80 Iowa 626 | Iowa | 1890
It is clainied in behalf of appellants that the sections of the Code above referred to are unconstitutional and void. If this view be correct, then both the original incorporation of the town of North Bes Moines and the annexation proceedings are invalid and void. The ground of the argument is that the creation of a municipal corporation is an exercise ef legislative power, and that such power cannot be delegated to the courts. Upon the general proposition that exclusive legislative power cannot be delegated to courts or to any other authority, there can be no dispute. It is for the general assembly alone to exercise purely legislative power. Santo v. State, 2 Iowa, 165; State v. Beneke, 9 Iowa, 203; Weir v. Cram, 37 Iowa, 649; People v. Carpenter, 24 N. Y. 86; People v. Nevada, 6 Cal. 143; Galesburg v. Hawkinson, 75 Ill. 156; Sanborn v. Commissioners, 9 Minn. 273 (Gil. 258). But section 30 of article 3 of the constitution of the state provides that “the general assembly shall not pass local or special laws in the following cases : * * * For incorporation of cities and towns.” And section 1 of article 8 provides that “no
By an act of the Seventh General Assembly, passed in 1858, municipal corporations were required to be organized by proceedings in the county court, in some respects similar to the proceedings now required to be had in the district court. That act, and laws of a similar nature, have been in force more than thirty years, and in numerous cases in this court their validity has been recognized; and .we may say further, that, of the authorities cited by counsel on the question now under consideration, we think that the case of Shumway v. Bennett, 29 Mich. 451, is the only one which supports the claim made by counsel; and it is provided by section 1 of article 15 of the constitution of Michigan that “corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act except for municipal purposes.”
If the legislature of this state may not by general laws prescribe rules and regulations for the organization of municipal corporations, and provide means for carrying the laws into effect by conferring upon some court or commission or board, or some other agency, the authority to ascertain and determine when the general provisions of she law are complied with, so as to effect the organization of the corporation, then no municipal corporation can be created. And it may well be questioned whether, under the present law, any legislative or even judicial power is conferred upon the district
In our opinion, the objection that the statute under consideration is unconstitutional cannot be sustained. The following authorities appear to us to sustain the views above expressed: 1 Dill. Mun. Corp., sec. 41; Kayser v. Trustees, 16 Mo. 88; Commonwealth v. Judges, 8 Pa. St. 391; People v. Fleming, 16 Pac. Rep. 298; City of Burlington v. Leebrick, 43 Iowa, 252; City of Wahoo v. Dickinson, 23 Neb. 426.
III. It is further urged that there are certain defects in the proceedings for annexation which are fatal to the validity thereof. One of these alleged defects is that it does not appear that a majority of the electors residing within the territory proposed to be annexed signed the petition for annexation. This objection does not appear to us to be sustained by the record. It was recited in the order appointing the commissioners that a majority of the legal voters had signed the petition, and the record further shows that this recital was based upon proper proof of that fact.
6. —: pavi streets: bribery: what is not. VII. It is urged that the paving in question was secured to be ordered by the council by bribery. It appears that the paving was ordered by a resolution of the town council on the twenty-third day of May, 1887. It was provided in the resolution that' ‘ ‘ said improvements, including all grading, be done without expense to the town.”. The town was out of money, and in debt. Three persons who owned land north of that owned by appellants were largely interested in having the street paved. Before the contract for paving was let, they entered into a bond, by which they bound themselves to grade the street, and this undertaking on their' part induced the members of the council to make the contract with Smith & Co. to do the paving. The obligors in the bond performed the contract and graded the street at an expense to themselves of some twenty-three hundred dollars. The evidence shows that there was no secrecy about the transaction. It was all done in an open and public manner, after being fully and publicly canvassed and discussed at a meeting of the council. Under these circumstances, the claim that the council was bribed to let the contract cannot be sustained. Donations made in aid of public enterprises, such as the removal of county-seats, the location of public institutions and institutions of learning, and the like, are not bribery nor official corruption. Dishon v. Smith, 10 Iowa, 212 ; Hawes v. Miller, 56 Iowa, 395; Copeland v. Backard, 16 Pick. 217; 1 Dill. Mun. Corp., sec. 458; Crochet v. City of Boston, 5 Cush. 182.
Affirmed.