117 A. 359 | R.I. | 1922
The proceeding is by petition for a writ of mandamus.
The petitioner is a foreign born subject of the King of Italy and a resident of the city of Providence. The respondents are the police commissioners of Providence. The petitioner, who had operated a passenger motor bus on the public highways in the city of Providence, after the enactment in December, 1920 of Chapter 276 of the ordinances of the city of Providence, made application to the respondent commissioners for a license to operate a motor bus. The *334 application was denied for the reason that petitioner was not a citizen of the United States. Section 4 of Chapter 93 of the city ordinances provides that no person shall operate a motor bus in any street in the city without first obtaining an annual license therefor from the police commissioners, and that no such license shall hereafter be granted to any person who is under the age of twenty-one years, or not a resident of this state or who is unable to carry on an intelligible conversation in the English language or who is not a citizen of the United States. The claim is that Section 4 is invalid, in that it is a discrimination against citizens of Italy and a violation of the treaty between the United States and the Kingdom of Italy of 1871 as supplemented by the treaty of 1913. Article 3 of the treaty provides that: "The citizens of each of the high contracting parties shall receive in the states and territories of the other the most constant security and protection for their persons and property and for their rights . . . and shall enjoy in this respect the same rights and privileges as are or shall be granted to nationals, provided that they submit themselves to the conditions imposed on the latter."
The question thus raised is to be determined by construction of the treaty, and this is now established by judicial decisions. In Patsone v. Pennsylvania,
Authority to use the public highways as a common carrier of passengers for hire is not a right belonging to the individual but is in the nature of a privilege. Child v.Bemus,
The ordinance does not interfere with the rights of aliens to engage in the ordinary kind of business and thereby to earn a living, or with any right of property, but denies to them certain privileges which the state in the exercise of its police power can grant or withhold in its discretion.
We find that the ordinance is valid.
The petition for writ of mandamus is denied and dismissed.