George Sutherland

“ Whether the Philippine Legislature, in view of the alternative form of the provision vesting all executive functions directly under the Governor General or within one of the executive departments under his supervision and control, might devolve the voting power upon the head of an executive department or an appointee of such head, we do not now decide. ”

“ To make a ruld of conduct applicable to an individual who but for such action would be free from it is to legislate-yet it is what the judges do whenever they determine which of two competing principles of policy shall prevail. ”

“ The general rule that the expression of one thing is the exclusion of others is subject to exceptions. Like other canons of statutory construction, it is only an aid in the ascertainment of the meaning of the law, and must yield whenever a contrary intention on the part of the lawmaker is apparent. ”

“ By the original act the voting power of the government-owned stock was vested exclusively in the Governor General, but by the amended acts now in force that power was 'vested exclusively in a board, the short title of which shall be 'board of control,' composed of the Governor General, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.' The Governor General was also divested of the power of appointment of the president and vice president of the bank, originally vested in him, and their election was authorized to be made by the directors from among their own number. ”

“ It is enough to say that, when we consider the limited number of acts of Congress which fall within the first class spoken of above, as well as the peculiar character of the institutions dealt with, and the contrary attitude of Congress toward corporations of a different character, such acts cannot be regarded as lending support to a construction of the Constitution which would justify congressional legislation like that here involved. ”

“ Where a statute contains a grant of power enumerating certain things which may be done and also a general grant of power which, standing alone, would include these things and more, the general grant may be given full effect if the context shows that the enumeration was not intended to be exclusive. ”

“ But an analysis of the section, which is reproduced so far as pertinent in the margin, [1] shows, though not wholly beyond doubt, that the power given to the Legislature is itself a proviso. In other words, both the grant of power to the Legislature and the grant of power to the Governor General are in form provisos to the general provisions of section 22 which precede them. It is difficult to assign to either proviso the general purpose of that form of legislation, which is merely to qualify the operation of the general language which precedes it. ”

“ Whether the members of the 'board' or the 'committee' are public officers in a strict sense, we do not find it necessary to determine. They are public agents at least, charged with the exercise of executive functions and, therefore, beyond the appointing power of the Legislature. ”