in that act that the tax levied "shall continue to be levied and collected and appropriated as provided in said act until the State Capitol building is fully completed" cannot be said to be a further appropriation of the taxes so levied to the payment for the completion of the building, since the amount of the appropriation is specified, fixed and limited to one million dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. "No appropriations shall be for a longer period than two years." Had the framers of the Constitution intended this part of sec. 28 to apply only to the general fund, they would have so expressed it, either in that section or in section 29, which applies to general appropriations, or in section 30, which applied to special appropriations. Supporting appellant's contention, see 13 Kan. 223; 47 Kan. 119; 11 Mont. 553; 5 Neb. 566; 66 Mo. 385; 64 Mo. 526; 107 Ill. 495.

Murphy, Coleman & Lewis, for appellee.

The narrow, strict, and literal interpretation of the Constitution insisted upon by the Attorney General is not in accord with the general and well-established rule of interpretation. Black on Interpretation of Laws, 13, § 7. The court is not limited, as is insisted by appellant, to an interpretation of the particular section relied upon, but it may resort to the principles of construction, looking to the instrument as a whole. Art. 5, § 28, Const., deals exclusively with the legislative department. Reading this section and section 29 together, it appears that section 28 is dealing with appropriations out of the general revenues of the State for the ordinary expenses of the three departments of government. In article 16, Const., dealing exclusively with finance and taxation, there is another provision, almost identical with section 28, supra, but with the notable difference that it omits the limitation of two years. Art. 16, § § 11, 12. The presumption is that the Constitution contains no redundant provisions and no repetitions, and that, if certain restrictions are thrown around appropriations out of the general revenue fund which are not repeated in the article providing for the levy of special tax for special purposes, which purposes may or may not have to do with the regular period of two years applying to the ordinary affairs of State, such restrictions were purposely omitted, and were not intended to apply to legislative action with reference to such special appropriations. Inasmuch as some effect must be given to every sentence, phrase and word of a Constitution, under the rules of construction, some effect and meaning must be given to sec. 12, art. 16; and yet, unless a different meaning is given to it from that of sec. 28, art. 5, it is absolutely without effect, and must be read out of the Constitution, for, if it is not different, its entire elimination would in no wise change the Constituton. When the Legislature levies a special tax for a special purpose, the proceeds are forever appropriated to the specific purpose for which the tax was levied. Art. 16, § 11. And such proceeds are not subject to legislative control. If section 3416, Kirby's Digest, is held to require the proceeds of a special tax to be covered in the general revenue fund, it would to that extent be unconstitutional, bcause the unexpended balance of the special levy for the State Capitol building can never be covered into the general revenue fund until the object of such levy has been fully accomplished. 66 Ark. 82; Id. 39; 4 Md. 189; 4 Neb. 216; 9 Mont. 370.

OPINION

HILL, C. J., ...