117 Ga. 902 | Ga. | 1903
On December 2,1902, an act was approved providing for a new charter for the town of Edgewood. Acts 1902, p. 409. The first section of the act repealed the act of 1898, incorporating the town. The second section declared “ that the City of Edgewood, in the county of DeKalb, be, and the same is, hereby incorporated as a city under the name of City of Edgewood.” The third section defines the corporate limits of the city, and within the limits thus prescribed is embraced more territory than was embraced within the corporate limits of the town. The following thirteen sections of the act confer upon the city authorities many of the usual powers granted to municipal corporations, provide for a form of government, etc. The 17th and 18th sections relate to the establishment of a system of public instruction in the city. The 19th section authorizes the city to issue bonds not to exceed $10,000 in amount, the proceeds to be used for the purpose of erecting school buildings and
The constitution provides that local laws having for their object the establishment of public schools within the limits of municipal corporations shall not “take effect until the same shall have been submitted to a vote of the qualified voters in each county or municipal corporation, and approved by a two-thirds vote of persons qualified to vote at such an election;” the General Assembly having .authority to prescribe who shall vote on such question. Civil Code,
It has been held not to be improper to submit to the qualified voters' at the same time the question whether schools shall be established and whether bonds shall be issued for the purpose of maintaining such schools; though it was said, at the time that this ruling was made, that even in such cases the better practice would be to provide for separate elections on these questions. Brand v. Lawrenceville, 104 Ga. 486. This is the only ruling this court has ever made upon the subject, and this goes no further than holding that the qualified voters may be called upon to vote at the same time upon the question whether a debt shall be incurred and whether the enterprise for which the money to be thus raised is to be used shall be undertaken. Further than, this we do not feel justified in going. If the General Assembly were allowed to submit two, three, or more propositions at one time in connection with the question of incurring a debt, and to require the citizen to vote for or against all, the question of incurring the debt would no longer be left to the will of the qualified voters of the towns and cities of the State, but would be remitted to the subtlety and ingenuity of those interested and usually influential in passing local legislation, in combining together various matters which might have the effect to bring about a vote in favor of bonds, when it might not have been brought about if the single issue had been submitted to a vote. It is said, though, that the constitution does not in terms prohibit the General Assembly from submitting to the qualified voters the question of incurring a debt, along with other questions. The power of legislation may be taken away from the lawmaking body by the constitution as well by implication as by express prohibition, and prohibitions against legislation which result from implication are equally as effectual as when they are express, and are to be regarded in the one case no less than in the other. 6 Am. & Eng. Ene. L. (2d ed.) 934, note 6, citing Page v. Allen, 58 Pa. St. 338, s. c. 98 Am. Dec. 272. The case just cited was dealing
When it is apparent that the policy of the constitution is against the incurring of municipal indebtedness, and that such indebtedness is to be incurred only with the assent of the qualified voters of the municipality, “ at an election for that purpose,” is there not
Judgment reversed.