News & Editorial

Who's Who

The Law

Misinformation

Message Boards

Islam & The Niqab

Email

"Fullfaced Photo" Only Means "Facing the Camera"

Assuming arguendo that Mrs. Freeman is required to provide a fullface photograph, she did so.

Under Florida law, courts can look to a dictionary to determine what the legislature meant by use of the word. See L.B. v. State of Florida, 700 So.2d 370 (Fla. 1997).

The word "fullface" is defined in dictionaries, and its definition is quite clear. The Random House College Dictionary, Revised Edition 1975, and Webster's New World Dictionary of American English, Third College Edition, revised 1988, define "fullface" as "facing squarely towards the spectator or in a given direction," or "with the face turned directly toward the spectator or in a specified direction."

Clearly, under a dictionary definition of "fullface," Mrs. Freeman has complied with Section 322.142, Florida Statutes, even assuming it applies to Mrs. Freeman.

The driver's license issued to Mrs. Freeman does in fact have a "fullface" color photograph of Mrs. Freeman. She is looking squarely towards the camera, i.e., the spectator. Nowhere in Florida Statutes does it state that Mrs. Freeman cannot be wearing a veil or in any way have her face covered.

The Florida DMV asked the circuit court to add or remove additional words to a statute, and the circuit court allowed this. However, a court in construing a statue cannot add words to the statute not placed there by the legislature. See Chaffee v. Miami Transfer Company, Inc., 288 So.2d 209 (Fla. 1974); Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company v. Boyd, 102 So.2d 709 (Fla. 1958).

---