State v. Vestel
| Decision Date | 25 April 1921 |
| Citation | 88 So. 477,81 Fla. 625 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. TERRY v. VESTEL, Chief of Police. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Error to Circuit Court, Orange County; C. O. Andrews, Judge.
Habeas corpus by the State, on the relation of F. J. Terry, against E. D. Vestel, Chief of Police of the City of Orlando. Judgment for respondent, and relator brings error.
Affirmed.
Syllabus by the Court
Act not inoperative because of defective title where not misleading. The Legislature is accorded a wide latitude in enacting titles to acts, and the subjects of legislation expressed in titles to acts may be as broad or as restrictive as the Legislature desires, and, when the title is not misleading and clearly violative of organic law, the act will not be held inoperative in whole or in part because of an asserted defective title.
Provisions in act not expressed in title may be inoperative where other provisions are so expressed. Where an act expresses a single subject, however broad or restrictive, and the act contains provisions in accord with its title and also contains provisions that are not a part of or properly connected with the single subject that is expressed in the title, thereby making the title misleading, the provisions that are not a part of or properly connected with the subject expressed in the title may be violative of the constitutional provision that each law 'shall embrace but one subject and matter properly connected therewith, which subject shall be briefly expressed in the title' (Const. art. 3, § 16), and for that reason such provisions may be inoperative.
What provisions need not be detailed in title stated. It is not necessary to detail in the title of an act provisions contained in the act that are a part of or are properly connected with the subject expressed in the title, and where the subject expressed in the title is by any reasonable intendment sufficiently broad for the provisions of the act to be embraced therein or to be properly connected therewith and the title is not misleading, such provisions will not be held to be inoperative, as not being legally incorporated in the act.
Title need not state matters properly connected with subject of enactment embraced in body thereof. While the title of an act is by the Constitution required to briefly express the subject of the enactment, it need not state matters properly connected with such subject that are embraced in the body of the law; and the language used in expressing the subject of the enactment is within the legislative discretion.
Title sufficient if by fair intendment it covers subject of act. If the language of the title, considered with reference to the legislative intent as shown by the purpose and object of the act, may by any fair intendment cover the subject of the act the courts will not because of an asserted defective title refuse to give effect to any matter contained in the body of the enactment that is germane to or properly connected with the subject of the law, where the title is not so worded as to mislead an ordinary mind as to the real purpose and scope of the particular enactment.
Violation of organic law as to title must be plain before act will be declared void. A wide latitude must of necessity be accorded the Legislature in its enactments of law; and it must be a plain case of violating the requirements or the organic law as to titles of acts before the courts will nullify statutes or portions thereof as not being within the purpose and scope of the subject as expressed in the title and of 'matter properly connected therewith.'
Title giving notice of subject so as to lead to inquiry sufficient. If the title of an act fairly gives notice of the subject of the act so as to reasonably lead to an inquiry into the body thereof, it is all that is necessary.
Title of act relating to tax is for city, etc., may include license taxes. Where the title of an act is 'to provide for the assessment and collection of the taxes for the city,' etc., the body of the act may include provisions imposing license taxes upon occupations in the city, without violating section 16, art. 3, of the state Constitution.
Dickinson & Dickinson, of Orlando, for plaintiff in error.
Louis C. Massey, of Orlando, for defendant in error.
On writ of error in habeas corpus proceedings the question to be determined is whether chapter 6380, Acts of 1911, entitled 'An act to amend section 1 of an act entitled 'An act to provide for the assessment and collection of the taxes for the city of Orlando and for the collection of the back taxes and tax sale certificates of said city,' approved April 30th, 1903,' may legally include a provision authorizing the city to impose license taxes upon occupations. The circuit court held such a provision to justify a conviction for failure to pay a license tax, and a writ of error was allowed and taken under the statute.
Section 16 of article 3 of the state Constitution provides that----
'Each law enacted in the Legislature shall embrace but one subject and matter properly connected therewith, which subject shall be briefly expressed in the title; and no law shall be amended or revised by reference to its title only; but in such case the act, as revised, or section, as amended, shall be en-enacted and published at length.'
The Legislature is accorded a wide latitude in enacting titles to acts, and the subjects of legislation expressed in titles to acts may be as broad or as restrictive as the Legislature desires, and when the title is not misleading and clearly violative of organic law, the act will not be held inoperative in whole or in part because of an asserted defective title. See State ex rel. Moodie v. Bryan, 50 Fla. 293, 39 So. 929.
Where an act expresses a single subject, however broad or restrictive, and the act contains provisions in accord with its title, and also contains provisions that are not a part of or properly connected with the single subject that is expressed in the title, thereby making the title misleading the provisions that are not a part of or properly connected with the subject expressed in the title may be...
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