88 Kan. 188 | Kan. | 1912
The opinion of the court was delivered by
An action was brought to restrain the enforcement of an ordinance for the collection of a poll tax for road purposes. A demurrer to the petition was sustained and the plaintiffs appeal. The only question involved is whether the statute as it now exists authorizes a city of the first class to enforce the collection of such a tax. To decide this requires a review of the legislation on the subject. A provision of the General Statutes of 1868, which has never been expressly repealed, required each township to be divided by the' trustee into road districts. (Gen. Stat. 1909, § 9584,
“Each incorporated city of more than six hundred inhabitants shall constitute a separate road district, and the corporate authorities of such corporation shall have power to appoint a road overseer . . . and any such city shall have the power to pass any by-law or ordinance necessary to carry out fully the provisions of this act.” '(Laws 1874, ch. 108, .§ 16.)
“All male persons between twenty-one and forty-five years of age, who have resided thirty days in this state, who are capable of performing labor on public highways, and who are not a township charge, shall be liable each year to perform two days’ work of eight hours each on the public roads, under the direction of the road overseer withim whose district they may respectively reside, or furnish a substitute to do the same, or pay the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per day to said road overseer, who shall receipt for the same, and expend it in repairs on the public roads within his district.” (Laws 1874, ch. 108, § 18.)
Doubtless cities of less than 600 inhabitants, being cities of the third class, would be deemed to form a part of the township in which they were situated, for the purpose of this statute, so the operation of section 18 was state wide. In 1907 section 16 was amended by striking out “each incorporated city of more than six hundred inhabitants,” and inserting in lieu thereof “each incorporated city of the third class.” (Laws 1907, ch. 295, § 1.) It has been held that this change removed cities of the first and second class from the operation of section 18, and that this form of road tax remained uncollectable in such cities, notwithstanding the reenactment of that section in 1909 incidental -to various amendments which are not important in this connection. (Heath v. Iola, 81 Kan. 177, 105 Pac. 32.)
In 1911 section 16 was amended by making the first clause read “each incorporated city of the second and third class shall constitute a separate road district.”
The suggestion is made that if the law does not apply to cities of the first class it violates the constitutional
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded with directions to overrule the demurrer to the petition.