Humphreys v. Walls

Sloan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Albert M. Walls, a citizen and taxpayer of Wicomico County, appellee and plaintiff, filed his petition in the ²⁹⁵ Circuit Court for Wicomico County, praying a writ of mandamus, to oust the appellant and defendant, Marion A. Humphreys, from the office of justice of the peace for election districts 5, 9, and 13 of Wicomico County, also designated or named “Judge of the People’s Court” by the Acts of 1927, ch. 329, to which he had been appointed by the Governor of Maryland, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of David Dallas. The defendant demurred, and his demurrer being overruled, he answered, and the demurrer to his answer being sustained and the mandamus ordered, he appealed. Price v. Ashburn, 122 Md. 514 , 89 A. 410 .

The petition made two charges, one, that the defendant, Marion A. Humphreys, being a resident of election district No. 16, and a non-resident of election districts No. 5, 9, and 13, was ineligible to appointment; two, that the Acts of 1927, ch. 329, as amended by the Acts of 1929, ch. 19, “in so far as it relates to the creation and existence of a Justice of the Peace in and for the 5th, 9th and 13th Election Districts of Wicomico County, Maryland, and a Judge of the People’s Court is unconstitutional, null and void, in that it attempts to create a Justice of the Peace for three election districts,” and “that the law under which said appointment was made, is unconstitutional and void and the office to which he was appointed does not exist.” The answer admits the nonresidence of the defendant and denies the contention of the plaintiff that the Act of the General Assembly establishing the “Peoples Court” at Salisbury is unconstitutional, and contends that nonresidence in one of the three election districts is not a disqualification. The authority for the establishment of the “Peoples’ Court” at Salisbury, located in those three named election districts, is derived from the Acts of 1927, ch. 329, and the amendments thereto by the Acts of 1929, ch. 19, (Code Pub. Loc. Laws [1930], art. 23, sec. 97 et seq.), the first two sections of which, providing for the appointment and prescribing qualifications of the “Judge of the People’s Court,” are as follows: ²⁹⁶ “97.

There shall be appointed by the Governor at the session of the General Assembly of Maryland in the year 1927, one Justice of the Peace for each Election District in Wicomico County, who shall hold office for such time as is now or may hereafter be provided by law, except that for Election Districts Numbers 5, 9 and 13 in said Wicomico County, there shall be appointed one Justice of the Peace and none other, the said Justice of the Peace so appointed to be known as ‘the Judge of the Peoples Court,’ and to be so appointed and possess the qualifications, jurisdiction and powers as is hereinafter provided. “98. Said Justice of the Peace to be known as ‘the Judge of The Peoples Court’ shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate of Maryland, for the term of two years and biennially thereafter; his term shall begin on the first Monday in May after his appointment, and he shall hold office until his successor is duly appointed and qualified; said Judge of The Peoples Court shall be a resident and duly qualified voter of one of the Election Districts for which he is appointed; he shall be at least twenty-five years of age at the time of his appointment, and shall be a man of integrity: when so appointed he shall qualify before the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Wicomico County by subscribing and taking oath of office in the same manner as Justices of the Peace now qualify; said Judge of The Peoples Court, if he be a member of the bar, shall not during the term for which he is appointed engage directly or indirectly in the practice of law; in case of vacancy, death, removal from office, resignation or otherwise, the Governor shall appoint a duly qualified person or persons to serve for the unexpired term of said Judge of Tlie Peoples Court; the term of office or the compensation of said office shall not be diminished during the term for which he is appointed.” Section 97 amended the Acts of 1880, ch. 428 (Code Pub. Loc. Laws 1888, art. 23, sec. 54), which provided for the appointment of twenty-five justices of the peace ²⁹⁷ in Wicomico County, varying for the several districts from two to four in number.

The subsequent sections of the acts of 1927 and 1929, fixed the compensation, jurisdiction, and duties of the “Judge of the People’s Court,” allowed the judge to make rules of practice and procedure, and required that actions by a nonresident must be accompanied by an affidavit “such as is required” by the local Speedy Judgment Act in the Circuit Court, fixed the time of appeal at twenty days, and required the appellant to take a pauper’s oath before papers be transmitted on appeal to the Circuit Court, unless the costs be paid, and for the laying of rules for security for costs against “non-resident litigants.” Subsection 54-G (Code Pub. Loc. Laws 1930, art. 23, sec. 104), provided for a seal for “purposes of identification.” Provision was made by subsection 54-J (article 23, sec. 107) for a clerk with power to “administer oaths in any manner before said Court, and, in the name of the Judge of the People’s Court and under the seal of said Court, to issue all process of said Court,” and provided for an additional salary of $1,000 per year to the state’s attorney “for his attendance before the People’s Court.” Subsection 54-J-l (article 23, sec. 108) provided fees to be charged differing from that of the other justices of the peace in the county, and subsection 54-K (article 23, sec. 109) for the levy of the salaries and expenses of the office. Section 2 of the act (article 23, sec. 112) provided that the unconstitutionality of any part of the act should not invalidate the entire act.

These are extensive and important changes, revolutionizing in many respects the jurisdiction and procedure in those small tribunals established for the settlement of petty causes and the trial of minor offenses, which, for centuries, because of the speed in dispatching business, informality of procedure, and inexpensiveness of litigation, have been regarded as peculiarly appropriate for the settlement of such matters. They are made a part of ²⁹⁸ our judicial machinery by the Constitution of our State, and no legislative act abolishing them or radically changing their character should be recognized as valid. The authority for the appointment of justices of the peace by the Governor, and the sole authority for the establishment of justices' courts in this state, from which is derived not only the power of appointment by the Governor, but the right of an appointee to take office, is section 42 of article 4 of the Constitution, by which it is provided that: “The Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint such number of Justices of the Peace * * * for the several Election Districts of the counties and wards of the City of Baltimore, as are now or may hereafter be prescribed by Law. * * * The Justices of the Peace * * * so appointed and commissioned * * * shall hold their office for two years, and shall have such jurisdiction, duties and compensation * * * as hath been heretofore exercised, or shall be hereafter prescribed by Law.” This constitutional provision does not prescribe any age or residence qualifications for a justice of the peace, of which Mr. Niles says in his Maryland Constitutional Law: “It will be noticed that there are no ‘qualifications* required for a justice of the peace. He may not be a lawyer.

No particular length of residence is required. Even the qualifications that the official be a citizen, a. male and an adult, are only implied.” The book was. published before women had the vote. So far as fitness, and suitability are concerned there is, however, a check on the Governor, in the approval required of the State-Senate. After qualification they can only be removed, for the specified causes, after conviction, by the judge: of tfre criminal court.

In all other respects, their jurisdiction, powers, duties, and compensation are made subject to legislative control. The exact question here presented has not been before-this court, but closely related questions have in the cases-of Levin v. Hewes, 118 Md. 624 , 86 A. 233 , and Day v. Sheriff of Montgomery County, 162 Md. 221 , 159 A. 602 ,, ²⁹⁹ but we have had the contemporaneous construction of it from legislative usage from the Constitution of 1851 to very recent years, when, in several of the counties, the Legislature, in imitation of the People’s Court in Baltimore City, has provided for such courts for groups of election districts within a county. It is, therefore, apparent that the most important question here is whether the Legislature can restrict the number of justices of the peace in any county below one for each of the several districts in a county. While the construction of statutes or constitutional provisions is a judicial function, courts may, in declaring their meaning and effect, avail themselves of the construction put upon them by the Legislature by long continued custom and acquiescence.

As said by this court, in an opinion by Chief Judge McSherry in Trustees of Catholic Cathedral v. Manning, 72 Md. 116, 130 , 19 A. 599, 603 , “A contemporaneous construction placed upon a particular provision of the organic law by the legislative department of the government, acquiesced in and acted upon without ever having been questioned, followed continuously and uniformly from a very early period down * * * furnishes a very strong presumption that the intention is rightly interpreted.” State v. Mayhew, 2 Gill, 487 ; Levin v. Hewes, 118 Md. 624, 641 , 86 A. 233, 239 . Now what has been the long-continued practice of the Legislature with respect to the constitutional provision for the designation of the number of justices of the peace in a county or district? The Constitution of 1851, article 4, sec. 19, provided: “The legislature at its first session after the adoption of this constitution shall fix the number of justices of the peace and constables for each ward of the city of Baltimore, and for each election district in the several counties, who shall be elected,” etc. This was followed by the Acts of 1852, ch. 274, which fixed the number of justices of the peace and constables in each of the wards of Baltimore City and in each of the election districts in every ³⁰⁰ county of the state. Local laws for the counties and Baltimore City were subsequently passed, but in each and all of them provision was made for at least one justice of the peace for every ward of Baltimore City, and for each election district of the several counties.

The constitutional mandate to the Legislature to fix the number of justices of the peace for each ward and election district was not only carried into effect for such wards and election districts as then existed, but provision was made by section 3 of the act of 1852 for the future, by providing that, for each new election district in the several counties of the state and for each additional ward in the city of Baltimore, there should be “two justices of the peace, unless a different number be specially provided by law,” and this section is still in force. Code Pub. Gen. Laws 1924, art. 52, sec. 4.

The Constitution of 1867, art. 4, sec. 42, contains the same provision as, and almost the exact verbiage of, the Constitution of 1864, art. 4, sec. 47, and the only substantial difference between them and the Constitution of 1851 is that the latter provided for the election of justices of the peace and constables, and all of them