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Shiv-Ram12/30/2003
ions best through a written Constitution vesting the full legislative power in representatives chosen by the people...."' Opinion of the Justices No. 201, 287 Ala. 321, 323, 251 So. 2d 739, 741 (1971) (quoting Opinion of the Justices No. 36, 232 Ala. 56, 166 So. 706 (1936)).
"As previously discussed, according to the plain wording of Art. IV, § 104(28), the legislative department of government has the power to 'remit ... penalties,' if it does so by general law. Section 6-11-21 is a general law. 'Penalty' includes punitive damages. 'Remit' means to 'give up' or 'reduce.' 'The state had the right to remit punitory damages ...,' Meighan, 165 Ala. at 599, 51 So. at 778, if it did so by a general law, which § 6-11-21 is.
"All Justices agree that no citizen has a right to recover punitive damages; therefore, there is no life, liberty, or property interest of a plaintiff involved where punitive damages are concerned. State ex rel. Galanos v. Mapco Petroleum, Inc., 519 So. 2d 1275, 1277 (Ala. 1987), stands for the proposition that if two provisions of the Constitution are seen to conflict and one of them is contained in Art. I, the Declaration of Rights, the provision from the Declaration of Rights will prevail. State ex rel. Galanos specifically involves § 35, 'Objective of Government.' This has paramountcy among constitutional provisions:
"' he sole and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression.'
"Government includes the judiciary:
"'The powers of the government of the State of Alabama shall be divided into three distinct departments, each of which shall be confided to a separate body of magistracy, to wit: Those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judicial, to another.'
"Section 42, Constitution. ...
"Since we all agree that a plaintiff has no life, liberty, or property interest in an award of punitive damages, the only legitimate end of government in connection with the issue of punitive damages is to protect a defendant's property interest in not having to pay punitive damages that would exceed government's goal of punishment and deterrence. I believe that government, in its legislative capacity, set society's goal of punishment and deterrence by enacting § 6-11-21. Whether this was wise or needed is not for the judiciary to say, because the legislature was not prohibited by the Constitution from enacting § 6-11-21. Not only was the legislature not prohibited from enacting § 6-11-21, it was expressly empowered to do so by the Constitution (§ 104(28)). I believe that government, in its judicial capacity, as represented by the majority opinion in this case has assumed functions other than protecting 'the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property' when it strikes down § 6-11-21 as violating § 11 of the Constitution.
"....
"The people spoke through their legislature in 1987. The people spoke after all sides had been heard. The best and the brightest advocated or opposed a fixed limitation on punitive damages. What is now § 6-11-21 was legally adopted by a duly elected legislature, and it was approved by a duly elected governor. This was representative democracy at work. If excessiveness of a punitive damages award is raised, should not I, as an appellate court judge, treat $250,000 as the outer limit of what society deems necessary in the way of punishment and deterrence for civil wrongs (except those for which the limit was not made applicable)."
Henderson, 627 So. 2d 878, 910-14 (
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