117 Ga. 434 | Ga. | 1903
The town of Arlington, Georgia, is situated partly in Early county and partly in Calhoun county. Under its charter it has a mayor and five aldermen as a governing board. In December, 1902, the mayor and '“aldermen passed an ordinance establishing a dispensary for the purpose of selling intoxicating
It was argued, however, that this law has no application to this case, because it does not apply to the State, the State not being named therein; that the mayor and aldermen, being agents of the State, had a right, under their charter, to establish a dispensary and make it a State dispensary. It is true, as we have said above, that the mayor and aldermen have power to pass .any laws, local in their nature, which would benefit the local community and which are not inconsistent with the laws of the State. But we do not apprehend that any one could successfully maintain that the power thus given them could be exercised to repeal a law of the State. Indeed, the very section under which is claimed the power to establish the dispensary provides that the ordinances passed thereunder shall not be repugnant to the constitution or laws of this State. Here, then, we have the assumption on the part of the agents of the State, to wit, the mayor and aldermen of Arlington, of the power to repeal a general law of the State forbidding the sale of liquors in that county. Had the legislature endeavored to-do so, it could not have conferred such a power on a municpal corporation, nor, indeed,- could the legislature itself have repealed a general law by the enactment of a special one. If the lawmaking power of the State could not constitutionally do this, it certainly could not confer the power to do so upon a subordinate body. While the mayor and aldermen may be the agents of the State to legislate for the welfare, peace, and good order of the town, they have no power to create other corporations or appoint other agents to do acts contrary to the laws of the State. While the mayor and aldermen knew that they could not establish a dispensary and run it as a town institution, they attempted to do the same thing by electing three commissioners to maintain the dispensary, providing for salaries to these commissioners, and also providing that the proceeds of the business should be turned over to the municipal authorities. The case of Chambers v. Barnesville, 89 Ga. 739, does mot conflict with’ these views. In that case it appeared that there
Judgment reversed.