Suckow v. Alderson

SHAW, J.

In a proceeding against the plaintiff of the. character authorized by section 14 of the act for the regulation of the practice of medicine, as amended in 1915 (Stats. 1913, p. 722; Stats. 1915, p. 196), the defendant, board of medical examiners, suspended the license of the plaintiff to practice medicine for the period of one year. Plaintiff had theretofore been duly licensed to practice medicine in California. Thereupon the plaintiff began a proceeding in the superior court to review the action of the board in suspending his license, claiming that the same was in excess of its jurisdiction. The court below sustained a demurrer to the complaint, without leave to amend, and gave judgment for the defendant. From this judgment plaintiff appeals.

The complaint sets out in full the proceedings taken and the evidence heard by the board on which its order was based. The plaintiff presents three points in support of his claim that the board had no jurisdiction or power to suspend

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his right to practice medicine. They are as follows: 1. That the provision of the statute empowering the board of medical examiners to suspend or revoke a license to practice medicine, upon finding the practitioner guilty of “unprofessional conduct” is unconstitutional. 2. That the complaint against the plaintiff, filed with the board, does not sufficiently state any cause for the revocation or suspension of his license. 3. That no sufficient evidence was produced on the hearing before the board to prove their charges or support or justify its action in suspending the license.

The argument of the petitioner on the point that the statute is unconstitutional is that by section 1, article VI, of the constitution, all of the judicial power of the state is vested in the courts there named and in “such inferior courts as the legislature may establish in any incorporated city or town, township, county, or city and county, ’ ’ and that as this tribunal is not one of the courts particularly named in the section and is not an inferior court of any city, town, township, county, or city and county, it is an attempt by the legislature to vest part of the judicial power of the state in a tribunal other than any that is authorized by the section. It must be conceded that the power given to the board to revoke or suspend the license of a person duly admitted to practice medicine, upon finding him guilty of charges of unprofessional conduct, as defined in said section 14, is judicial in its nature. ‘ The right to practice medicine is, like the right to practice any profession, a valuable property right, in which, under the constitution and laws of the state, one is entitled to be protected and secured.”