Smith v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 27 April 1917 |
| Citation | 175 Ky. 286 |
| Parties | Smith v. Commonwealth, for use, et al. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Boyle Circuit Court.
G. MURRAY SMITH for appellant.
CHENAULT HUGUELY, M. M. LOGAN, Attorney General, and CHARLES H. MORRIS, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
The appellant, G. Murray Smith, who is a resident of the state of Kentucky, was charged by a summons, in the police court of the city of Danville, with a violation of section 2739, Kentucky Statutes, and particularly with having incurred the penalty denounced by subsection 31, of that section. From a judgment of that court finding him guilty of the offense charged, he appealed to the Boyle circuit court, and a trial in that court having resulted in a judgment of conviction of the offense, from its judgment, he has appealed to this court. The action was tried in the circuit court upon an agreed statement of facts, which are as follows:
(1) The appellant, on the 4th day of June, 1916, drove on the public streets, of the city of Danville, an automobile, without first having registered it with the commissioner of motor vehicles and without having paid the license fee required by the statute, in question, for the year 1916, and at that time, exposed upon the vehicle a license tag for the year 1915, and which was for identification purposes only.
(2) The operation of motor vehicles damages the highways and roads in the state of Kentucky, many times more than the use of them by vehicles drawn by animals.
(3) The cost of registering an automobile, including the furnishing of the numbered tags, and maintaining the office of commissioner of motor vehicles, is less than the sum of one dollar for each automobile registered, and the cost of the registering of a motor vehicle of low horse power does not cost the state any more than the registration of one of high horse power.
(4) The vehicle, owned and used by appellant, was one of the touring type and of less than twenty-five horse power, and had been listed by appellant for ad valorem taxes in the county of Madison, and city of Richmond, and all ad valorem taxes due the state of Kentucky, county of Madison and city of Richmond had been paid.
The appellant offered a general demurrer to the summons, based upon the contention, that the statute, under which the prosecution against him was maintained, was contrary to the provisions of sections 51, 171, 174 and 11, of the constitution of this state, and the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution, and that the act under which the prosecution was maintained was therefore void. The demurrer was overruled, and upon the facts, the court held him to be guilty of the offense charged, as it must necessarily have done, and assessed the penalty.
The matter presented for determination is the soundness of the judgment overruling the demurrer, since there is no contention that the judgment should not have been rendered, if the statute, which appellant was accused of violating, is a valid one.
(a) It is insisted that the entire statute is invalid, because it relates to two subjects, and that only one of these is expressed in the title, and for that reason the statute is in violation of section 51, of the constitution of the state, which provides: "No law enacted by the General Assembly shall relate to more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. . . . ." The title of the act, which is chapter 88b, Kentucky Statutes, 1915, is, "An act to regulate, license and govern the use of motor vehicles." The act contains thirty-eight subsections. The first subsection defines what is meant by a motor vehicle when used in the act. By subsection 2, the owner of a motor vehicle is required to file an application, properly sworn to, in the office of the Secretary of State, with certain facts specified, to be stated in it, including the number, style and motor power of the vehicle, on blanks to be furnished by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, and pay to the commissioner a registration fee of six dollars on each motor vehicle of less than twenty-five horse power; eleven dollars on each vehicle of twenty-five horse power and less than fifty horse power; and twenty dollars on each vehicle of fifty horse power and over, and on each motorcycle a fee of five dollars. The date when the registration and registration fees fall due is provided for; that the Secretary of State furnish two distinctive number plates to the party registering the motor vehicle, and, also, a certificate of registration, containing the distinctive number assigned to the vehicle, name and address of the owner, the name of the manufacturer, and its motor power; that the registration shall be entered in alphabetical order of the owner's name in a book kept in the office of the Secretary of State, which registration shall consist of the name of the owner, his address, registration number and the date of the filing of the application, and a description of the vehicle. Subsection 3 requires the owner of a motor vehicle, when using it upon the public highway, to display the number, which corresponds with the certificate of registration, upon the front and rear of the vehicle, and the Secretary of State is authorized to change the color of the license plates from year to year. Subsection 4 provides for the carrying by each motor vehicle of lighted lamps upon the front and rear of the vehicle, and the hours, when such lights shall be exhibited. Subsection 5 provides for the registering by the manufacturers and dealers in motor vehicles of certain vehicles of each class manufactured and dealt in by them in the state of Kentucky, and prohibits the use upon any of the public highways of this state of any motor vehicles until the owner shall have complied with subsections 2, 3, 4, and 5, of the act. Subsection 6 provides for the registering of a motor vehicle which has already been registered and thereafter sold by the owner. Subsection 7 prescribes the duties of non-resident owners of automobiles, who may operate the same in this state. Subsection 8 prescribes the duties of the operator of a motor vehicle upon the public highways with regard to the signal devices with which the vehicle shall be equipped, as well as the brakes necessary to be had upon it, and prohibits the leaving standing of such a vehicle upon the highway, or the giving of a signal from it when unnecessary. Subsection 9 prescribes the speed beyond which it is unlawful to operate a motor vehicle on any public highway, and the duties of the operator of such a vehicle when so doing. Subsections 10, 11, 15, 16, and 17 prescribe the duties of the operator of a motor vehicle when horses driven on the roads are frightened by the approach of the vehicle, and, also, his duty when passing where street cars are discharging passengers upon the public streets or highways and when meeting and passing other persons upon the highways. Subsection 14 provides that the fees collected under the act shall be paid into the state treasury, to the credit of the state road fund, and shall be applied and set apart as an addition to the fund. Subsections 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 provide for the creation of a board for the examination and licensing of chauffeurs; the amount of the license fee, and the granting of badges to the chauffeurs, and the manner in which they shall be worn, and under what circumstances the chauffeur may forfeit his license, and other duties of the chauffeur. Subsection 27 provides for the payment of these license fees and their appropriation to the state road fund. Subsections 29 and 30 provide restrictions upon the operation of motor vehicles by intoxicated persons and infants, and prescribe penalties for the violation of the requirements of these sections. Subsection 28 provides for the settlements required of the board for the examination of chauffeurs. Subsections 31, 32, and 33 provide punishments for using fictitious numbers or a number after the registration for same has expired, and for making false statements in applications for registrations, and provides penalties for the various violations of the act. Subsection 34 provides for the appointment of a commissioner of motor vehicles and his duties and the clerical force which he may engage. Subsection 35 imposes a penalty upon the person who drives or operates a motor vehicle without the knowledge and consent of the owner. Subsection 36 prescribes the duty of the owner of a motor vehicle, whose chauffeur, while operating it, shall become intoxicated, and subsection 37 prescribes the duty of a court wherein a chauffeur is convicted of intoxication, and the remaining subsection only provides for the repeal of all laws which are in conflict with that statute.
Because subsection 14 and section 27 provide for the payment of the license fees into the state road fund and the title of the act provides only for the regulation, licensing, and governing the use of motor vehicles, it is insisted that the title of the act is only broad enough to justify an act strictly for the regulation of motor vehicles and that the payment of the license fees into the state road fund is the setting apart of the fees for a revenue purpose, that is, the improvement of the public highways, and for that reason the act relates to two subjects and therefore is void. Without, at this point entering into any discussion, as to whether the statute is one enacted in the exercise of the police power or is really a statute enacted for revenue purposes, only, under the guise of an exercise of the police power, it will be first determined whether the statute, in any of its provisions, is contrary to section 51, of the constitution, and the other questions involved will be hereafter adverted to. The use of motor vehicles consists in driving them upon the highways of the state. No other use is contemplated for such vehicles....
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