4 Del. Ch. 491 | New York Court of Chancery | 1872
It is not claimed on the .part of the complainant that a contract between him and the city for this work was completed by his putting in the lowest bid under the original advertisement. It is agreed that, in order to
I do not find sufficient ground for interfering with the action of the Council. There are several objections :
First. Even were it doubtful whether the City Council would be permitted to prefer a higher bidder under the first advertisement, viz : Geo. Remington, to the complainant, it does not appear that it proposes to do so. The Council did not adopt the recommendation of the street committee, but for reasons sufficient in its judgment, and which this Court is not competent to overrule, the Council abandoned the original specifications, rejecting as a consequence all the bids made under the first call for proposals, and proceeded to advertise for new bids under modified specifications. Now, however the right of the Council to prefer a higher to a lower bidder might be questioned, there can be no doubt (in the absence of any statutory or charter regulation to the contrary) of the full discretion of any person or corporation even after bids for a proposed work have been received and opened, either wholly to abandon the work, or to alter the plan of it, or to change or amend the specifications and issue new ones; otherwise there would be no protection against combinations or extravagant bidding beyond the amount of the contemplated expenditure—no remedy for defects in the plan of the work or in the specifications which the result of the biddings might disclose. Such a discretion to be, of course, fairly and honestly exercised, is universally conceded.
A case in New York, decided in 1867, The People vs. The Croton Aqueduct, Boards 49 Barb. Sup. Ct. Repts. 259, is
The charter has confided this discretion to the Council, and .the courts will not review the reasons of its action further than to see that the discretion is fairly and honestly exercised. The good faith and honesty of the Council in this business stands unimpeached upon the record of the cause.
But in the next place there is a feature of this case which puts beyond all question the right of the City Council to reject Keogh’s bid and even to have preferred a higher bid under the original advertisement. His bid was
This case does not raise the broad question whether the City Council, being uncontrolled on this subject by any statute or by its charter, may not in all cases, even without reserving the right, reject the lowest bid put in under an advertisement for proposals, and award the contract to a higher bidder, acting of course, with good faith to the public interest. On that point an opinion is unnecessary, and would be extra-judicial and improper.
I waive the question raised in argument as to who are proper parties to institute legal proceedings for the correction of abuses or breaches of trust by the municipal corporations, and will treat the case, under this branch, as properly before me. Both counsel, at the conclusion, desired that the motion be disposed of upon its merits, free from technical objections.
It will only be necessary on this point to define the limit of judicial interference with the discretionary powers vested by the Legislature in municipal corporations or their officers. The precise limit I take to be this :—that the courts may interpose so far as to protect private rights when violated or threatened by the action of these bodies, also to restrain them from the assumption of powers not granted by their charters, and further, to guard the public interests against any corrupt or fraudulent abuse of the powers granted to them. But where no private right is infringed and -the City Corporation or its officers are exercising their discretion in good faith, the Court will not revise the grounds of their proceedings nor entertain the suggestion that their action is inexpedient for the public interest. This is a plain rule, easy of application, reasonably safe for the public without needlessly trammeling the bodies or officers in whom discretionary powers are vested ; and it is also a rule well settled by judicial authority. People vs. New York, 54 Barbour S. C. R. 169; People and Flagg vs. Lowber, 7 Abbotts R. 177; Reynolds vs. Mayor of Albany, 8 Barbour, S. C. R. 597;
To apply the principle to this case :—The paving of streets in the City of Wilmington, together with a large body of other enumerated powers, is by the 27th section of the City Charter vested in the City Council. It is a discretionary power, and is confided without any expressed restriction whatever. Much argument was directed to show that the authority exercised for the paving of streets is not legislative or political, but is a trust, in the strict and proper sense, for the management and disposal of the property of the citizens, and is subject to the same rules which govern the ordinary responsibility of trustees. Be it so. The distinction is not material to this case. Either way, whether considered as an act of legislation or as the exercise of a trust in the strictest sense, the power in question is essentially discretionary. A large discretion must run through all the details of its exercise, such as the devising of suitable plans for the work, the adopting of specifications and giving out of contracts and the raising of means to pay the expenditure.
The action of the Council now drawn into question is its abandoning the original specifications of macadamizing Fourth street, rejecting the bids put in under the first call, adopting new specifications and receiving bids under them. Now as has been just decided, this proceeding violated no right, legal or equitable, of Mr. Keogh, as a bidder ; and, so far as it may concern the public interest, there is no suggestion of bad faith or corruption in the action of the City Council. It appears to have been an honest exercise of discretion in a subject-matter confided to the Council by the charter, and with which, whether it were well or ill judged for the interests of the city, the courts have no authority to interfere.
Where a discretionary power conferred by charter is found to be too large, or is at any point specially liable to
The motion for an injunction must be denied and the bill dismissed.
Note, In a case determined in the year following the present one, Attorney General vs. Detroit, 12 Am. Law Reg. (N. S.) 149, the principles here relied upon were also announced by the Supreme Court of Michigan. The right to interefere by injuction with an abuse of its franchise by a municipal corporation was sustained but only in a case were the public has a substantial interest in the question and a public right is concerned. In that case a “ lowest bidder ” endeavoured to assert his rights and to enjoin the letting of a contract to the highest bidder. It was held that even where contracts for paving streets were required by law to be given the lowest bidder, “ Something is necessarily “ left to the discretion of the City Council.”
The cases are not identical, but the Michigan case will be found instructive upon this subject.
Dillon, iu his latest edition of the work on Municipal Corporations, Sec. 470, considers that the contract is incomplete until the bid is accepted. And in Sec. 832, he states the doctrine that the discretion of municipal bodies cannot be controlled, even by mandamus, which he says will not lie to enforce the award of a contract to the lowest bidder, (note 3).