JAMES CLYDE SMITH, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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James Clyde Smith challenged the constitutionality of Florida Statute Section 317.221(1), which prohibits driving a vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the statute as sufficiently definite under due process standards, rejecting Smith's vagueness challenge.
The statute is constitutional and not unconstitutionally vague. A statute need not furnish detailed specifications of prohibited conduct; rather, it must convey a definite warning as to proscribed conduct when measured by common understanding and practices. Men of common intelligence would understand the meaning of the statute and would not be required to guess at its application.
[1] A statute is unconstitutionally vague if it forbids or requires an act in terms so vague that persons of common intelligence must guess at its meaning and differ as to it…
[2] A statute prohibiting driving at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to actual and potential hazards is sufficiently cer…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“a statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that anyone of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law.”
Establishes the governing vagueness test adopted from Brock v. Hardie that the Court applies to evaluate the statute.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSmith was charged with violating Section 317.221(1) for failing to use due care while operating a motor vehicle on a public highway. The specific fact…
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The trial court ruled in the trial of this cause that Florida Statutes, Section 317.-*140221(1) (1967), F.S.A.,1 was constitutional, found the appellant [defendant below] guilty of the offenses charged under the statute, and- imposed an appropriate sentence. It is from this judgment of conviction and sentence that this appeal has been prosecuted, raising the sole issue of the constitutionality of said statute.2
Appellant predicates his attack on the statute primarily on the decision of this Court in Brock v. Hardie.3 A careful consideration of Brock, however, leaves no doubt that it is not authority for appellant. The holding of Brock, with reference to this question, is that “a statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that anyone of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law.”4 This Court adopted that definition as its own and designated it as the test approved by the United States Supreme' Court.
There are many actions of motorists in the operation of motor vehicles that may be expressly described and forbidden by the Legislature, such as speed limits in various areas and under varying conditions, parking regulations, adequate lights, brakes, and matters of that kind; but the lawmakers cannot anticipate or provide for every eventuality that might arise in the operation of a motor vehicle on the public highways that might endanger life and property. For this reason the statute makes it unlawful to operate such a vehicle on a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and potential hazards there existing. When we apply this statute to the language in Brock, it is clear that “men of common intelligence” wou-kl know of its meaning and would not be required to guess as to its application.
This conclusion is particularly true when considered in the light of the specific charges made in the sworn complaint upon which this appellant was tried below. The charges are that the appellant on a day therein named at an hour named, while operating the vehicle therein described on a public highway, at a place described, failed to use due care in violation of Section 317.221(1). Attached to this complaint is what might appropriately be termed a bill of particulars reading:
“Subj. was driving South and failed to observe a semi truck-trailer that had slowed because of dogs in the road and struck the left rear of the trailer.- His car continued through the median and struck a northbound car head-on. The driver of the northbound car expired at 7:55 P.M. the same day. This subj. received a broken leg and ribs.”
Appellant has cited authority from other states which support his contention.5 The weight of authority, however, is that such statutes are not offensive to constitutional requirements.6
*141In People v. Smith7 the Supreme Court of California, in upholding the validity of a similar statute, said:
“To make a statute sufficiently certain to comply with constitutional requirements it is not necessary that it furnish detailed plans and specifications of the acts or conduct prohibited. The words of this statute are at least as certain as the statutory language,- substantially the same as that now in Section 510 of the Vehicle Code, prohibiting driving at a speed ‘greater than is reasonable and proper’ or ‘at such rate of speed as to endanger the life or limb of any person or the safety of any property’ (Stats. 1917, p. 404), which was held sufficiently certain in Ex parte Daniels, 1920, 183 Cal. 636, 647, 192 P. 442, 21 A.L.R. 1172; * * *. ‘The law is full of instances where a man’s fate depends on his estimating rightly, that is, as the jury subsequently estimates it, some matter of degree.’ * * * ”
We approve the above observations and adopt such language as ours, so far as applicable to this statute. Moreover, our study of other authorities' prompts us to say it pretty well summarizes the majority view in this area.
City of St. Petersburg v. Calbeck8 involved a disorderly conduct ordinance containing language similar to that here considered. The District Court of Appeal, Second District, appropriately observed:
“Likewise, the ordinance or statute must be sufficiently explicit in its description of the acts, conduct or conditions required or forbidden, to prescribe the elements of the offense with reasonable certainty, and make known to those to whom it applies what conduct on their part will render them liable for its penalties. 16A C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 580; Ex parte Hawthorne, 116 Fla. 608, 156 So. 619, 96 A.L.R. 572; Brock v. Hardie, 114 Fla. 670, 154 So. 690. A statute or ordinance which fulfills the foregoing requirements does not deny due process of law, even though it is not confined to a definition of specific acts. Matteson v. City of Eustis, 140 Fla. 591, 190 So. 558; Poole v. State, 129 Fla. 841, 177 So. 195, appeal dismissed, 303 U.S. 619, 58 S.Ct. 611, 82 L.Ed. 1084.
“Impossible standards are not required, however, statutory language that conveys a definite warning as to proscribed conduct when measured by common understanding and practices satisfies due process. United States v. Petrillo, 332 U.S. 1, 67 S.Ct. 1538, 91 L.Ed. 1877.”
We think this language appropriate in this case and that the decisions of this Court there cited clearly sustain the validity of the statute under review here.
Affirmed.
ERVIN, C. J., and ROBERTS, THOR-NAL, CARLTON, ADKINS and BOYD, J J., concur.
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State v. Wershow, 343 So. 2d 605 (Fla. 1977)…nty commissioners charged with acts of “malpractice” which consist solely of a disregard or breach of their statutory responsibilities. A “reasonable and prudent man” standard for motor vehicle violations was found not to be vague in Smith v. State, 237 So. 2d 139 (Fla.1970), and the state suggests that a like standard applied to elected public officials would surely make evident that “malpractice in office” at least means a breach or neglect of statutory responsibilities. Counsel for the appellees conceded…
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Orlando Sports Stadium, Inc. v. The State of Fla. ex rel. Rom W. Powell, 262 So. 2d 881 (Fla. 1972)…cations of the acts or conduct prohibited. Impossible standards are not required. Statutory language that conveys a definite warning as to proscribed conduct when measured by common understanding and practices satisfies due process. (Smith v. State, 237 So. 2d 139 (Fla.1970); Hunter v. Allen, 422 F. 2d 1158 (5th Cir., 1970).) The validity of the statutes under attack is sustained by these authorities, for men of common intelligence would understand the evil sought to be remedied by the statutory scheme. App…
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Carmine Charles Robert Falco v. State, 407 So. 2d 203 (Fla. 1981)…w. In so holding, the Court sought to dispel the unconstitutional evil embodied in the vague statutory language. Nothing in its decision suggests that the rule espoused by the Supreme Court, the same as that espoused by this Court in Smith v. State, 237 So. 2d 139 (Fla.1970), would necessarily include an unconstitutional gap created by the repeal of a statute. Under those circumstances, as under the instant case, there are no “vices inherent in an unconstitutionally vague statute”, simply because there exists…
Previewing 3 of 30 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- United States v. Petrillo, 332 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1947)
- Brock v. Hardie, 114 Fla. 670 (Fla. 1934)
- Ex Parte: N. Vernon Hawthorne. Ex Parte: Dan J. Mahoney, 116 Fla. 608 (Fla. 1934)
- City OF ST. Petersburg v. Calbeck, 114 So. 2d 316 (Fla. 2d DCA 1959)
- Poole v. State, 129 Fla. 841 (Fla. 1937)
- Matteson v. City of Eustis, 140 Fla. 591 (Fla. 1939)
- Ex parte Bryant McQuillen, 303 U.S. 619 (U.S. 1938)
- Poole v. Florida, 303 U.S. 619 (U.S. 1938)