97 Neb. 562 | Neb. | 1915
On the 7th day of April, 1914, at an election held for that purpose under the initiative and referendum statute, the voters of the city of Superior, in Nuckolls county, a city of the second class having more than 1,000 and less than 5,000 inhabitants, adopted an ordinance forbidding the licensing of saloons. Afterwards, on the 22d day of May, 1914, at a special election held for that purpose, an ordinance was adopted relating to and regulating the sale of malt, spirituous and vinous liquors in the city of Superior. Under this last ordinance, John A. Doerr applied for a license and filed with the clerk of the city his petition signed by more than 30' of the freeholders of the city. Á remonstrance was filed, and upon the hearing the city council granted the license. The remonstrants appealed to the district court for that county, and by the judgment of the court the action of the city council was affirmed. Remonstrants have appealed to this court.
A number of curious, and some of them technical, questions are presented and discussed in the briefs. We find it necessary to notice only a portion of them. The first ordinance, of April 7, orders that no saloon license shall
Section 5237, Rev. St. 1913, provides: “No ordinance for the gOAnrnment of any city aforesaid in this state, except as hereinafter provided, shall go into effect until 30 days after the passage of the same.” It is contended by counsel for 'the applicant that this section applies only to the passage of an ordinance by the mayor and council. But this section was a part of the original act providing for the initiative and referendum. LaAvs 1897, ch. 32, sec. 12. Prior to that act there was no such provision in regard to ordinances enacted by the mayor and council, and in the act of 1897 there is no other provision than this in regard to the time when the ordinance adopted by the people shall take effect. If this ordinance did not take effect until 30 days after its adoption by the voters, it was not in force AArhen the application and petition for the license were filed, nor was it in force 10 days before the last publication of the published notice. And it Avould follow that for this reason the board was without jurisdiction to act upon the petition, even if we should consider that the ordinance in question is valid.
For these reasons, the judgment of the district court is reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to cause the license to be canceled.
Reversed.