78 N.J.L. 3 | N.J. | 1909
The opinion of the court was delivered by
These suits were instituted by the attorney-general for the 'purpose of testing the right of the several defendants therein to exercise the liberties, privileges and franchises of members of the board of fire and police commissioners, the board of finance, and the board of public works of the city of Paterson, under appointment by the mayor of that city, made'pursuant to the terms of three acts of the. legislature of this state passed in the year 1907, and constituting chapters 45, 46 and 62 of the laws of tliat year. The informations assert that these several acts are unconstitutional and void, and that the offices held thereunder are unlawfully held; the demurrers challenge the soundness of this assertion.
The framework of each of these acts is the same; each is made applicable- to cities having a population of not le^ than one hundred thousand nor more than two hundred thousand inhabitants; each act gives the mayor power to appoint boards consisting of four resident members, not more than two of whom shall be members of the same political party; under each of .these acts the boards created thereby are substituted for and vested with the powers and duties previously exercised by any board, committee or governing body having
The first contention made on behalf of the attorney-general in support of the informations is that each of these statutes violates the provision of article 4, section 7, paragraph 11 of the constitution of our state which prohibits the legislature from passing any private, local or special law regulating the internal affairs of cities and counties, appointing local offices or commissions to regulate municipal affairs. It has been settled by a long line of decisions by our courts that this constitutional provision does not proldbit the legislature from classifying cities for the purpose of passing acts regulating their internal affairs. It has further been conclusively determined by our courts that the classification of cities upon the basis of population, for the purpose of legislation regulating their internal affairs, does not violate the constitutional provision referred to when population hears a reasonable relation to the subject-matter of the legislation. It is conceded on behalf of the attorney-general that the power of the legislature, to the extent indicated, cannot he successfully challenged. The ground upon which he attacks the statutes under review is that population does not bear any reasonable relation to the matters with which they deal; that cities having a population between one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand have no characteristics which so distinguish them from those having a larger or smaller population, as to render the statutory provisions which are under consideration fit and appropriate to them alone, and unfit and inappropriate to municipalities having a greater or less number of inhabitants; that, for this reason, the classification is illusive and unsubstantial, and, consequently, makes the law special, although it sounds in general terms.
The attorney-general further insists that the statutes under review are unconstitutional “in that they prescribe political qualification for the holding of public office.”. Fo specific provision in the constitution, which prohibits such prescription, is referred to by counsel, and none such can be found. His argument is apparently based upon the theory that the imposing of political qualifications upon the right to hold public office violates the spirit of the constitution. Assuming that this proposition is sound, are these statutes in conflict
The only other authority relied upon in behalf of the in
Me concur in the view expressed in Eogers v. Buffalo that a statute, the purpose of which is to secure the appointment of persons who are not all of, the same political views, and thus provide for a representation in the body so appointed, of different and probably conflicting interests in the municipal ity, does not, because it carries such a purpose into execution, violate either the letter or the spirit of the constitution by reason of the fact that it prohibits tbe appointment to tbe board which it creates of more than a certain proportion of members of the same political party, and are entirely content to rest this conclusion upon the reasoning of Mr. Justice Beckham in the verjr elaborate and able opinion from which we have quoted.
The defendants are entitled to judgment upon their respective demurrers.