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City of Enid7/5/2005
eneral in its nature and to have uniform operation, it is not necessary that it shall operate upon every person and every locality in the state. A law may be general and have a local application or apply to a designated class if it operates equally upon all the subjects within the class for which it was adopted. But where a statute operates upon a class, the classification must not be capricious or arbitrary and must be reasonable and pertain to some peculiarity in the subject matter calling for the legislation. As between the persons and places included within the operation of the law and those omitted, there must be some distinctive characteristic upon which a different treatment may be reasonably founded and that furnishes a practical and real basis for discrimination."
Does the act before us constitute special legislation within the tests prescribed by the foregoing decisions? Superficially the statute prescribes a special method for the enforcement of a particular class of judgments, namely those rendered by federal courts. Incidentally it may be noted at this point that the act neither attempts nor purports to authorize the federal court to adopt a different procedure in the collection of judgments than that which would otherwise obtain. Its directions go to county officials. It prescribes a method by which they shall act to enforce the judgments embraced within the provisions of the act. Their right and duty to act, if the law be valid, arises from the legislative mandate independent of any direction by the federal court. By the terms of the law, the federal court judgment is merely a prerequisite to an exercise of the power attempted to be conferred upon the county officials. Thus the law here involved is distinguished from those legislative acts which provide for variations in the procedure applicable to different classes of courts (as distinguished from courts of the same class) throughout the state which may be valid. See discussion in City of Sapulpa v. Land. 101 Okla. 22, 223 P. 640, 35 A. L. R. 872.
Barrett v. Board of County Commissioners of Tulsa County, 1939 OK 68, at 14-19, 90 P.2d at 446-447, (emphasis added).
A § 46 challenge was raised. Id. at 14. The Court noted that the matter involved a statute for methods enforcing a judgment. Id. at 15. Section 46 prohibits local and special laws on the subject of "Regulating the practice or jurisdiction of, or changing the rules of evidence in judicial proceedings . . . or providing or changing the methods for the collection of debts, or the enforcement of judgments . . . ."
The court then said that the question presented was whether the challenged law was general or an invalid special law. Id. at 15. How did this Court proceed? It said that the Legislature could make classifications that were not arbitrary or capricious. Id. at 16. It then said that the challenged law had to satisfy the test explained by the Court in School District No. 85, Kay County, v. School District No. 71, Kay County, 1928 OK 689, 276 P. 186. Barrett at 17.
Our opinion in School District No. 85, Kay County, supra, did not involve a claim pursuant to Art. 5 § 46, but Art. 5 § 59. Id. 1928 OK 689 at 19 and following. In other words, in Barrett, we said that to determine if an act was an invalid special law for the purpose of § 46 the Court must follow its language in the previous opinion explaining a "special law" for the purpose of Art. 5 § 59.
In Barrett we then quoted from Roberts et al. v. Ledgerwood, 1928 OK 723, 272 P. 448. Roberts is not a § 46 controversy, but one involving Art. 5 § 59. Roberts, at 4 and following. Again in Barrett we quoted from a § 59 controversy for determi
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