State v. Wood
| Decision Date | 31 December 1953 |
| Citation | 98 N.H. 418,101 A.2d 774 |
| Parties | STATE v. WOOD. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Louis C. Wyman, Atty. Gen., and Richard C. Duncan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
McCabe & Fisher and John D. McCarthy, Dover, for defendant.
The defendant claims that R.L. c. 118, § 14, Laws 1951, c. 180, § 2, and Laws 1951, c. 229, § 2, is unconstitutional in that it requires that upon conviction of such an offense as here involved before a municipal court or justice, pending an appeal, the court or justice shall forthwith suspend and return to the motor vehicle commissioner the license of the convicted person. His contention is that this action, without affording him the benefit of a trial by jury, is unconstitutional in that it offends Part I, Art. 15, of our Constitution , which is similar to the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. State v. Pennoyer, 65 N.H. 113, 115, 18 A. 878, 5 L.R.A. 709.
It is not disputed that by an amendment to our Constitution, Part II, Art. 77, the Legislature is authorized to give municipal courts jurisdiction of offenses such as this, and the Legislature has done so by R.L. c. 377, § 15, Laws 1943, c. 200.
It has been decided here that a license to operate a motor vehicle is not a right but a mere privilege which must be accepted, if at all, subject to the condition on which it is granted. Rosenblum v. Griffin, 89 N.H. 314, 318-319, 197 A. 701, 115 A.L.R. 1367, and authorities cited. See also, 60 C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, § 159, p. 481. Unquestionably the condition here that the court or justice shall suspend forthwith and return to the motor vehicle commissioner the license of a person found guilty of operating under the influence of liquor is a reasonable one imposed 'in the interest of safeguarding lives and property from highway accidents', and the fact that this may be done without a jury trial does not invalidate it. Wall v. King, 1 Cir., 206 F.2d 878, 883. The defendant has furnished us with no authority in this state and we find no suggestion in any of our cases dealing with the suspension or revocation of licenses that a jury trial is required in such instances. It appears that the suspension of the defendant's license is in accordance with 'the law of the land' and does not offend Part I, Art. 15, of our Constitution. The act of suspending and returning the license being merely administrative, Cowperthwait v. Lamb, ...
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State v. Severance
...81 N.H. 566, 568, 129 A. 117, 39 A.L.R. 1023; Rosenblum v. Griffin, 89 N.H. 314, 319, 197 A. 701, 115 A.L.R. 1367; State v. Wood, 98 N.H. 418, 419, 101 A.2d 774. However later cases recognized that a motor vehicle license may be more than a privilege. Opinion of the Justices, 102 N.H. 183, ......
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People v. Reiner
...has not been reached in the present case, and we hold that section 32 does not violate article III of the constitution. Cf. State v. Wood, 98 N.H. 418, 101 A.2d 774. Section 32 made it the duty of the defendant in this case to report convictions of offenses under a municipal ordinance which......
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State v. Deane
...been disposed of in this court. State v. Smith, 98 N.H. 149, 95 A.2d 789; State v. Urban, 98 N.H. 346, 347, 100 A.2d 897; State v. Wood, 98 N.H. 418, 101 A.2d 774; State v. Morris, 98 N.H. 517, 103 A.2d 913; State v. Duranleau, 99 N.H. 30, 31, 104 A.2d 519, 45 A.L.R.2d 1166; State v. Small,......
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State v. Despres
...vehicle offense would be a reasonable regulation in the interest of public safety and not violative of our Constitution. In State v. Wood, 98 N.H. 418, 101 A.2d 774 it was held that a defendant was not entitled to transfer his case to the Superior Court for a trial by jury without a trial i......