Opinion
No. 24085.
March 19, 1935.
(Syllabus.)
1. Statutes — Street Improvement Act — Title of Act Held to Cover Provision Authorizing Foreclosure in District Court of Lien Created by Paving Assessment.
The procedure authorized by section 29, chapter 173, Session Laws 1923 (section 6240, O. S. 1931), for foreclosing in a district court a lien created by a paving assessment, which provides a concurrent or cumulative remedy for the enforcement of such lien, is referable, cognate, and complementary to the general purpose and subject of the act as expressed in its title, and hence does no violence to section 57, article 5, of the Constitution, which requires, inter alia, that such act shall embrace but one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.
2. Statutes — Construction of Constitutional Provision That "No Law Shall Be Revived, Amended, or the Provisions Thereof Extended or Conferred by Reference to Its Title Only," etc.
An act of the Legislature, which is in form original and in itself intelligible and complete, and does not, either in its title or in its body, appear to be revisory or amendatory of any existing law, is not within the inhibition of section 57, article 5, of the Constitution, providing that "no law shall be revived, amended, or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only; but so much thereof as is revived, amended, or conferred shall be re-enacted and published at length," and this is true. even where the procedure for effectuating the rights acquired under such statute is provided by reference to a general procedural statute, previously enacted.
3. Same.
Section 57, article 5, of the Constitution of Oklahoma, which provides, "No law shall be revived, amended, or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only, but so much thereof as is revived, amended, or extended or conferred shall be re-enacted and published at length," limits legislation which grants, modifies, or destroys rights, but it has no application to legislation which affects remedies and methods of procedure alone.
Appeal from District Court, Pottawatomie County; Hal Johnson, Judge.
Action by the City of Shawnee on relation of the Exchange National Company against W.B. Taylor and others. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed and remanded, with directions.
Jos. L. Hull, A.J. Kriete, and Arch K. Kriete, for plaintiff in error.
Chas. E. Wells and O.K. Winterringer, for defendant in error.
Weeks, Morrow Francis and G.A. Paul, amici curiae.
This action was instituted in the district court of Pottawatomie county by the city of Shawnee ex rel. Exchange National Company, a corporation, against W. B. Taylor et al., for the foreclosure of a paving tax lien against lot 4, in block 11, in Penn's addition to the city of Shawnee. Plaintiff relies upon the provisions of section 29, chapter 173, Session Laws 1923 (section 6240, O. S. 1931). Defendants demurred to the petition, and the trial court sustained the demurrer, assigning as his reason therefor that the title of chapter 173, Session Laws 1923, does not provide for the enforcement and collection of street improvement assessments by foreclosure proceedings as provided in section 29 of the act, and said section was therefore unconstitutional and void. Plaintiff elected to stand on its petition, and the court dismissed the cause of action, and plaintiff appealed.
There is but one question presented herein and that is whether or not section 29, chapter 173, Session Laws 1923 (sec. 6240, O. S. 1931), is unconstitutional and void by reason of the insufficiency of the title of the act.
The only issue presented in this appeal was this day decided in the case of Service Feed Company v. City of Ardmore, No. 23431, 171 Okla. 155, 42 P.2d 853.
On the authority of said case, the judgment of the trial court in this cause is reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to overrule the demurrer to the petition and take such further proceedings as are not inconsistent with the views herein expressed.
McNEILL, C. J., and RILEY, BAYLESS, BUSBY, CORN, and GIBSON, JJ., concur. WELCH and PHELPS, JJ., absent.