200 S.W. 404 | Tex. Crim. App. | 1918
The city of San Antonio is incorporated under a special act of the Legislature, subsequently amended under the provisions of the act of the Thirty-Third Legislature, p. 307, known as the Enabling Act touching the so-called (Home Rule Amendment to the Constitution, which act is chapter 17, tit. 22, Vernon-Sayles’ Civil Statutes. The charter contains numerous provisions giving broad powers touching police regulations, and in section 99 specific authority is given to “regulate, inspect and license all occupations when necessary or proper for the good order, public health, public safety ór general regulation of the city, and charge license and inspection fees therefor, and such fees shall not be construed as occupation taxes.”
The act of the Thirty-Third Legislature, supra, under which the charter was amended, also contains provisions defining the power of cities acting thereunder, among which provisions is the following:
“To license, operate and control the operation of all character of vehicles using the public streets, including motorcycles, automobiles or like vehicles.” “To regulate, license and fix the charges of fares made by any person owning, operating or controlling any vehicle of any character used for the” purpose of carrying “passengers for hire.”
“But this provision shall not affect the right of incorporated cities and towns to license and regulate the use of motor vehicles for hire in such corporation.”
Similar authority is reserved in the city in another act of the same Legislature. Chapter 207, p. 481, § 23. When granted to the city government by the lawmaking power of the state, the license and reasonable regulation of vehicles upon the streets is a valid exercise of the police power. 28 Cyc. 731; Dillon on Mun. Corp. § 1166; Lawson v. Connolly, 175 Mich. 375, 141 N. W. 623, 45 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1152.
Numerous instances of the exercise of this power upon various kinds of vehicles are to be found in the reports. As to its operation upon stages, see 28 Cyc. 765; omnibuses, 28 Cyc. 731, 930; vehicles carrying advertisements, Fifth Ave. Coach Co. v. New York, 221 U. S. 467, 31 Sup. Ct. 709, 55 L. Ed. 815; hacks, Kissinger v. Hay, 52 Tex. Civ. App. 295, 113 S. W. 1005; Ex parte Battis, 40 Tex. Cr. R. 112, 48 S. W. 513, 43 L. R. A. 863, 76 Am. St. Rep. 708; market wagons, Wade v. Nunnelly, 19 Tex. Civ. App. 256, 46 S. W. 668; carriages, Veneman v. Jones, 118 Ind. 41, 20 N. E. 644, 10 Am. St. Rep. 100; Combs v. Lakewood, 68 N. J. Law, 582, 53 Atl. 697; Ex parte Vance, 42 Tex. Cr. R. 619, 62 S. W. 568; wagons, State v. Boardman, 93 Me. 78, 44 Atl. 118, 46 L. R. A. 750; automobiles, Commonwealth v. Boyd, 188 Mass. 79, 74 N. E. 255, 108 Am. St. Rep. 464. The validity of ordinances requiring license of vehicles has of
“A distinction must be made between the general use, which all the public are permitted to make of the streets for ordinary purposes, and the special and peculiar use, which is made by classes of persons in the pursuit of their occupation or business, sucb_ as haekmen. drivers of express wagons, omnibuses, etc. Tiede-man. Mun. Corp. § 299.
“The rule must be considered settled that no person can acquire a right to make a special or exceptional use of a public highway, not common to all the citizens of the state, except by grant from the sovereign power. Jersey City Gas Co. v. Dwight, 29 N. J. Eq. 242; McQuillin, Mun. Corp. 1620. * * *
“ ‘The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States does not destroy the power of the states to enact police regulations as to the subjects within their control, * * * and does not have the effect of creating a particular and personal right in the citizen to use public property in defiance of the Constitution and laws of the state.’ Davis v. Massachusetts, 167 U. S. 43, 47, 42 L. Ed. 71, 17 Sup. Ct. 731, 733.”
The application for writ of habeas corpus is dismissed.
cg^jPor other oases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in ail Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
<g^For other eases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes