211 P. 174 | Or. | 1922
Plaintiff, as a taxpayer, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, brought this suit to restrain the board of directors of School District No. 1, Multnomah County, Oregon, from selling or offering for sale all or any part of a three million dollar bond issue voted at an annual school election held in said district on June 17, 1922.
The complaint in substance alleges that School District No. 1, Multnomah County, Oregon, is a duly
A general demurrer to the complaint was interposed and sustained and from a decree dismissing the
Plaintiff’s contention is that the provisions of Chapter 172, G-eneral Laws of Oregon, 1913, governed said election and the manner of giving notice thereof, and that nnder said statute the defendant district was required to post notices of election in three public places in every election precinct in said school district and to post one of said notices at each polling place, and that as only five copies of said notice were posted in the entire district, and as none of them were posted at any of the various polling places, the notice was not given in conformity to the requirements of the statute and the election was therefore illegal and conferred upon the board of directors no authority to issue the bonds in question.
Plaintiff further contends that even if it is held that posting of notice was not required, yet the statute does require the published notice to specify the different^ polling places in the school district and that as the published notice failed to specify such polling places and referred to them merely as “various polling places” the notice given was fatally defective and the election held pursuant thereto was illegal and void.
Defendants admit that if the provisions of Chapter 172, Laws of 1913, were applicable to this election, the notice was sufficient, but contend that by Chapter 163, Laws of 1915, the defendant district was withdrawn from the operation of the 1913 act, and that the exclusive rule governing the manner of holding all elections in said district is prescribed by the latter act,
Prior to the enactment of Chapter 103, Laws of 1915, Chapter 172, Laws of 1913, had general application to all school districts throughout the state. Under its provisions it was necessary for a district school hoard, before becoming authorized to issue bonds, to call an election to authorize the issuance of such bonds and to direct the district clerk to post a notice of such election “for twenty days prior to such election in three public and conspicuous places in the district, one of which shall be the place of election.” The form of the notice was prescribed by statute and in part it reads as follows:
“School District Bond Election Notice.
“State of Oregon,
“County of-,
“School District No. -, — ss.
“Notice is hereby given that at the school district bond election hereby called to be held at-, in and for School District No.-, of-County, Oregon, -the - day of-, A. D., 19 — , between the hours of two o’clock p. m. and seven o’clock p. m., there will be submitted to the legal voters thereof the question of contracting a bonded indebtedness in the sum of $-for the purpose of-in and for said school district.”
Under this act the only notice of a school district bond election that the school district was required to give was that the notice, in the form prescribed, should be posted in the manner provided. The time prescribed for holding an election under said act was between the hours of 2 p. m. and 7 p. m., and if, at such election, a majority of the ballots cast was in favor of the issuance of bonds, the district school board was thereby authorized to issue the same.
“An Act Providing for the time and manner of holding school elections in districts having more than twenty thousand children of school age, and for the canvassing and certifying of returns; subjecting school elections to the provisions of Chapter 12 of Title 27 of Lord’s Oregon Laws, as amended by Chapter 207, General Laws of Oregon for 1913; abolishing annual school meetings and authorizing directors to fix tax to be levied; providing for issuance of bonds on majority vote of school electors; prescribing a budget and proceedings in relation thereto; requiring annual audit of school books; authorizing city superintendent to refuse admission to certain pupils. ’ ’
Section 1 is as follows:
“That in all school districts of this State having more than twenty thousand' children of school age the annual school election shall be held on the third Saturday in June of each year, and such election shall be held from 12 noon to 8 p. m., and it shall be by ballot, and such ballot shall be uniform and shall be provided by the Board of Directors.”
Section 2 authorizes the board of directors-to subdivide the district into school election precincts, provides that schoolhouses shall be used as polling places in all cases when covenient and that no precinct established under the state election laws shall be subdivided unless only a part of such precinct is within the school district. Section 3 requires the board to distribute such polling places as much as possible and to designate at which polling place the residents of the several precincts shall vote and to procure from the county clerk and to distribute proper precinct registers and such other materials as are required in the conduct of the election. Section 4 directs that upon the close of the polls the board shall receive the
Section 7 is as follows:
“In all such school districts bonds may.be issued on an affirmative vote by a majority of those voting on the question at any annual school election. The Board of Directors of such district may, in their discretion, submit propositions for bond issues; provided, however, that notice thereof shall be given by publication once each week for four successive weeks in two or more daily papers having a circulation of not less than ten thousand in such district.”
The remainder of the act is not pertinent to this controversy.
Plaintiff contends that the 1915 act does not in any way affect the operation of the 1913 act over the defendant district and leaves the earlier act in full force and effect, and that the defendants’ failure to post notice in the form prescribed and in the manner required by the 1913 act makes said election illegal. Defendants contend that the 1913 act, since the passage of the 1915 act, has had no application to the defendant district and that the 1915 act is a statute, complete in itself, and prescribes the only rule the defendant district could follow in giving notice of a school district bond election. As sustaining his position plaintiff argues that repeals by implica
While it is true that repeals by implication are not favored, and when there are two acts on the same subject, effect, if possible, must be given to both; yet, a statute may be repealed by implication as well as in direct terms: Pierpont v. Crouch, 10 Cal. 315. It cannot be supposed that the legislature intended that there should be two different and contradictory enactments embracing the same subject matter at the same time.
Every statute is by implication a repeal of all prior statutes so far as it is repugnant thereto.
When there are two acts on the same subject, if they are repugnant in any of their provisions “the latter act, without any repealing clause, operates to the extent of the repugnancy as a repeal of the first; and even where two acts are not in express terms repugnant, yet if the latter act covers the whole subject of the first, and embraces new provisions, plainly showing that it was intended as a substitute for the first act, it will operate as a repeal of that act.” United States v. Tynen, 78 U. S. (11 Wall.) 88, 92 (20 L. Ed. 153, see, also, Rose’s U. S. Notes), and authorities there cited. See, also, District v. Hutton, 143 U. S. 18 (36 L. Ed. 60, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 369). “A subsequent statute revising the whole subject matter of the former one, and evidently intended as a substitute for it, although it contains no express words to that effect, must, on principles of law, as
“Every statute must be considered according to what appears to have been the intention of the legislature, and even though two statutes, relating to the same subject, be not in terms repugnant or inconsistent, if the later statute is clearly intended to prescribe the only rule which should govern the case provided for, it will be construed as repealing the original act. The rule does not rest strictly upon*118 the ground of repeal by implication, but upon the principle that when the legislature makes a revision of a particular statute, and frames a new statute upon-the subject matter, and from the framework of the act it is apparent that the legislature designed a complete scheme for this matter, it is a legislative declaration that whatever is embraced in the new law shall prevail, and whatever is excluded is discarded. It is decisive evidence of an intention to prescribe the provisions contained in the later act as the only ones on that subject which shall be obligatory. Sacramento v. Bird, 15 Cal. 294; State v. Conkling, 19 Cal. 501.” Roche v. Mayor, etc., 40 N. J. L. 257, 262.
The decisions of our own court are in accord with the above principles: State v. Benjamin, 2 Or. 126; Stingle v. Nevel, 9 Or. 62; Little v. Cogswell, 20 Or. 345 (25 Pac. 727); Strickland v. Geide, 31 Or. 373 (49 Pac. 982); Pacific Elevator Co. v. Portland, 65 Or. 349 (133 Pac. 72, 46 L. R. A. (N. S.) 363).
If these two statutes were both to apply to a school district bond election in the same district, the inconsistency between the two acts is apparent. The first act requires an election called for that purpose to be held between the hours of 2 p. m. and 7 p. m., and the notice required to'be given as prescribed by statute states that the election will be held between those hours. The 1915 act prescribes that the election shall be held between the hours of 12 noon and 8 p. m. An election held between the hours prescribed by one would, under the other, be illegal. Under the earlier act the school district bond election was required to be called by the board and when held was a special election. Under the latter act there is no provision for an election except the annual school election which must be held on the third Saturday in June of each year. The former law provided
It was unquestionably within the power of the legislature to provide one rule for districts having-more than 20,000 children of school age and a different rule for districts having a less number. A careful comparison of these two statutes can leave no
For the purposes of construction the title of a statute may be considered: Torreyson v. State Board of Examiners, 7 Nev. 19, 22.
The 1915 act is a particular law, complete in itself and specific in its terms and prescribes the only rule to govern a school district coming within its terms. It applies only to school districts having more than 20,000 children of school, age. From the language and object of the act it is clearly evident that the legislature intended to prescribe a different rule for all school districts coming within its terms than that prescribed by the former act, and to make such districts an exception to the rule which prevailed over all districts prior to the passage of' the 1915 act. By its passage the defendant district was withdrawn from the operation of the 1913 act and became subject to the provisions of the latter act. Since the passage of the 1915 act the 1913 act operates according to its terms on all subjects embraced therein except the particular one which is the subject of the later specific act. As to the particular subject of the 1915 act, that is to say, school districts having more than 20,000 children of school age, the 1915 act prescribes the only rule applicable thereto: See Hawkins v. Baer, 63 W. Va. 431 (60 S. E. 391); Mason v. City of Ashland, 98 Wis. 540 (74 N. W. 357); State ex rel. Donnelly v. Hobe, 106 Wis. 411 (82 N. W. 336, 340);
The objection that the published notice did not specify the different polling places we think is also without merit. The 1915 act prescribes no form to be used in giving notice of a school district bond election, nor does it require notice to be given of the various polling places throughout the district. It only required that “notice thereof” shall be given by publication. The election was held at a time prescribed by law and at places previously designated by the board, and the complaint so alleges. The electors were charged with notice that the annual school election would be held on that day as prescribed by statute and notice was given by publication that a proposition would be submitted to the electors to authorize the issuance of said bonds to be voted on at said annual school election. There is no allegation that the plaintiff or anyone else was deprived of an opportunity to vote, either by reason of the fact that the published notice did not specify the particular polling places or for any other cause. By the slightest inquiry every voter could have ascertained the place where he was entitled to vote, and from the number of votes cast we infer that the plaintiff and all other persons desiring to vote did vote.
For these reasons the demurrer to the complaint was properly sustained and the decree appealed from should be affirmed. Attirmed.