State v. Campbell
| Decision Date | 16 March 1926 |
| Docket Number | 8 Div. 423 |
| Citation | 107 So. 788,21 Ala.App. 303 |
| Parties | STATE v. CAMPBELL. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Madison County; O. Kyle, Judge.
Prosecution by the State against Tom Campbell for operating a motor vehicle within 12 months after being convicted of a violation of the motor vehicle law. From a judgment sustaining a demurrer to the affidavit, the State appeal. Reversed and remanded.
Harwell G. Davis, Atty. Gen., and Chas. H. Brown, Asst. Atty. Gen for the State.
R.E Smith, of Huntsville, for appellee.
In this proceeding the constitutionality vel non of section 3327 of the Code of 1923 is presented to us for our decision. Our consideration is limited to that single question. We have here nothing to do with any question as to the sufficiency of the affidavit and warrant upon which the defendant was arrested. State v. McCarty, 59 So. 543, 5 Ala.App 212.
Section 3325 of the Code of 1923, which was taken from the same act of the Legislature as the section here under consideration was tacitly approved as being rightfully enacted within the police power of the state in Goodman v. State, 102 So. 486, 20 Ala.App. 392. It was also held by this court, in Woods v. State, 73 So. 129, 15 Ala.App. 251, that Acts 1911, p. 645, § 28, from which, as amended by Acts 1919, p. 1002, section 3325, Code 1923, was taken, was a simple police regulation. Section 3327 being based upon and fixing punishment for violation of section 3325, comes, we think, within the same classification. It is directed toward the party operating the vehicle causing damage, and does not attempt to confiscate the property.
As was said in Jones v. State, 85 So. 839, 17 Ala.App. 444, the police power of the state is that power which is necessary for its preservation, and without which it cannot serve the purpose for which it was formed. This power is properly exercised in preserving the health, morals, or safety of the public. As to what means are appropriate or needful for this purpose, the Legislature primarily must determine, and its acts in this regard should not be overturned by the courts, unless in clear contravention of the Constitution. It is clearly within the legislative power to fix the penalty for the violation of its criminal statutes. The whole purpose of section 3327 is to fix a punishment for persons convicted of violating a criminal statute, and not to assume any control of the property or vehicle with or through which the statute is violated.
Section 3327 does not violate the due process of law clause in the Constitution. Its penalties do not attach until a conviction of the violation of its provisions has been had. "Due process of law, in each particular case means such an...
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McCurley v. State
...in this regard should not be overturned by the courts, unless in clear contravention of the Constitution...." State v. Campbell, 21 Ala.App. 303, 304, 107 So. 788, 789 (1926). See also: McClary v. State, 51 Ala.App. 30, 282 So.2d 379, rev. on other grounds, 291 Ala. 481, 282 So.2d 384 (1973......
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McDavid v. State
...of its criminal statutes. Woco Pep Co. of Montgomery v. City of Montgomery, 213 Ala. 452, 454, 105 So. 214 (1925); State v. Campbell, 21 Ala.App. 303, 304, 107 So. 788 (1926). As noted in the Commentary to Section 13A-9-14, this special statute "is justified because of the unusual nature of......
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Mayfield v. State
...Echols v. State, 35 Ala.App. 602, 51 So.2d 260, 262 (Ala.Cr.App.1951). It is, further, not violative of due process. State v. Campbell, 21 Ala.App. 303, 107 So. 788 (1926); Lashley v. State, 236 Ala. 1, 180 So. 717 (1938). For the same reasons noted in the cases cited, § 32-10-1, Code of Al......
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Lashley v. State
... ... No one has a right, to be thus protected, which would exempt ... him from duties fairly prescribed for those purposes ... Powell v. Pennsylvania, 127 U.S. 678, 8 S.Ct. 992, ... 1257, 32 L.Ed. 253; 29 Corpus Juris 646; State v ... Campbell, 21 Ala.App. 303, 107 So. 788 ... "In ... the case of Woods v. State, 15 Ala.App. 251, 73 So ... 129, our Court of Appeals considered the validity of similar ... traffic regulations prescribed by Gen.Acts 1911, p. 645, § ... 28, and, upon the authority of cases in New York, ... ...