People v. Langdon

• Decision Date: 20 December 1905
• Citation: People v. Langdon, 219 Ill. 189, 76 N.E. 387 (Ill. 1905)
• Parties: PEOPLE v. LANGDON.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

219 Ill. 189

76 N.E. 387

PEOPLE

v.LANGDON.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 20, 1905.

Appeal from Appellate Court, Second District.

Action by the people, for the use of the State Board of Health, against Peter R. Langdon. Judgment for defendant was affirmed by the Appellate Court, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

Rehearing denied February 7, 1906.

W. H. Stead, Atty. Gen., and J. Bert Miller, State's Atty., for the people.

Truman W. Shields, for appellee.

CARTWRIGHT, C. J.

This is an action of debt, brought by the people of the state of Illinois, for the use of the State Board of Health, against Peter R. Langdon, to recover the penalty for practicing medicine without a license from the State Board of Health, imposed by section 9 of an act entitled ‘An act to regulate the practice of medicine in the state of Illinois, and to repeal an act therein named,’ in force July 1, 1899. Laws 1899, p. 276. The circuit court sustained the demurrer of defendant to the declaration, and, the plaintiff having elected to stand by the declaration, there was judgmentin favor of the defendant. On appeal to the Appellate Court for the Second District the judgment was affirmed, and from the judgment of the Appellate Court this further appeal was prosecuted.

The act regulating the practice of medicine provides for the organization of the State Board of Health, and the granting by said board of licenses to practice medicine in this state. There were two previous acts regulating the practice of medicine, the first in force July 1, 1877, and the second July 1, 1887, each of which provided for the granting of licenses or certificates from the State Board of Health, and prohibited the practice of medicine without such license or certificate, with an exception in the first act in favor of those who had been practicing 10 years before the passage of the act. Both of the previous acts made it a penal offense to practice medicine without a license or certificate. Section 9 of the present act, under which this suit was instituted, contains the following provisions: ‘Any person practicing medicine or surgery or treating human ailments in the state without a certificate issued by this board in compliance with the provisions of this act * * * shall, for each and every instance of such practice or violation, forfeit and pay to the people of the state of Illinois, for the use of the said board of health,’ certain penalties therein mentioned; and the section concludes with this proviso: ‘Provided, that this section shall not apply to physicians who hold unrevoked certificates from the State Board of Health issued prior to the time of the taking effect of this act.’

There were six counts of the declaration, in each of which it was charged that at the respective dates therein named, in the year 1903, the defendant unlawfully practiced medicine and surgery, and treated human ailments without a license or certificate from the State Board of Health, and three of the counts contained the additional averment that he was, on July 1, 1899, illegally engaged in the practice of medicine. None of the counts averred that he began the practice of medicine after July 1, 1899, and it is contended that without that averment the declaration stated no cause of action. The question raised is whether a person who has no license to practice medicine, who began such practice before July 1, 1899, when the present act took effect, and continued such practive thereafter without a license, is subject to the penalties named in section 9. It is clear that such a person comes within the express language of that section. He is a person who is practicing medicine without a certificate issued by the State Board of Health in compliance with the provisions of the act, and who does not hold an unrevoked certificate from the State Board of Health issued prior to the taking effect of the act. Having no...