12 Minn. 41 | Minn. | 1866
By the Court.-
Unquestionably the legislature of this State would possess authority under a general power of legislation, as that function is commonly understood and exercised, to establish municipal corporations.. Besides, our Constitution places this matter beyond doubt when it says in Sec. 2 of Art X: “No corporation shall be formed under special acts eoodept for mwrdeipal purposes. ” See Tierney vs. Dodge, 10 Minn. 171. And the object in chartering these municipal bodies, is to confer special privileges and police powers designed to meet the necessities of the case; among these is the privilege of enacting by-laws and ordinances, by which the good order, the health and general well being of the municipality may be secured. Undoubtedly, this is a species of delegated legislation; but there can be no valid objection to it on that score, for the authority to establish these municipal corporations, in its commonly received acceptation, implies the power to establish with the privileges which are ordinarily a part of the chartered rights of such bodies politic. The regulation and licensing of butcher shops are some of the privileges allowed to incorporated cities. Sedgwick on Stat. and Cons. Law, 463-6. We think there can be no doubt of the power of the legislature to enact Sec. 5, Ch. 16 of the Special Laws of 1865, page 123, whereby authority is granted to the Common Council of the City of St. Paul, “ by ordinance, resolution or by-laws, to license and regulate * * *
It will be at once seen that quite extensive powers are thus bestowed upon the City Council, for the purpose doubtless of establishing an efficient municipal government: and these powers do not depend, as in many of the English cases in which questions have arisen somewhat analogous to those raised in this action, upon customs, the existence of which was in dispute, but they are conferred by express legislation. It is not contended, nor could it be with reason, that the city council might not with propriety be authorized to fix upon some amount as the price of a license in a case of this kind, but it is urged that the ordinance by which such price is fixed at t/wo Ivimdred dollars is, on account of the exorbitance of that sum, “ unauthorized, void, oppressive, and in restraint' of trade ; ” that “ municipal corporations can only regulate trades or employments that are liable in and of themselves to become nuisances, or injurious to the public if not properly supervised or carried on; ” that “ such corporation cannot prohibit the conduct of a lawful business; ” that “these powers, legislative and otherwise, are confined to sanitary and police regulations; ” that “the legislature of the State cannot authorize a corporation to pass laws, save only such as are reasonable, and in regulation of employments that may become offensive;” that “legislation other than mere .by-laws punishing nuisances
Under any reasonable system of government, much must be left to human discretion exercised upon the facts and necessities of the case in hand. We think that it was competent for the legislature to authorize the common council to fix the price of licenses at a sum from five to five hundred dollars. We think it was competent for the legislature, within proper limits, to leave the sum which should be required, in the discretion of the common council, for the very object of a charter is to empower them to provide for the well being of the city, by such regulations and ordinances as their daily observation of what is going on around them will qualify them to enact more judiciously than a body constituted as a State legislature ordinarily is, could be expected to do. We are unable to see any abuse of discretion in the passage of the ordinance in question. It occurs to us that if there is any kind of business transacted in a city “which is liable, in and of itself to become a nuisance, or injurious to the public if not properly supervised
We think the testimony offered for the piu-pose of showing “the amount of license reasonably necessary to regulate the business” in which the appellant was engaged, was properly rejected. What part of the expenses of maintaining a police force, or otherwise sustaining a city government should be paid by butcher’s licenses, could not famish data from which to determine the reasonableness of the price of the license. We think it was' entirely legitimate for the council in fixing the sum which should be required for a license, to look at
It is insisted that Ch. 16, Sp. Laws, 1865, page 121, is void, because it violates section 27, Art. IT of our constitution, by which it is declared that “no law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title.” It is claimed that Sec. 7 of Chap. 16, by which it is provided in substance, that the collector of taxes for Ramsey County shall pay over his collections on account of the city to the city treasurer on the first Monday of each month, relates to a different subject from the balance of the chapter, which is devoted to amendments to certain specified sections of the city charter. The title of the chapter is “an act to amend the charter of the city of St. Paul.”
"We think Section 7 may with propriety be regarded as an amendment to such charter, and that the law does not cm- . brace more than one subject on account of the insertion of sec
The point made as to the irregularity of the passage of the ordinance, was understood upon the argument to be abandoned; at any rate, we see nothing in it, nor in the further objection that the ordinance was passed on the 4th of May, and not published till the 9th of September, between which dates several meetings of the Council had taken place. Sec. 23, Ch. 10, of the Charter, enacts that “ The Common Council -shall cause all publications made by authority of the city to be inserted in the first column of the third page of the newspaper doing the city printing.” . This is admitted to have been done in this case and the Statute does not jfix any particular time within which it must be done.
It is unnecessary to extend this opinion further than to say, that as we perceive no error, the judgment below must be affirmed.