39 Iowa 447 | Iowa | 1874
The only question discussed is, the authority of the City of Keokuk, under its charter, to pass the ordinance under which the information is filed. Section 13 of the original charter of the city, is as follows: “That the City Council shall have power, and it is hereby made their duty, to make and publish, from time to time, all such ordinances as shall be necessary to secure said city and the inhabitants thereof
“ Eor the suppression of riots and gambling, and indecent and disorderly conduct: for the punishment of all lewd and lascivious behavior in the streets, and other public places in said city.
“ They shall have power, from time to time, to make and publish all such laws and ordinances as to them shall seem necessary to provide for the safety, preserve the morals, order, comfort and convenience of said city and the inhabitants thereof. To impose fines, forfeitures and penalties on all persons offending against the laws and ordinances of said city, and provide for the prosecution, recovery and collection thereof, and shall have power to regulate, by ordinance, the keeping and sale of gunpowder within the city.”
Section 21 of the amendment to the charter provides, “ That the City Council, for the purpose of' guarding against the calamities of fire, shall have power to prescribe the limits within which wooden buildings shall not be erected, or placed, or repaired, without the permission of the said Council, and to direct that all, or any building within the limit prescribed, shall be made or constructed of fire-proof materials, and to prohibit the repairing or rebuilding of wooden buildings within the fire limits, when the same shall have been damaged to the extent.of fifty per cent, of the value thereof, and to prescribe the manner of ascertaining such damage. The City Council shall also have power to regulate the construction of chimneys so as to admit chimney sweeps, and to compel the sweeping and cleaning of chimneys, to prevent the dangerous construction and condition of chimneys, firerplaces, stoves, stove-pipes, ovens, boilers, and apparatus used in and about any building or manufactory, and to cause the same to be removed or placed in a safe and secure condition when considered dangerous. To prevent the deposit of ashes in unsafe places, and appoint one or more officers to enter into all buildings and inclosures to discover whether the same are in a dangerous state, and to cause such as may be dangerous to be put in a safe condition. .To require the inhabitants to provide as many fire buckets,
The portion of the ordinance in question, material to this inquiry, is as follows:
“ Seo. 14. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons, or corporations, to erect, construct or build any frame building or buildings of combustible material within the following described limits of the .City of Keokuk, to-wit: * * * * * which are hereby declared to be the fire limits.”
“ Seo. 18. That hereafter no lumber or wood yard shall be established and located within the fire limits, and that lumber or wood yards shall not be permitted within the fire limits after the 1st day of April, A. D. 1873, and lumber or wood yards, after the 1st day of April, 1873, shall not be located within the limits of the old corporation and outside o'f the fire limits without the consent of two-thirds in number and amount of the owners of improved property, in the block where it is desired to locate such lumber or wood yard, and the consent of the City Council, and any person violating any of the provisions of this section, shall be fined
Municipal corporations can exercise such powers only as are expressly granted, and such implied ones as are necessary to make available the powers expressly conferred, and essential to effectuate the purposes of the corporation, and these powers are strictly construed. Clark v. City of Des Moines, 19 Iowa, 199, (211,) and cases cited. Cooley on Constitutional Limitations, second edition, 199, and cases cited. The power to pass an ordinance requiring the removal of a lumber yard from a specified portion of the city, is not expressly conferred in the charter, nor can it be claimed that it is necessary to make the powers conferred available. Appellant’s counsel does not claim that the charter expressly confers any power to pass the portion of the ordinance now under consideration, but he refers to certain general clauses in the original charter, and in the amendment thereto, from which he claims the authority is derived. The provision referred to in the original charter is as follows: “ The city council shall have power * * * to make and publish such ordinances as shall be necessary to secure said city and the inhabitants thereof against injuries by fire * * * * * * They shall have power * * * to make and publish all such laws and ordinances, as to them shall seem necessary to provide for the safety, preserve the
The provision of the ordinance under which defendant was prosecuted, was passed without authority of the city charter.
Affirmed.