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![handle is hein.sag/sagnc0034 and id is 1 raw text is: [287] January 28, 1997
Richard H. Robinson, Jr.
Assistant to the President
for Legal Affairs
The University of North Carolina
P.O. Box 2688
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Re: Advisory Opinion; Craven County Board of Education v. Boyles, 343 N.C. 87, 468 S.E.2d 50 (1996): Effect on
Parking and Library Fines Collected By Constituent Institutions of The University of North Carolina
Dear Mr. Robinson:
This letter responds to your recent request for an opinion on whether parking and library fines collected by
constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina (UNC) constitute fines, penalties or forfeitures
subject to claim by the various local school districts under article IX, section 7 of the North Carolina Constitution. In
particular, you expressed concern with the decision in Craven County Board of Education v. Boyles, 343 N.C. 87,
468 S.E.2d 50 (1996), in which the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the local schocl districts may claim all
monetary payments exacted as penalties that accrue to the State from the violation of either civil or criminal law.
It is our opinion that, insofar as the library fines are imposed for purposes other than punishment, and UNC
generates and uses the parking fines pursuant to the General Assembly's constitutional mandate to maintain and
manage UNC as a public institution of higher education, article IX, section 7 does not reach these fines, Craven
County notwithstanding.
I. The University Library Fines
All constituent institutions of UNC maintain libraries for the use of their students and faculty. To help preserve the
library collections against loss and to ensure that library materials are currently available to students and faculty,
the constituent institutions charge fees for late return of borrowed materials and replacement charges for lost
items. In Fiscal Year 1995-96, the consituent institutions reported collecting a total of $840,674 in library fines. It is
our understanding that these funds are used to maintain and replenish the library collections.
The Effect of Craven County v. Boyles on the Ownership of The Library Fines
Article IX, section 7 provides as follows:
All moneys, stocks, bonds, and other property belonging to a county school fund, and the clear
proceeds of all penalties and forfeitures and of all fines collected in the several counties for any
breach of the penal laws of the State, shall belong to and remain in the several counties, and shall be
faithfully appropriated and used for maintaining free public schools. (Emphasis added).
The Craven County decision is the most recent of a series of Supreme Court decisions dating from the late
nineteenth century that have addressed the issue of the scope of local school districts' entitlements to funds under
article IX, section 7 or its analog in the 1868 Constitution (article IX, section 5). In Craven County, the Court held
that monies paid to the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources resulting from
violation of civil statutory air pollution control standards constituted a penalty under article IX, section 7, and
should be remitted to the local school district.
The Constitution itself does not define penal laws. However, courts have traditionally characterized a law,
whether civil or criminal, as penal if the law imposes a monetary payment on anyone violating its terms and if the
purpose of that payment is punishment. 3 C. Sands, Sutherland Statutes and Statutory Construction, § 59.01, at
91 (5th ed. 1992). The North Carolina Supreme Court's decision in Craven County v. Boyles is consistent with that
understanding. The Court affirmed that article IX, section 7 encompasses all monetary payments exacted as
penalties that accrue to the State, regardless of whether they result from civil or criminal violations. Craven County
Board of Education v. Boyles, 343 N.C. at 90 (citing State ex rel. Thornburg v. 532 B Street, 334 N.C. 290, 432
S.E.2d 684 (1993)). See also State ex rel. Hodge v. Marietta & North Georgia Railroad, 108 N.C. 24,12 S.E. 1041
(1891) (holding that penalty accruing to State under civil statute is recoverable by local school districts).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagnc0034&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)