Shoemaker v. State

• Decision Date: 13 May 1977
• Citation: 375 A.2d 431
• Parties: William J. SHOEMAKER, III, Defendant below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff below, Appellee.
• Court: Supreme Court of Delaware

Page 431

375 A.2d 431

William J. SHOEMAKER, III, Defendant below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff below, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted Aug. 16, 1976.

Decided May 13, 1977.

Upon Appeal from Superior Court. Reversed.

Gary W. Aber of Biggs & Battaglia, Wilmington, for defendant-appellant.

Richard J. McMahon, Deputy Atty. Gen., Wilmington, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before HERRMANN, C. J., and DUFFY and McNEILLY, JJ.

DUFFY, Justice:

Defendant appeals from a Superior Court order dismissing his appeal of a conviction in a Justice of the Peace Court for disorderly conduct. We reverse.

I

The critical question in this significant case concerns neither the facts of the alleged offense nor the statute under which defendant was prosecuted. The issues center, first, on the jurisdictional basis of any review of the proceeding in the Justice of the Peace Court and, second, on the right of a non-lawyer judge to conduct that proceeding. Before discussing these questions we must place them in context.

A Justice of the Peace found defendant guilty of disorderly conduct, in violation of 11 Del.C. § 1301(1)(b), ¹ and thereafter he was sentenced to seven days imprisonment and assessed costs. ² The Magistrate who presided at trial and imposed sentence was not a lawyer. ³ Defendant appealed to the Superior Court and made the constitutional arguments we discuss today; that Court granted the State's motion to dismiss the appeal. Defendant appealed; after submission but before decision, we were advised that one of the important questions presented was then pending before the Supreme Court of the United States. For that reason this appeal was stayed to await the decision. The Supreme Court issued its opinion in North v. Russell, 427 U.S. 328, 96 S.Ct. 2709, 49 L.Ed.2d 534 (1976), and thereafter counsel briefed the effect of North on this case. With that completed, this appeal was ready for determination.

II

The significant constitutional question presented to us under North is this: Does the Delaware Justice of the Peace Court system violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by authorizing a non-lawyer judge to preside over a criminal proceeding involving charges which may result in incarceration?

That is the second of our two questions but before answering it, we must be satisfied as to our jurisdiction. In short, there must be a jurisdictional basis for review of the conviction by the Magistrate both by the Superior Court and by this Court before we may proceed. So we turn to that threshold consideration.

A.

It is settled law in Delaware that the Supreme Court "has only such powers as are granted to it by statute or the Constitution, . . .," Steigler v. Superior Court, In and For New Castle Co., Del.Supr. 252 A.2d 300, 302 (1969), cert. den., 396 U.S. 880, 90 S.Ct. 160, 24 L.Ed.2d 139 (1969), aff'd, Del.Supr., 277 A.2d 662 (1971), and that "(t)he right to . . . (appellate review) exists only when and to the extent provided in the Constitution and laws of this State." McCoy v. State, Del.Supr., 217 A.2d 496, 497 (1966). The mere presence of a constitutional question, no matter how important, is not sufficient to confer jurisdiction upon this Court.

The appellate jurisdiction of the Superior Court is similarly limited. In particular, Art. IV, § 28 of the Constitution, which prescribes the Superior Court's jurisdiction over criminal appeals from a Justice of the Peace Court, states:

"The General Assembly may by law give to any inferior courts by it established or to be established, or to one or more justices of the peace, jurisdiction of the criminal matters following, that is to say assaults and batteries, carrying concealed a deadly weapon, disturbing meetings held for the purpose of religious worship, nuisances, and such other misdemeanors as the General Assembly may from time to time, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members elected to each House, prescribe.

The General Assembly may by law regulate this jurisdiction, and provide that the proceedings shall be with or without indictment by grand jury, or trial by petit jury, and may grant or deny the privilege of appeal to the Superior Court; provided, however, that there shall be an appeal to the Superior Court in all cases in which the sentence shall be imprisonment exceeding one (1) month, or a fine exceeding One Hundred Dollars ($100.00). " (Emphasis added.)

The General Assembly has not granted the privilege of appeal in a disorderly conduct case in which the sentence of imprisonment does not exceed one month.

Citing Art. IV, § 28, the Superior Court determined that it lacked jurisdiction over defendant's appeal since his sentence was for less than one month. We agree that the plain language of the Constitution compels such a ruling. Moreover, it is equally clear that Art. IV, § 11(1)(b) ⁴ of the Constitution bars this Court from considering an appeal of the instant conviction for the same reason. But it does not necessarily follow that the law fails to provide to this defendant a right to judicial review of his conviction and sentence. On the contrary, in the absence of a right of appeal, when a sentence of incarceration has been imposed and a defendant puts in issue a substantial constitutional question challenging the jurisdiction of the Justice of the Peace to try and sentence him, we believe that justice requires that the proceeding be reviewable at least under the common law writ of certiorari. We so hold.

B.

A certiorari proceeding invokes one of the oldest common law writs, tracing its origins to the Norman Kings. 98 U.Pa.L.Rev. 733, 735 (1950). In England, the writ was used primarily by judges of the King's Bench to supervise the conduct of inferior court officers. Id. ⁵

Briefly, "certiorari is a writ issued by a superior to an inferior court of record, requiring the latter to send to the former . . . the record and proceedings in some cause already terminated, to the end that a party who considers himself aggrieved by the determination of his rights by the inferior court, . . . may have justice done him." Woolley, Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings in the Law Courts of the State of Delaware, § 894, at 623 (1906); Bicow v. Delaware Alcoholic Beverage Con. Com'n., Del.Super., 297 A.2d 397, 400 (1972). A certiorari proceeding differs fundamentally from an appeal in that the latter "brings the case up on its merits while the . . . (former) brings up the record only so that the reviewing court can merely look at the regularity of the proceedings." 4 C.J.S. Appeal and Error § 17, at 93 (1957); Schwander v. Feeney's, Del.Super., 3 Terry 198, 29 A.2d 369, 371 (1942); Godfrey v. Thompson, Del.Super., 1 Marv. 298, 300, 40 A. 1116 (1894) (dissenting opinion); Woolley, supra, § 900, at 627.

Certiorari is a proceeding both old and new. While its origins are obscure in the history of medieval England, we need look no further than the current Delaware Constitution for its present place in our legal system. Under the constitutional and statutory law of Delaware, both the Supreme and Superior Courts have authority to issue writs of certiorari. The Constitution ⁶ invests the Supreme Court with authority to issue the writ "to the Superior Court, the Court of Chancery . . ., or any of the Judges of the said courts and also to any inferior court or courts established or to be established by law and to any of the Judges thereof . . . ." See also 10 Del.C. § 142. ⁷ Simarily, the Superior Court may issue the writ ⁸ to all inferior tribunals, "particularly, the Justice of the Peace Court. ⁹ Woolley, supra, § 896, at 624.

Historically, an important function of certiorari was to provide a remedy for a party alleging that a lower court had acted without jurisdiction. Woolley puts it this way: the writ permits review for "a party who considers himself aggrieved by the determination of his rights by the inferior court, without or in excess of its jurisdiction or without compliance with the requirements of law," so that justice may be done for him. Woolley, supra, § 894, at 623. The point was made with more pertinent precision by Chief Justice Layton, writing for a three-Judge Court, in Becker v. State, Del.Super., 7 W.W.Harr. 454, 185 A. 92, 96 (1936), in language peculiarly applicable here. That was a certiorari proceeding to review a Municipal Court conviction from which there was no appeal. The Court found that the statute in question violated the Fourteenth Amendment and thus was unconstitutional. But before so holding on the merits, the Court determined that it would consider the constitutional issue although it had not been raised in the Trial Court. The Court said:

"The jurisdiction of the lower court, by the act, is final. The right of appeal is denied. A question of grave public policy and interest is involved, and whatever may be the rule in other jurisdictions, whether founded on statute or practice, we know of no authority in this state which forbids this court, in a certiorari proceeding, to determine the constitutionality of a statute under which a conviction was had in an inferior court, with no right of appeal, even if the constitutional question was not there presented." Id.

We approve those views.

C.

We think it clear that, under these statements of Delaware law, certiorari was available to this defendant to challenge in the Superior Court the jurisdiction of the Justice of the Peace Court to try and sentence him to jail without a non-lawyer judge. As in Becker, the act of the Justice of the Peace was final (sentence had been imposed); the right of appeal was denied (by Art. IV, § 28); a question of grave public policy and interest was involved (did the sentence imposed by a non-lawyer judge violate the Fourteenth Amendment?); and no other basis for review was available. See 14 C.J.S. Certiorari § 37, at 178 (1939) and cases cited therein; 51 C.J.S. supra, Justices of Peace at 443....