139 P. 1095 | Or. | 1914
delivered the opinion of the court.
The proceedings in question are said to have been carried on under the act of the legislative assembly approved January 23,1903, entitled “An act to incorporate the City of Portland, Multnomah County,- State of Oregon, and to provide a charter therefor, and to repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith.”
Section 12 of that statute defines the domain of the City of Portland by metes and bounds, with reference to legal subdivisions of the public surveys. Article IY of the act establishes a procedure for the annexation of territory. The initial step of that process is a
In part, Section 3 6 of the act says:
“In case a majority of the qualified voters residing in such territory and voting on said question vote in favor of such annexation such territory shall on the first day of July next following said election be and become a part of the City of Portland.”
Section 17 reads thus:
“The council shall thereupon by resolution so alter and amend Section 12 of this charter and the boundaries of said city as therein described, and set out as to include such annexed territory within the boundaries of said city, and said Section 12 as so amended shall*577 be a part of this charter and be in full force and effect.”
In 1906, Article XI, Section 2, of the state Constitution was amended to read thus:
“Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by the legislative assembly by special laws. The legislative assembly shall not enact, amend, or repeal any charter or act of incorporation for any municipality, city, or town. The’ legal voters of every city and town are hereby granted power to enact and amend their municipal charter, subject to the Constitution and criminal laws of the State of Oregon.”
This section was further amended by the plebiscite of November 8, 1910, but not in any manner affecting the question here involved.
“The legislature, by Section 3209, L. O. L., * # provided a plain, easy method by which an incorporated city could acquire new territory. By virtue of this act, which has not been repealed, and which does not conflict with the sections of the Constitution thereafter adopted, it was provided that the question of acquiring such territory might, by the action of the city council of the municipality, be submitted to the voters within and without the municipality, voting separately; and, if a majority of each locality voted in favor of annexation, the change in boundary should be made. ’ ’
In brief, as against the plaintiff and others in like situation, the election was void because no notice of the same was given. On the part of the city it was void because the legal voters thereof had no opportunity to express their wishes on the subject. As to both parties it was void because, worked out to its final analysis, it amounted to an amendment of the charter of the City of Portland by those living entirely without-its boundaries. The other questions suggested thus become unimportant.
The decree of the Circuit Court is reversed, and one entered here in accordance with the prayer of the complaint. Reversed: Decree Rendered.