Page:First National Bank of DeWitt v. Cruthis.pdf/1

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FIRST NATIONAL BANK of DeWitt v. Claude CRUTHIS, Catherine Cruthis, Bill Cruthis, Terry Cruthis,Cruthis Brothers, Riceland Seed Company and Stratton Seed

Supreme Court of Arkansas
Opinion delivered February 10, 2005
[Rehearing denied March 10, 2005]

1. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – INTERPRETING STATE'S CONSTITUTION – SUPREME COURT'S TASK. – In interpreting the constitution on appeal, the supreme court's task is to read the law as it is written and interpret it in accordance with established principles of constitutional construction, it is the supreme court's responsibility to decide what a constitutional provision means, and it will review a lower court's construction de novo, the supreme court is not bound by the decision of the circuit court, however, in the absence of a showing that the circuit court erred in its interpretation of the law, that interpretation will be accepted as correct on appeal.
2. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – CONSTRUCTION – STANDARD USED. – Language of a constitutional provision that is plain and unambiguous must be given its obvious and common meaning, neither rules ot construction nor rules of interpretation may be used to defeat the clear and certain meaning of a constitutional provision.
3. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – AMENDMENT 80 MERGED CHANCERY & CIRCUIT COURTS – CONSEQUENCES OF AMENDMENT. – Amendment 80 to the Arkansas Constitution merged the chancery and circuit courts, as a consequence of Amendment 80, courts that were formerly chancery and circuit courts are now referred to as circuit courts, because Amendment 80 states that circuit courts assume the junsdiction of chancery courts, circuit courts simply have added to their already existing jurisdiction as a court of law the equitable jurisdiction that chancery courts held pnor to adoption of the Amendment; in other words, no new or expanded jurisdiction beyond that formerly existing in the chancery and circuit courts was created through Amendment 80, rather, circuit court jurisdiction now includes all matters previously cognizable by circuit, chancery, probate, and juvenile courts.