State v. Clausen

• Decision Date: 10 June 1911
• Citation: State v. Clausen, 63 Wash. 535, 116 P. 7 (Wash. 1911)
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE ex rel. OREGON R. & NAVIGATION CO. v. CLAUSEN, State Auditor, et al.

116 P. 7

63 Wash. 535

STATE ex rel. OREGON R. & NAVIGATION CO. v. CLAUSEN, State Auditor, et al.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

June 10, 1911

Appeal from Superior Court, Thurston County; John R. Mitchell Judge.

Petition by the State, on the relation of the Oregon Railroad &amp Navigation Company, for a writ of review to review the action of the State Board of Equalization. From a judgment for defendant, relator appeals. Reversed and remanded, with directions.

W. W Cotton, Arthur C. Spencer, and Ralph E. Moody, for appellant.

W. V. Tanner, for respondent.

CHADWICK J.

The railroad commission law was passed by the Legislature at its regular biennial session in 1905. Its primary object was to prevent discrimination and extortion in freight rates, and generally to regulate charges, facilities, and service of railroad companies. Section 12 of the Session Laws of 1905, p. 155, enjoined a duty of ascertaining 'the amount of money expended in the construction and equipment per mile of every railway in Washington.' At the same session the Legislature passed an act creating a state tax commission (Laws 1905, c. 115), and defined its duties and powers. Its work was intended to be supervisory and directory; the Legislature evidently intending that its powers should be thereafter more specifically prescribed, for it was made the duty of the tax commission to investigate concerning the revenue systems of other states and countries, and to report its findings to the Governor, with recommendations embodied in suitable bills for transmission to the Legislature. In 1907 the Legislature amended the railroad commission act most materially. The commission was given more general inquisitorial powers, with the right to summon witnesses, and to compel the production of books and documents, and to do and require to be done all things to make it an efficient instrument in the working out of the state policy as declared in the title of the original as well as the amendatory act. The bill as introduced and passed so changed section 12 of the original act that, instead of a power limited to the ascertainment of the original cost of railroad property, the commission was directed to 'ascertain the total market value of the property and all facts proper to be considered in making up a proper and reasonable schedule of freight and passenger rates.' The commission was clothed with the full power of the Legislature, so far as its rights to investigate might go, and at the same time it was made a quasi judicial body, an appeal from its findings to the courts being provided so as to save any constitutional question in that behalf. The commission after a due season and after notice had been given as in the act provided, instituted a hearing for the purpose of ascertaining the valuation of the railroad properties in this state; and, after a full hearing, found the value of the property of the three principal railway systems to be as follows: Northern Pacific Railway Company, $110,308,450; Great Northern Railway Company, $59,577,212; Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, $19,500,000. Section 12 of the railroad commission law as amended by Laws 1907, c. 226, § 5, provides: 'The findings of the commission, so filed, or as the same may be corrected by the courts, when properly certified under the seal of the commission shall be admissible in evidence in any proceeding or hearing in which the public and the railroad or express company affected thereby is interested, and such findings, when so introduced, shall be conclusive evidence of the facts stated in such finding or findings as of the date of filing under conditions then existing, and such facts can only be controverted or contradicted by showing a subsequent change in conditions bearing upon the facts therein determined.' It is admitted that no appeal was taken by the relator from the findings of the commission, and that in all proceedings other than a hearing before the board of equalization they are binding and conclusive upon the railroad company and upon the state.

At the same session of the Legislature an act entitled 'An act to provide for the assessment of the operating property of railroads' (Laws 1907, c. 78) was passed. It is provided in section 1 that the state board of tax commissioners shall make an annual assessment of the operating property of all railroad companies within this state for the purpose of levying and collecting taxes as thereinafter provided. After a definition of terms, it is provided that the board shall have access to all books, papers, documents, statements, and accounts; that it may require returns to be made of all information called for by it; that it may summon witnesses and compel the production of books and papers; and, further, that it should require the statement under oath of certain facts touching the business and value of the property of such corporations, including the market value of the shares of capital stock, funded debts, etc., the value of its bonds and other securities, its mileage and gross earnings, and such other facts and things as the board might require. It is further provided that the board shall on or before the 1st day of March and the 1st day of June in each year, according to their best knowledge and judgment, ascertain and determine the true cash value of the property of each railroad company within this state, and that every such company shall be entitled to a hearing, and present evidence. It is also provided that the value of property of railroads for assessment shall be made as of the same time and of like manner as the value of general property of the state, and that for the purpose of determining the true cash value the board might, if it deemed necessary, view and inspect the property of such company; that it should take into consideration the value of the entire system and mileage of the whole system, and that, upon the completion of such assessment, the board should give notice by mail to each railroad company assessed of the amount of its assessment as entered upon such rolls. The act puting these duties upon the tax commission passed the House February 11, 1907, and the Senate February 21, 1907, and was approved by the Governor March 6, 1907. It was passed without an emergency clause. The act amendatory of the railroad commission law, which gave that board power to find the physical value of the railroads, making its findings conclusive, passed the House February 8, 1907, and the Senate March 13th, and was approved by the Governor March 16, 1907. This act was passed with an emergency clause. It will thus be seen that we have two acts of the same Legislature giving to two different boards the power to find the value of railroad property. Accordingly, in the year 1910, the state tax commission undertook to value the property of the several railway systems. It adhered to the values fixed by the railroad commission in so far as the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern Railways are concerned, but increased the value of the property of the relator from $19,500,000 to $27,529,771. This act was confirmed by the state board of equalization, which is made up of the members of the state tax commission, sitting with the State Auditor and the State Land Commissioner, and a levy against the property of relator was made on the basis of the added value. An appeal was taken to the superior court, and from an adverse judgment relator has appealed.

It will be admitted as a general rule of statutory construction that repeals by implication are not favored, and that, where there are two or more provisions relating to the same subject-matter, they must, if possible, be construed so as to maintain the integrity of both. So that, while a large part of the briefs is taken up with a discussion of cases tending to sustain the respective contentions of counsel, we think it would serve no useful purpose to review them; for, after all, statutes are to be construed by reference to certain fixed and well-known principles, and the cases relied on are but instances of the application of these principles.

Therefore we may adopt the following text as applicable to the case at bar: 'The rule that statutes in pari materia should be construed together applies with peculiar force to statutes passed at the same session of the Legislature. It is to be presumed that such acts are imbued with the same spirit and actuated by the same policy, and they are to be construed together as if parts of the same act. They should be so construed, if possible, as to harmonize, and force and effect should be given to the provisions of each. If, however, they are necessarily inconsistent, a statute which deals with the common subject-matter in a minute and particular way will prevail over one of a more general nature; and of two inconsistent statutes enacted at the same session that will prevail which takes effect at the later date.' 36 Cyc 1151. 'The construction of a...