In re Hesse
In re Hesse
Opinion of the Court
The office of justice of the peace on January 1, 1913, ceased to be a constitutional office. Acting under the authority conferred upon it by Section 1, Article IV of the Constitution, as amended in 1912, the general assembly, by an act filed in the office of the secretary of state April 30, 1913 (103 O. L., 214), established the office of justice of the peace in each of the several townships in the different counties of the state, excepting townships in which a court other than a mayor’s court then existed or might thereafter be created having jurisdiction of all cases of which justices of the peace had or might have jurisdiction. The jurisdiction, powers and duties of the office under that act are the same as were provided by the laws in force on September 3, 1912, among which was Section 13423, General Code, which reads in part: “Justices of the peace, police judges and mayors of cities and villages shall have jurisdiction, within their respective counties, in all cases of violation of any law relating to * * Then are enumerated
But Section 13423, supra, was amended by an act (103 O. L., 539) filed in the office of the secretary of state May 9, 1913, effective ninety days thereafter, or seven days subsequent to the taking effect of the municipal court act. The provisions of Section 13423 in force when the municipal court act became effective, were carried into the section as amended in identical language, and there are added two classes of misdemeanors.
It is the contention of counsel for respondent that this section, as amended, takes precedence over and repeals the provisions of the municipal court act in so far as they are in conflict with the section as amended; that the provisions of the municipal court act denying to a justice of the peace outside of Cincinnati township in Hamilton county jurisdiction over offenses committed in Cincinnati township, are therefore repealed, and that these justices of the
It is settled that where there are contradictory provisions in statutes and both are susceptible of a reasonable construction which will not nullify either, it is the duty of the court to give such construction, and further, that where two affirmative statutes exist one is not to be construed to repeal the other by implication, unless they can be reconciled by no mode of interpretation.
Section 16, Article II of the Constitution, requires that where a law is amended, the new act shall contain the section or sections amended, and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed. In compliance with this the general assembly, when it amended Section 13423, did repeal the section as it existed prior thereto. It is to be remembered that the only change made in the statute was the addition of two classes of misdemeanors. The provisions contained in the act as amended which- were in the original act are not considered as repealed and again reenacted, but are regarded as having been continuous and undisturbed by the amendatory act. In re Allen, 91 Ohio St., 315. The amendment was not with respect to the feature of the section which confers jurisdiction on justices of the peace within their respective counties in cases pertaining to the violation of a law relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals and children and the other twelve classes of cases; that remained in legal effect as first enacted, and it is not correct to assume that it is in that respect a new statute or a later statute than the sections of the municipal court act which we are
We conclude, therefore, that Section 41 of the municipal court act has not been repealed, but is in full force and effect, and that the justice of the peace in the case at bar had no jurisdiction to issue a warrant for the arrest of the petitioner nor jurisdiction over the alleged offense'.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.