Peel Splint Coal Co v. State

• Decision Date: 06 October 1892
• Citation: 36 W.Va. 802,15 S.E. 1000
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Peel Splint Coal Co. v. State.

15 S.E. 1000

36 W.Va. 802

Peel Splint Coal Co.

v.State.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Oct. 6, 1892.

Constitutional Law—"Scrip" Act—Laborers' Wages — Payment in Other than Lawful Money — "Screening" Act — Weighing and Measuring Coal—Indictments Drawn by Defendant—Validity.

1. On the 7th day of March, 1891, the legislature passed an act prohibiting any corporation, company, firm, or person engaged in any trade or business, either directly or indirectly, to issue, sell, give, or deliver, to any person employed by such corporation, company, firm, or person, in payment of wages due such laborer, or as advances for labor not due, any scrip, token, draft, check, or other evidence of indebtedness payable or redeemable otherwise than in lawful money; and, if any such scrip, token, draft, check, or other evidence of indebtedness be so issued, sold, given, or delivered to such laborer, it shall be construed, taken, and held in all courts and places to be a promise to pay the sum specified therein in lawful money by the corporation, company, firm, or person issuing, selling, giving, or delivering the same to the person named therein or to the holder thereof; and providing, further, that a violation of this section on the part of such corporation, etc., shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment. And on the 9th day of March, 1891, the legislature passed another act for weighing and measuring coal at the place where mined, before the same is screened, which provided that all coal mined and paid for by weight shall be weighed in the car in which it is removed from the mine, before it is screened, and shall be paid for according to the weight so ascertained, at such price per ton as may be agreed on by such owner or operator and the miners who mined the same; and coal mined and paid for by measure shall be paid for according to the number of bushels marked upon each car in which it is removed from the mine, and before it is screened, and the price paid for each bushel so ascertained shall be such as may be agreed on as aforesaid; and provided, further, that a violation of the act by any corporation, etc., should be a misdemeanor punishable by fine and imprisonment. Held, that neither of these acts is in violation of the constitution of this state, nor of that of the United States, but that both acts, when applied to the facts of this case, are within the scope of legislative authority.

2. The principles of constitutional and statutory construction laid down by this court in Osburn v. Stealey, 5 W. Va. 85; Slack v. Jacob, 8 "W. Va. 612; and State v. Workman, 14 S. E. Rep. 9, 35 W. Va. 367, —approved and reaffirmed.

3. In this state the defendant cannot be permitted to frame the indictment under which he is to be prosecuted for an alleged violation of law.

English and Brannon, JJ., dissenting.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error to circuit court, Kanawha county.

The Peel Splint Coal Company was convicted of a violation of Act March 9, 1891, which provides for the weighing and measuring of coal at the place where mined, before the same is screened, and brings error. Affirmed.

The Peel Splint Coal Company was convicted of a violation of Act March 7, 1891, which prohibits employers from issuing scrip not redeemable in money, in payment of wages due to laborers, and brings error. Affirmed.

The record embraces four indictments, but two of them were not considered, because they were drawn by counsel for defendant, and presented questions In a moot form.

Brown, Jackson & Knight, Mollohan & McClintic, and.St. Clair & Gaines, for plaintiff in error.

J. H. Ferguson, C. C. Watts, and Alfred Caldwell, Atty. Gen., for the State.

Lucas, P. These cases come before us on judgments of the circuit court of Kanawha county pronounced in them in June, 1891, wherein the Peel Splint Coal Company was defendant, and the state of West Virginia was prosecutor, upon indictments under chapters 76 and 82, respectively, of the Acts of the Legislature of 1891. Those acts are as follows:

"An act in relation to the payment of laborers' wages in anything other than lawful money, and in relation to the rates of goods and supplies to laborers by their employers at excessive prices. [Passed March 7, 1891.]

"Be it enacted by the legislature of West Virginia:

"(1) It shall be unlawful for any corporation, company, firm, or person engaged in any trade or business, either directly or indirectly, to issue, sell, give, or deliver, to any person employed by such corporation, company, firm, or person, in payment of wages due such laborer, or as advances for labor not due, any scrip, token, draft, check, or other evidence of indebtedness, payable or redeemable otherwise than in lawful money; and, if any such scrip, token, draft, check, or other evidence of indebtedness, be so issued, sold, given, or delivered to such laborer, it shall be construed, taken, and held in all courts and places to be a promise to pay the sum specified therein in lawful money by the corporation, company, firm, or person issuing, selling, giving or delivering the same to the person named therein, or to the holder thereof. And the corporation, company, firm, or person so issuing, selling, giving, or delivering the same shall, moreover, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty-five-dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, and, at the discretion of the court, the officer or agent of the corporation, company, or firm, or the person issuing, selling, giving, or delivering the same, may be imprisoned not less than ten, nor more than thirty, days.

"(2) If any corporation, company, firm, or person shall coerce or compel, or attempt to coerce or compel, an employe in its, their, or his employment, to purchase goods or supplies in payment of wages due him, or to become due him, or otherwise, from any corporation, company, firm, or person, such first-named corporation, company, firm, or person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as provided in the preceding section. And if any such corporation, company, firm, or person shall, directly or indirectly, sell to any such employe, in payment of wages due or to become due him, or otherwise, goods or supplies at prices higher than the reasonable or current market value thereof at cash, such corporation, company, firm, or person shall be liable to such employe, ina civil action, in double the amount of the charges made and paid for such goods or supplies, in excess of the reasonable or correct value in cash thereof.

" (3) It shall be the duty of every court, having jurisdiction in criminal cases in which grand juries are impaneled, to give this act in charge to the grand jury."

"An act providing for weighing and measuring coal at the place where mined, before the same is screened. [Passed March 9, 1891.]

"Be it enacted by the legislature of West Virginia:

"(1) It shall be the duty of every corporation, company, or person engaged in the business of mining and selling coal by weight or measure to procure and constantly keep on hand, at the proper place, the necessary scales and measures, and whatever else may be necessary, to correctly weigh and measure the coal as mined by such corporation, company, or person; and it shall be the duty of the sealer of weights and measures, for every county in which coal is so mined and sold, to visit each coal mine operated therein, and where such scales and measures are kept, at least once in each year, and test the correctness of such scales and measures. The owner or operator of such coal mine, or any two or more of the miners working therein, may in writing require his attendance at the place where such scales and measures are kept at other times, in order to test the correctness thereof, and it shall be his duty to comply with such request as soon as he can after receiving such request. If his atendance is required by the owner or operator of such mine, or If by the miners working therein, and the scales or measures tested be found not to be correct, his fees shall be paid by the owner or operators; and if his attendance be required by the miners, and the scales or measures tested be found to be correct, his fees shall be paid by them. If in any such county there be no sealer of weights and measures, the duties herein required to be done and performed by such sealer shall be done and performed by the inspector of mines for the district of which such county forms a part.

" (2) Each car used by any such corporation, company, or person in removing coal from any coal mine shall be numbered by consecutive numbers, plainly marked, and placed and kept thereon as long as such car is so used; and if the coal from such mine Is mined, and the miners are paid according to the weight thereof for mining the same, every such car so used shall be weighed upon such tested scales, and the weight thereof shall be plainly marked and placed thereon as long as such car shall be used as aforesaid. If the coal at any such mine is mined, and the miners thereof are paid for mining the same by measure, the number of bushels of coal such car will hold, when loaded to Its capacity, shall also be plainly marked, and placed and kept thereon as long as such car is so used as aforesaid; and no car shall be used for the purpose aforesaid, after ninety days from the time this act. takes effect, until the provisions of this section are complied with.

"(3) All coal so mined and paid for by weight shall be weighed in the car in which it is removed from the mine before it is screened, and shall be paid for according to the weight so ascertained, at such price per ton as may be agreed on by such owner or operator, and the miners who mined the same; and coal mined and paid for by measure shall be paid for according to the number of bushels marked upon each car in which it is removed from the mine, and before it is screened, and the price...