State v. Warford

• Decision Date: 22 March 1888
• Citation: 3 So. 911,84 Ala. 15
• Parties: STATE v. WARFORD.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

3 So. 911

84 Ala. 15

STATE v. WARFORD.

Supreme Court of Alabama

March 22, 1888

Appeal from circuit court, Hale county; JOHN MOORE, Judge.

John Warford, the appellee in this case, was indicted for violating the prohibition law in force in the town of Greensboro, where, the indictment alleged, the defendant had been selling liquor against the peace and dignity of the state of Alabama. On the trial of the case, the defendant demurred to the act of the legislature, under which he was indicted, as being unconstitutional. This act was passed by the general assembly sitting in 1884-85. The demurrer said that the said act was no law in that it sought to amend the act of 1856, said act of 1856 not being in existence, because the act of 1856 had been amended by an act of the legislature passed in December, 1868, which last-mentioned act, by the authority of the constitution of 1868, which went into effect June, 1868, repealed the act of 1856. Again, the defendant contended in his demurrer, that the said act of 1885 was unconstitutional in that its title did not show the purpose of the act. The court sustained the demurrers of the defendant, and the state appealed.

That part of the opinion in Wilkinson v. Ketler, 59 Ala. 306, necessary to an understanding of the ruling in this case is as follows: "Section 2961 of the Revised Code *** was amended, and the old section, as found in the Revised Code, repealed, by act approved by March 8, 1871. *** We say this enactment repealed the section of the Code amended, for such is the effect of an amendment thus made, whether the amending statute contains a repealing clause or not. The constitution of 1868, art. 4, § 2, effects the repeal. The act approved March 18, 1875, *** after reciting section 2961 as it stood originally, without noticing the amendment made by the act of March 8, 1871 declares that said section be so amended as to read," etc. "The statute *** contains a repealing clause. *** The question arises, what effect has the act of March 18 1875, on the act of March 8, 1871? Were these several statutes enacted constitutionally? The constitution of 1868 art. 4, § 2, ordains that no law shall be revised or amended unless the new act contain the entire act revised, or the section or sections amended; and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed. *** We hold that each of the statutes *** was constitutionally enacted, and that the reference and repealing clause in that act of 1875 to section 2961 of the Revised Code must be referred to that section as amended by act of March 8, 1871, and the result is a repeal of the...