Opinion.

The decision in Hortenstein v. Va.-Car. Ry. Co., 102 Va. 914, 47 S. E. 996, was intended to correct the mischief which flowed from that practice.

In that case it is said by Judge Cardwell: "The court, upon mature consideration, has reached the conclusion that, in actions for a tort, the declaration must state sufficient facts to enable the court to say upon demurrer, whether, if the facts stated are proved, the plaintiff would be entitled to recover."

See also Blackwood Coal & Coke Co. v. James' Admr., 107 Va. 656, 60 S. E. 90, 1 Va. App. 732; and Virginia Cedar Works v. Dalea, ante, p. 333, 64 S. E. 41.

For the error of the court in overruling the demurrer to the declaration, the judgment must be reversed, the verdict of the jury set aside, and the case remanded to the circuit court, with leave to the plaintiff, if so advised, to amend his declaration, and for further proceedings.

Reversed.

Syllabus.

Richmond.

COMMONWEALTH AND OTHERS V. SCHOOL BOARD OF THE CITY OF NORFOLK AND OTHERS.

March 11, 1909.

Absent, Keith, P.

1. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION-Selection of School Furniture-Constitutional Law.-Sub-section six of section 1433 of the Code, as amended by an act approved March 15, 1906, confers the power upon, and makes it the duty of, the State Board of Education to select the school furniture for use in all the public schools of the State, and is a valid enactment. There is nothing in section 136 or any other section of the Constitution of this State which, expressly or by necessary implication, prohibits the General Assembly from conferring such power on the State Board of Education.

2. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-Validity of Statutes-Doubtful Acts.-Courts can only declare an act of the General Assembly unconstitutional when such act clearly and plainly violates the Constitution in such a manner as to leave no doubt or hesitation in the minds of the court.

3. STATUTES-Constructions-State Board of Education "To Select" School Furniture-City Boards "To Provide."-All statutes in pari materia should be read and construed together as if they formed parts of the same statute, and were enacted at the same time; and where there is a discrepancy or disagreement between them, their different provisions, as far as possible, should be reconciled and such interpretation given as that all may stand together. Applying this rule of interpretation to sub-section six of section 1433 of the Code, as amended by an act approved March 15, 1906, directing the State Board of Education "to select" school furniture for all the public schools of the State, and sub-section ten of section 1538 of the Code, as amended by an act approved March 17, 1906, directing city school boards "to provide" suitable school furniture for their schools, the two acts are not necessarily in conflict, but may stand together. The

Opinion.

terms "to select' and "to provide" are not synonymous, and it is not to be presumed that the General Assembly intended, by the latter act, to take away from the State Board of Education the power conferred upon it by the act approved only two days previously. The power conferred on the State Board is clear and explicit, and should not be taken away by any language or provision in the statutes less clear and explicit than that by which it was conferred. Looking to all the provisions of the Constitution and statutes on the subject, it appears that the power to select furniture for all the public schools of the State, including those in cities, was clearly vested in the State Board of Education, by a valid act of assembly, and has not been taken away from it by any subsequent act.

Appeal from a decree of the Court of Law and Chancery of the city of Norfolk. Decree for the defendants. Complain

Attorney General Wm. A. Anderson and W. W. Old & Son, for the appellants.

J. F. Duncan, D. Tucker Brooke and Tazewell Taylor, for the appellees.

BUCHANAN, J., delivered the opinion of the court.

The object of this suit was to enjoin and restrain the school board of the city of Norfolk from carrying out a contract with the A. II. Andrews Company, which it had attempted to make for the delivery by that company of certain school furniture for use in the public schools of the city of Norfolk.

Prior to the act of assembly approved March 15, 1906 (Ch. 248, Acts 1906, p. 432), the school boards in the counties and cities of the Commonwealth were clothed with power to select school furniture for the use of the public schools in their respective jurisdictions. Code, sec. 1466, sub-sections 9 and 11; sec. 1538, sub-sections 10 and 11.

Opinion.

By the act approved March 15, 1906, section 1433 of the Code, which defines the powers and duties of the State board of education, was amended. The sixth sub-section of that seetion, as amended, provides, that the State board of education shall have the power, and it shall be its duty, "to select textbooks, school furniture, and educational appliances for use in the public schools of the State of Virginia, exercising such discretion as it may see fit in the selection of books suitable for the schools in the cities and counties, respectively, subject to the conditions and restrictions hereinafter set forth; but no text-books which may hereafter be adopted for use in any public free school in the State of Virginia shall be changed or substituted until the same shall have been used for a period of not less than four years.'

That this sub-section, as amended, conferred the power upon and made it the duty of the State board of education to select school furniture for use in all the public schools of the State, is clear, unless it be, as contended by the counsel for the school board of the city of Norfolk, that the General Assembly is prohibited from conferring that power upon the State Board of Education.

Section 136 of the Constitution is relied on to sustain that contention. That section provides that "each county, city, town, if the same be a separate school district, and school district, is authorized to raise additional sums by a tax on property, not to exceed in the aggregate five mills on the dollar in any one year, to be apportioned and expended by the local school authorities of said counties, cities, towns and districts in establishing and maintaining such schools as in their judgment the public welfare may require But there is nothing in that section or in any other provision of the constitution which, expressly or by necessary implication, prohibits the General Assembly from conferring upon the State board of education the power to select the school furniture in all the public schools.

*

*

Opinion.

Courts can only declare any act of the General Assembly unconstitutional when such act clearly and plainly violates the Constitution in such a manner as to leave no doubt or hesitation in the mind of the court. Commonwealth v. Moore, &c., 25 Gratt. 951, 953; Button v. State Corp. Com., 105 Va. 634, 54 S. E. 769, and authorities cited.

Having reached the conclusion that the General Assembly had the right to confer upon the State board of education the power to select the school furniture for the public schools of the State, and that by the enactment of sub-section six of section 1433 of the Code, as amended by the act approved March 15, 1906, it had clearly done so, the school board of the city of Norfolk had no power to make the contract involved in this case unless the power to do so was conferred upon it by section 1538 of the Code, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 17, 1906 (Ch. 293, Acts 1906, pp. 513, 515).

By sub-section 10 of that section it is provided that the school board of a city shall have the power, and it shall be its duty, among other things, "to provide suitable school-houses, with proper furniture and appliances, and to care for, manage and control the school property of the city." This authority to "provide * * * proper furniture" for the public schools of the city, it is contended conferred upon the city school board the power "to select" the school furniture, and as section 1538 was amended by an act approved two days after the act conferring the power of selecting school furniture upon the State board of education, it repealed that act so far as it applied to the public schools of the cities.

One of the well settled rules of construing statutes is that all statutes in pari materia should be read and construed together, as if they formed parts of the same statute, and were enacted at the same time; and where there is a discrepancy. or disagreement among them, their different provisions, as far as possible, should be reconciled, and such interpretation given as that all may stand together. See Dillard v. Thornton, 29