Drennen v. Banks

Citations

• 80 Md. 310
• 30 A. 655
• 1894 Md. LEXIS 123

Syllabus

<p>Constitution, Art. j, Sec. 29 — Title of Statutes — Statutory Construction.</p> <p>The title of the Act of 1894, ch. 25, was an Act to repeal certain sections of the Local Code, “title, ‘Cecil County,’ sub-title, ‘County Treasurer,’ and to re-enact the same with amendments, providing for the election of a Treasurer of said county, in the year 1895, and his appointment in the meantime.” The sections repealed authorized the County Commissioners to appoint a County Treasurer, who was in turn empowered to appoint deputies. The sections as re-enacted, provided that the treasurer should be elected at the general election of 1895, and that in the meantime the office should be filled by a certain named person, who should also be the Secretary of the County Commissioners,- and the office of clerk of the commissioners was abolished. Held,</p> <p>That the Act was not in violation of Art. 3, sec. 29 of the Constitution, which provides that every law enacted by the General Assembly shall embrace but one subject, and that shall be described in the title.</p> <p>Where the several provisions of a law are germane to the same subject-matter, which is described in its title, it is considered as embracing but a single subject.</p> <p>The grammatical construction of a statute is not always in judgment of law to be followed, particularly when by following it, and solely by reason of following it, a deliberate enactment of the Legislature would be annulled.</p>