delivered the opinion of the court:
This wаs a bill filed in the circuit court of DuPage county seeking to enjoin the village of Downers Grove, in said county, from enforcing a certain ordinance passed by said village August 14, 1916, regulating the use of wagons, motor vehicles, motor bicyclеs and other vehicles in said village and requiring the payment of a license fee therefor. The complainants were eleven residents and tax-payers of said village and a physician who resided just outside of the village limits, and the bill states that, forty-two other persons similarly situated join therein for the purpose of sharing the costs of litigation. The village demurred to the bill, and on a hearing the court sustained the demurrer and dismissed the bill for want of equity. The trial court thereupon granted a certificate under the provisions of the statute, stating that the questions involved were of such importance that the case should be brought directly to this court.
Counsel for appellants earnestly argue that section 12 of the Motor Vehicle act, as amended June 28, 1915, and upon which the ordinance in question was based, is unconstitutional in not being uniform as to the classes upon which it operates. Said section reads, in part, as follows: “Nо owner of a motor vehicle or motor bicycle who shall have obtained a certificate from the Secretary of State and paid the registration fee as hereinbefore provided, shall be required by any city, village, town or other municipal corporation within the State other than that within which said owner resides to pay any tax or license fee for the use of such motor vehicle or motor bicycle; and no owner of a motor vehiсle, except motor trucks and motor-driven commercial vehicles and motor vehicles which are used for public hire, or motor bicycles, who shall have obtained such certificate and paid said fee shall be requirеd by the city, village or town within which he resides (if he resides within a city, village or town) to pay a tax or license fee for the use of such motor vehicle or motor bicycle in excess of the sum of $10 per annum for motor vehicles or mоtor bicycles of thirty-five horse power or less,” etc. (Laws of 1915, p. 592.) The section further provides for the classification as to fees that may be charged by said cities, villages and towns for motor bicycles or motor vehicles other than motor trucks, motor-driven commercial vehicles and those used for public hire, the fee differing according to the size of the municipality and horse-power of the motor.
Many of the questions raised in appellants’ briеf as to the authority of municipalities to enact wheel-tax ordinances and to impose and collect license fees under clause 96 of section 1 of article 5 of the Cities and Villages act (Hurd’s Stat. 1916, p. 309,) have been рassed on adversely to appellants’ contentions by this court in Harder’s Storage Co. v. City of Chicago,
The arguments urged against the constitutionality of amended section 12, as enacted in 1915, have been directly or indirectly passed upon by this court in Ayres v. City of Chicago,
This statute, if valid, must be based on the police power of the State. The test of reasonableness required in a statute based on such power as to whether it is in violation of the constitution is whethеr in its attempted regulation it makes efficient constitutional guaranties and conserves rights or is destructive of inherent rights. (Mehlos v. Milwaukee, 37 Ann. Cas. 1102.) The police pqwer is very broad and far-reaching. While the courts will not pass upon the wisdоm of an act concerning the exercise of the police power, they will pass upon the question whether such act has a substantial relation to the police power. Mugler v. Kansas,
The chief argument by counsel for appellants to show the invalidity of this provision of the statute is that it treats those who reside within the city, village or municipality differently from those who reside outside. Ordinances and statutes that provide different provisions for peoрle residing in municipalities from those residing outside are almost universally held valid if the classification is based upon a reasonable distinction. Such a law is not unconstitutional because it results in some practical inequalities. The question of classification is primarily for the State legislature and only becomes a judicial question when the legislative action is clearly unreasonable. All so-called local option legislation is based upon this princiрle. The decisions are numerous upholding such legislation and other legislation of a somewhat similar character. (Adams v. Beloit, 47 L. R. A. [Wis.] 441.) Of like nature are laws providing different rates of assessment for local improvements and laws prоviding penalties for the violation of an act other than and different from those provided for the same or similar acts in other parts of the State. (People v. Gordon,
Counsel for appellants further insist that if this amendatory act of 1915 be held constitutional this ordinance must be held invalid as being contrary to the provisions of said statute. The ordinance in question provides in sеction 1 as follows: “It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation residing within the village of Downers Grove to use, or cause or permit any of his or its agents or employees to use, any motor vehicle for pleasure uрon the streets, avenues or qlleys of the village unless such vehicle be licensed as hereinafter provided. It shall also be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to use, or cause or permit any of his or its employees to use, any wagon or other vehicle, other than a motor vehicle used for the pleasure of the owner thereof, upon the streets, avenues and alleys of the village unless such wagon or other vehicle be licensed as hereinafter provided.” Section 2 provides for the method of obtaining a license by the applicant from the village authorities. Section 3 prescribes the amount of the license fee to be paid. Sectiоn 4 provides for a license tag. Section 5 imposes a penalty for violation of the ordinance. The other sections of the ordinance have reference to the construction, repeal of former ordinances and the time of taking effect of this ordinance.
As stated before, the legislature clearly intended to bring the whole subject of regulating the use of motor vehicles under the control of the State. The reasons for this have been stated at length in the decisions of this court heretofore cited. Municipal corporations are limited to powers granted in express words or those necessarily implied or incident to the powers expressly granted. (City of Springfield v. Postal Telegraph Co.
The decree of the circuit court is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings in accordance with the views herein expressed.
Reversed and remanded.