Steenken v. State
Steenken v. State
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The traversers were indicted in the Criminal Court of Baltimore. They were charged with having violated the Act of 1898, ch. 505. By this Act it is provided that “ before any person shall transact the business of a Master Stevedore in the City of Baltimore he shall obtain a license for which he shall pay the sum of twenty-five ($25) dollars — and that in addition to taking out a license he shall file with the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas a bond to the State in the sum of $1,000,” etc., etc. The penalty prescribed is as follows: “Any Stevedore who shall violate this section by failure to file
The contention of the traversers is that the Act in question (Act 1898, ch. 505) is unconstitutional and void, because it violates section 29 of Article 3 of the Constitution, which provides that “ Every law enacted by the General Assembly shall embrace but one subject, and that shall be described in its title.” It is conceded by the State that all the provisions of the Act which relate to or require a bond to be given are void, but it contends that the parts of the Act which relate to obtaining license are valid because the latter constitutes the one subject embraced by and described in the title, forming a separate, independent and additional enactment and enforceable, therefore, entirely irrespective of the former.
It is familiar law that a statute may be valid in part and void in part, and that if possible the former will be upheld if disconnected with the latter. Berry v. Drum Point R. R. Co., 41 Md. 465. And this is so even when the valid and void provisions are, as in the Act now
It would be useless to burden this opinion by a citation of the many cases which have been decided by this Court involving the general question of the violation of section 29 Article 3 of the Constitution, and we therefore cite only a few of them which relate more particularly to the question now before us and sustain the view we have taken. Berry v. Drum Point R. R., supra; Daly
Being, therefore, of opinion that there was no error in the rulings complained of, the judgment appealed from will be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DANIEL STEENKEN and AUGUST BERKMEIER, trading AS STEENKEN & BERKMEIER v. THE STATE OF MARYLAND
- Cited By
- 14 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Statute Valid in Part and Void in Part— Title of Statute— Licenses to Stevedores. A statute may be valid in part and void in part even when the two parts are contained in the same section, provided the valid part is independent of, and severable from, that which is void. The title of the Act of 1898, ch. 505, was “ An Act to provide for licenses to stevedores.” In the body of the Act it was provided that every master stevedore in Baltimore City should take out a license, paying therefor a certain sum and that he should also file a bond. A penalty was provided for failure either to take out a license or to file a bond. Defendant was indicted for acting as a master stevedore without having been licensed and .in another count for failure to give a bond. It was conceded that the Act was void so far as the provision relating to the bond is concerned, because in violation of the Constitution, Art. 3, sec. 29, which declares that the subject of every law shall be described in its title. Held, that the provisions of the Act relating to licenses are independent of those relating to the bond; that the former are valid although the latter are void, and that consequently a demurrer to the count in the indictment charging the defendant with acting as a master stevedore without having obtained a license was properly overruled.