Woodall v. Darst

• Decision Date: 26 November 1912
• Citation: 80 S.E. 367,71 W.Va. 350
• Parties: WOODALL v. DARST, STATE AUDITOR.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

80 S.E. 367

71 W.Va. 350

WOODALL v. DARST, STATE AUDITOR.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

November 26, 1912

Concurring opinion.

For majority opinion, see 77 S.E. 264.

ROBINSON J. (concurring).

The auditor has a personal interest entitling him to raise the question of constitutionality. Whether that question could be raised on other considerations, it is now wholly unnecessary to inquire.

There is no constitutional inhibition against such appropriation as the one in question is expressed to be on its face. With the wisdom or policy of the appropriation the courts have nothing whatever to do. It may be that as legislators we would not vote for it. But the legislature must be presumed to have acted in good faith, for the public good, and upon sound reasons. Every presumption favors the validity of the act. If it is of doubtful legality, these presumptions save it. The legislative department presumably acts for the public good or in recognition of obligations reasonably due from the public, when the fact does not palpably appear that it acts beyond the constitutional limits which alone control it. A most eminent judge and author says: "The independence of the legislature is an axiom in government; and to be independent, it must act in its own good time, on its own judgment, influenced by its own reasons, restrained only as the people may have seen fit to restrain the grant of legislative power in making it. The legislature must consequently, determine for itself, in every instance whether a particular purpose is or is not one which so far concerns the public as to render taxation admissible." 1 Cooley on Taxation (3d Ed.) 182. Judge Cooley also says "It must always be conceded that the proper authority to determine what should and what should not constitute a public burden is the legislative department of the State. * * * And in determining this question, the legislature cannot be held to any narrow or technical rule. Not only are certain expenditures absolutely essential to the continued existence of the government and the performance of its ordinary functions, but as a matter of policy it may sometimes be proper and wise to assume other burdens which rest entirely on considerations of honor, gratitude, or charity. The officers of government must be paid, the laws printed, roads constructed, and public buildings erected; but with a view to the general wellbeing of society, it may also be important that the children of the State should be educated, the poor kept from starvation, losses in the...