. State ex rel. Foot v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586, 588, 238 P. 585, 585 (1925). Similar policies lie behind the Rule on Amendments, which has remained substantially unchanged from Article V, Section 19, of the 1889 Montana Constitution.
are to restrict the legislature to the enactment of laws the subjects of which are made known to the lawmakers and to the public, to the end that anyone interested may follow intelligently the course of pending bills; to prevent the legislators and the people generally being misled by false or deceptive titles, and to guard against the fraud which might result from incorporating in the body of a bill provisions foreign to its general purpose and concerning which no information is given by the title. State ex rel. Foot v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586, 588, 238 P. 585, 585 (1925). Similar policies lie behind the Rule on Amendments, which has remained substantially unchanged from Article V, Section 19, of the 1889 Montana Constitution.
( State v. McKinney, 29 Mont. 375, 74 P. 1095.) It is submitted that the cases of Russell v. Chicago, B. Q. Ry. Co., 37 Mont. 10, 94 P. 488, 1 Ann. Cas. 579, State ex rel. Foot v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586, 238 P. 585, and Hale v. Belgrade Co., Ltd., 74 Mont. 308, 240 P. 371, are decisive of the question here. MR. JUSTICE ANDERSON delivered the opinion of the court.
We think the case ruled in principle by Wilcox v. Paddock, 65 Mich. 23, where a title referring to State lands in the particular county was held not to sustain a provision in the act relating to lands in another county. See Atchison, etc., R. Co. v. Kearny Co., 58 Kan. 19 ( 48 P. 583); State v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586 ( 238 P. 585); Village of Fairview v. City of Detroit, 150 Mich. 1. Decree affirmed. Costs to plaintiff.
It follows that if the subject of a legislative Act is not clearly expressed in the title the Act is void. ( State v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586, 590, 238 P. 585; Hale v. Belgrade Co., Ltd., 74 Mont. 308, 317, 240 P. 371; Savannah Mayor v. State, 4 Ga. 26; Albrecht v. State, 8 Tex. App. 216[ 8 Tex.Crim. 216], 34 Am. Rep. 737; Sun Mutual Ins. Co. v. Mayor of New York, 8 N.Y. 241; Kansas v. Payne, 71 Mo. 159; Traders' Compress Co. v. Precure, 107 Okla. 191, 231 P. 516, 519; State v. Mitchell, 17 Mont. 67, 75, 42 P. 100; State v. Anaconda Copper Mining Co., 23 Mont. 498, 59 P. 854; State v. Cunningham, 35 Mont. 547, 90 P. 755.) The title to Chapter 186 fails to meet the constitutional requirements in force at the time of its passage for the reason that a statement that its purpose was to amend certain sections of the Code, as amended, does not clearly or at all express what the proposed change in the law was to be. ( Harland v. Territory, 3 Wn. Ter. 131, 13 P. 453, 457-460; People v. Hills, 35 N.Y. 449; People v. Briggs, 50 N.Y. 553; Tingue v. Village of Port Chester, 101 N.Y. 294, 4 N.E. 625; Leonard v. January, 56 Cal. 1; Hearn v. Louttit, 42
We find nothing to the contrary in the Montana decisions. In State v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586, 238 P. 585, cited by the appellees, the title of the act was misleading, rather than general, and the same is true of the act under consideration in State v. Nelson, 210 Ala. 663, 98 So. 715, cited in the Burr Case. It is also contended that the act violates section 7 of article 12 of the state Constitution, which declares that the power to tax corporations or corporate property shall never be relinquished or suspended.
" (Emphasis added.) See also State ex rel. Attorney General v. Burr, 19 Neb. 593, 28 N.W. 261; In re Dunn, 85 Neb. 606, 124 N.W. 120; State ex rel. Wright v. Barlow, 131 Neb. 294, 268 N.W. 95; State ex rel. Sorensen v. Goldman, 127 Neb. 340, 255 N.W. 32; State v. Fisher, 103 Neb. 736, 174 N.W. 320. Somewhat earlier, on November 8, 1900, in Morton v. Watson, 60 Neb. 672, 84 N.W. 91, the court had had occasion to consider the classification or character of a disbarment proceeding.
" (Citing cases.) (State ex rel. Foot v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586, 238 P. 585.)' "To like effect see Hale v. Belgrade Co., Ltd., 74 Mont. 308, 240 P. 371; State ex rel. Holliday v. O'Leary, 43 Mont. 157, 115 P. 204; Russell v. Chicago, B. Q. Ry. Co., 37 Mont. 1, 94 P. 488, 501; Yegen v. Board of County Commissioners, 34 Mont. 79, 85 P. 740; State v. Brown, 29 Mont. 179, 74 P. 366.
" See also State ex rel. Foot v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586, 588, 238 P. 585. The title of said act: "The Dredge Mining Regulation and Land Preservation Act" is drafted in the simplest language.
(Citing cases.) (State ex rel. Foot v. Burr, 73 Mont. 586, 238 P. 585.)"