Huntworth v. Tanner

Citations

• 87 Wash. 670
• 152 P. 523
• 1915 Wash. LEXIS 960

Syllabus

<p>Statutes—Construction—Preamble. The body or enacting part of a law controls, if broader than the preamble; but if it can be given a construction consistent with the purpose as declared in the preamble, it will be so construed.</p> <p>Same—Construction—Conflicting Sections—Preamble. Section 1 of the employment agency law, Laws 1915, p. 1, reciting that the welfare of the state depends on the welfare of its “workers” and that the state, exercising its police powers, declares the collection of fees from the “workers” for furnishing employment is detrimental to the welfare of the state, is more than a mere preamble to sections 2 and 3 making it unlawful for any employment agent to receive a fee from “any person” for furnishing him employment; as it declares the intention to advance the protection of the police power to a new field, and hence to limit the law in its scope to “workers,” instead of applying it to “any person.”</p> <p>Statutes—Construction—Ambiguity. The employment agency law, Laws 1915, p. 1, referring in the first section to the employment of “workers” and in the next section to the employment of “any person,” being so ambiguous as to incite contrary opinion as to its meaning, the first resort in its construction should be to discover the antecedent mischief, which related only to employment agencies to which laboring men, as distinguished from professional men, were compelled to resort to obtain employment.</p> <p>Statutes—Construction — Reasonable Operation. The employment agency law, Laws 1915, p. 1, referring in the first section to the employment of “workers” and in the next section making it unlawful for any employment agent to receive a fee from “any person” for furnishing employment, construed with reference to its natural effect when put in operation, has no reasonable relation to any subject other than the protection of those classed as workers or laborers, and was not intended to apply to school teachers who, for a small fee, were put in com