42 So. 2d 177 | Miss. | 1949
The Board of Supervisors of Clay County passed an order prescribing the hours of opening and closing of places for the sale of beer, outside of the municipalities in the county, so as to prohibit the sale of beer or wine between the hours of 9:00 o'clock p.m. and 7:00 o'clock a.m. and all day on Sunday. The appellees, T.J. McCormick, W.A. Gaines and John Portera, at and before the time of the passage of said order by the Board of Supervisors, held permits to sell beer or wine and were accustomed to keep their places open after 9:00 p.m. and all day Sunday for the sale of beer and the conduct of a restaurant business in which all three were engaged. There was no petition filed with the Board of Supervisors requesting them to pass the order but same was passed and placed upon the minutes without any hearing, *225 and without notice permitting interested parties to appear and object, if they so desired. The appellees appealed the order of the board to the circuit court, under the provisions of Section 1195, Code of 1942. The county there made a motion to dismiss the appeal which was by the circuit court overruled and the court thereupon held the order of the Board void and of no effect. The Board of Supervisors appeals here.
There are two questions presented to us for decision, viz. (1) Does an appeal lie from the Board of Supervisors to the circuit court on an order such as is here involved, and if so, then (2) was the order complained of a valid exercise of a lawful power vested in said board?
Appeals from the judgments and decisions of the Board of Supervisors are allowed to aggrieved persons by the terms of Section 1195, Code of 1942. Back before the time when administrative boards had been developed to their present number and power, this Court held that appeals under what is now Section 1195 of the Code of 1942 lie only from the judicial acts of the Board of Supervisors to the Circuit Court.
Section 10224 provides as follows: "Municipalities may enforce such proper rules and regulations for fixing zones and territories, prescribing hours of opening and of closing, and for such other measures as will promote public health, morals, and safety, as they may by ordinance provide, and the board of supervisors of any county may make such rules and regulations as to territory outside of municipalities as are herein provided for municipalities."
This Court held in Ford v. Easterling,
The last few decades have witnessed the rise of a new instrument of government, the administrative tribunal. The rapidity of its growth, the significance of its powers, and the implications of its being, are such as to require notice of the extent to which "administrative law" is *227 weaving itself more and more into our governmental fabric.
An approach to the problem of judicial review cannot neglect the fact that its essence springs from the Anglo-American conception of the "supremacy of law." In 1936, Mr. Justice Brandeis, in speaking of "administrative law", said in St. Joseph Stock Yards Co. v. United States,
This Court in California Company v. State Oil Gas Board,
(Hn 1) We are constrained to hold that the Board of Supervisors in enforcing rules and regulations for prescribing hours of opening and closing under the provisions of Section 10224, Code of 1942, exercises a legislative and not a judicial power but from decisions of the Board of Supervisors on administrative or legislative matters an appeal to the circuit court is nonetheless within the contemplation of Section 1195, Code of 1942, and (Hn 2) the court to which the appeal is taken should only inquire into whether or not the order is *228
reasonable and proper according to the facts disclosed before the board, that is to say, whether or not its decision is supported by substantial evidence or is arbitrary or capricious, or beyond the power of the board to make, or whether it violates any constitutional right of the complaining party. To this extent, the rule announced in Board of Supervisors of DeSoto County v. Pidgeon-Thomas Iron Co.,
(Hn 3) Within these limitations we now inquire into the order complained of. Looking to the bill of exceptions and the facts disclosed before the Board of Supervisors, we find the Board's decision is supported by substantial evidence and is not arbitrary or capricious.
(Hn 4) In Noxubee County v. Long,
The judgment of the court below will be reversed and judgment entered here affirming the order of the board of supervisors.
Reversed and judgment here for appellant. *229