Friend v. Levy

Citations

• 76 Ohio St. (N.S.) 26

Syllabus

<p>Law requiring equal operation to be constitutional — Cannot be given unequal operation by an amendment — Or by an exception in repealing statutes — When act of legislature is repealed without saving clause — Stands as though it had never existed — Except as to transactions past and closed — Section 79, Revised Statutes — Effect of amendments and repealing statutes — Interpretation of statutes — Conflict of laws.</p> <p>1. A law that must have an equal operation to be constitutional cannot be given an unequal operation by an amendment or by an. exception in a repealing statute; either the subsequent statute or so much of it as would have that effect is void.</p> <p>2. A general rule of interpretation of statutes is, that when an act of the legislature is repealed without a saving clause, it is considered, except as to transactions past and closed, as though it never had existed. This rule is largely superseded by Section 79, Revised Statutes, which provides that: “Whenever a statute is repealed, or amended, such repeal or amendment shall in no manner affect pending actions, prosecutions, or proceedings civil or criminal, and when the repeal or amendment relates to the remedy, it shall not affect pending actions, prosecutions, or proceedings, unless so expressed; nor shall any repeal or amendment affect causes of such action, prosecution or proceeding, existing at the time of such amendment or repeal, unless otherwise expressly provided in the amending or repealing act,” but one legislature cannot prescribe binding rules for the interpretation of the statutes passed by a subsequent legislature and while in the absence of anything in a statute indicating a different intent the legal presumption is that the legislature intended the statutory rule to apply, yet when it clearly manifests a different intention the statutory rule does not apply.</p> <p>3. The exception, as to estates in which the inventory had already been filed, in the act of April 2, 1906, 98 Ohio Laws