People v. Bielmeyer
| Decision Date | 28 August 1967 |
| Citation | 54 Misc.2d 466,282 N.Y.S.2d 797 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, etc., v. Warren F. BIELMEYER, Richard J. Ball, James T. Dommer, Jerome A. Mingle, David J. Pyc, Robert Cullen, Thomas J. Bojarski, David L. Masters, Gary J. Wesolowski, Fred Scinta, Defendants. |
| Court | New York City Court |
All the defendants herein have been charged with violating Section 381, subd. 6 of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law, which makes it unlawful 'for any person to operate or ride upon a motorcycle unless he wears a protective helmet of a type approved by the commissioner'. Each defendant entered a plea of 'Not Guilty' on the ground that the law in question is unconstitutional and therefore null and void. All defendants admitted, agreed and stipulated that the factual allegations made against them were true, i.e. that on the date, time and place in question they did in fact operate or ride upon a motorcycle without wearing a protective helmet approved by the Commissioner.
In reviewing questions of constitutionality the courts are not to be concerned with the wisdom, expediency, necessity or desirability of a law. These are considerations exclusively within the province of the legislature of the people acting in a representative capacity. So long as it acts within constitutional bounds, the legislature has almost unlimited and absolute power to define statutory offenses or infractions and in exercise thereof may penalize acts which before were innocent.
There is no doubt that the various legislatures in this country have taken full advantage of their broad powers to make laws covering almost every conceivable example of human conduct. It was computed by some enterprising person or persons that in March of 1959 there were a total of 1,156,644 laws on the United States federal and state statute books, (not including city, town and village ordinances). Further, it appears that the compulsion to say 'There ought to be a law' is not of recent origin but dates back to the time of King Urnammu about 2145 B.C.
Certainly not all these laws are wise, expedient, necessary or desirable. Certainly, also, the court has no doubt that many of these laws do nothing but consume the time of courts and law enforcement agencies and the money of the taxpayers, both of which could be spent on more meaningful things. There is no doubt also that much of this legislation involves the government in disciplinary or regulatory activities best left to the individual and/or to the processes of education. This broad exclusive power of the legislature is restricted only in that no enactment be made pursuant to it which is repugnant to the constitution. There are many tests of 'constitutionality' but the question of a legislation's wisdom, expediency, necessity or desirability is not one of them. In the instant case it appears that the sole test of constitutionality is whether or not the requirement to wear protective helmets is within the police power of the state. Briefly, what then is the general nature and scope of police power?
Broadly speaking 'police power' is the right and power of the people to govern themselves. It is the inherent power of the state to enact and enforce laws for the protection of its people and the advancement of the general welfare. 'Thus in a great many decisions it has been said that the police power extends to protection of the public health, safety and morals; to the securing of the public peace, good order, health, safety, morals and general welfare; to the protection of the lives, limbs, health, comfort and quiet of all persons and the protection of all property within the State, including public property; to the promotion of the comfort and welfare of society; and, in addition, to the enhancement of the public convenience and the general prosperity', (Am.Jur., Constitutional Law...
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