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eBook details

• Title: State Ex Rel. Theodore B. Scott and Ed
• Author : Supreme Court of Missouri En Banc
• Release Date : January 06, 1972
• Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 67 KB

Description

In the trial court, relators, who were identified as citizens and taxpayers of this state, sought a peremptory writ of mandamus to compel respondent, the Secretary of State, to accept for filing and certify as legally sufficient certain ""initiative petitions"" calling for submission to the electorate at the General Election to be held on November 7, 1972, a proposed amendment, commonly reffered to as the ""soft drink tax"" amendment, to the constitution of this state. Intervenor, also identified as a citizen and taxpayer, was allowed to intervene as a party respondent. Relief was denied and relators have appealed. We affirm. Initially, we note that the trial court premised its denial of relief solely on the alleged deficiency of such petitions as was asserted by respondent secretary, i.e., ""... the failure of the petitioners to comply with the requirements of Article III, Section 50, of the Constitution of Missouri, 1945, in that said petitions do not contain the mandatory enacting clause ... ."" Said section, in part, provides: ""Every such petition shall contain an enacting clause and the full text of the measure. Petitions for constitutional amendments shall not contain more than one amended and revised article of this constitution, or one new article which shall not contain more than one subject and matters properly connected therewith, and the enacting clause thereof shall be 'Be it resolved by the people of the state of Missouri that the Constitution be amended:'."" (Emphasis added.) That the petitions as filed fail to conform to such constitutional dictates is obviously apparent for they contain no enacting clause whatever. Relators seek to rationalize the absence thereof on the following grounds: (1) substantial compliance with constitutional provisions considered as a whole is sufficient, (2) the requirement there be an enactment clause is simply directory and not mandatory, and (3) the desires of a large number of citizens should not be ""subverted by the lack of a technical introduction."" To sustain such arguments, relators cite and rely on the following Missouri cases: City of Cape Girardeau v. Riley, 52 Mo. 424 (1873); State v. Roach, 130 S.W. 689 (1910); and, State v. Holman, 296 S.W.2d 482 (1956).

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