Quick v. District of Columbia
Quick v. District of Columbia
Opinion of the Court
The District of Columbia through its corporation counsel filed a motion for rehearing in the above entitled case involving a sentence imposed by the Municipal Court under section 10(b) of the District of Columbia Rent Act
I still agree with everything that was said in the previous majority opinion except the effect of the general saving clause contained in 1 U.S.C.A. § 109, quoted in full in our previous opinion, which provides in effect that the repeal of any statute shall not have the effect to release or extinguish any penalty unless the repealing act shall so expressly provide. I base my present position on such decisions of the Supreme Court as Ex parte Lamar, 2 Cir., 274 F. 160, affirmed without opinion 260 U.S. 711, 43 S.Ct. 251, 67 L.Ed. 476, and Great Northern Railway Company v. United States, 208 U.S. 452, 28 S.Ct. 313, 316, 52 L.Ed. 567.
Without reviewing the matter in detail, I have concluded that the previous decision of this court must be overruled, and the judgment of the Municipal Court affirmed.
.Judgment Affirmed.
. Code 1940, Snpp. VI, § 45-1610 (b).
. 69 A.2d 511.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
■ I dissent on the grounds expressed in. our former opinion. I feel that the two cases cited by Judge Clagett as authority for holding that the saving clause in 1 U.S.C.A. § 109 applies herei are distinguishable. Ex parte Lamar dealt with the repeal by the Webb Act of that part of the Sherman Act relating to foreign commerce. The Great Northern Railway case was decided on the basis that the Elkins Act was repealed by the Hepburn Act.. I do not think that striking out the.criminal sanctions of the Rent Act, leaving the Act otherwise basically unchanged, .constituted a “repeal of any statute” within the meaning of the general federal saving clause.
It may be noted also that in the Great Northern Railway case it was said that the provisions of the general saving clause “cannot justify a disregard of the will of Congress as manifested, either expressly or by necessary implication, in a subsequent enactment.” It appears to me that when Congress struck out the criminal sanctions of the Rent Act and made no provision for prosecution' of past violations, it clearly manifested an intent that criminal enforcement of the Act, whether for past or future violations; was finished.
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