44 Fla. 623 | Fla. | 1902
Lead Opinion
(after stating the facts.)
Section 27, of Chapter 4684, laws enacted in 1899, to enforce the provisions of which this proceeding was instituted, provides as follows: “It shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners in each county in which, there is a company or battery of State troops to provide each company or battery with an armory suitable for its. meetings and drills and the safe storage of arms and equipments.” The first contention of the motion to quash the alternative writ is that the provision of this section of the law-is void because it violates the provisions of sections 5 of Article IX of the Florida constitution, which reads as follows: “The legislature shall authorize the several counties and incorporated cities or towns in the State to assess and impose taxes for county and municipal purposes, and for no other purposes, and all property shall be taxed upon the principles established for State taxation. But the cities and incorporated towns shall make their own assessments for municipal purposes upon the property within their limits. The legislature may also provide for levying a special capitation tax, and a tax on licenses. But the capitation tax shall not exceed one dollar a year, and shall be applied exclusively to common school purposes.” The limitation imposed by this section of the organic law upon the legislature in its grants of authority to the counties to assess and impose taxes is, that such taxes must be for none other than county purposes. As the expense of building or renting armories for State troops must necessarily be met by taxation, if follows that the validity of a law imposing the burden of supplying such armories upon the counties must depend upon the question whether or not it is a county
Section 1 of Article XIV of our constitution provides as follows: “All able-bodied male inhabitants of the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, that are citizens of the United States, or have declared their intention to become citizens thereof, shall constitute the militia of the State; but no male citizen of whatever religious creed or opinion shall be exempt from military duty except upon such conditions as may be prescribed by law.” Section 2 of the same article provides that “the legislature may provide by law for organizing and disciplining .the militia of the State, for the encouragement of volunteer corps, the safe keeping of the public arms, and for a guard for-the State prison.” Section 3 of the same Article provides for the appointment by the Governor, by and with the consent of the Senate, of two Major-Generals and four Brigadier-Generals of militia. Section 4 of the same Article provides that “the Governor shall have power to call out the militia to preserve the public peace, to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrections, or to repel invasion.” Section 16 of Article IV of our constitution provides that “the Governor shall appoint all commissioned officers of the State militia, including an Adjutant General for the State. The Adjutant-General shall be the chief officer of the Governors staff, with the rank of Major-General. His. duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law. Section
From these provisions of our organic law It will be ■seen that that instrument recognizes and provides for the militia as a State institution, of which the chief executive -of the State is made the commander-in-chief, and it is ■designated therein as being “the militia of the State” mud every able-bodied male inhabitant of the State, regardless of the county of his residence, between the ages '■of eighteen and forty-five years, who are citizens of the United States, or who have declared their intention to ’become citizens thereof, are made members thereof; and it is made the duty of the legislature to provide by law for the proper disciplination thereof; and, as part and parcel thereof, to encourage, volunteer corps. The arms with which they are equipped are also recognized as being the public property of the State. The provisions of section 2 of said Article XIY, providing for the State militia. also -seem to contemplate that the legislature may from the body of the militia of the State supply a guard "for the State, prison. If the State prison were fixedly established in any particular county and a company of "State militia were organized in such county exclusively of residents thereof, and such company were assigned to duty as a guard for such State prison, there could be no question 'hut that the expense of housing and mainten■an.ee of such guard would be properly chargeable to the "State. And this duty of acting as a guard for the State ■prison seems to be contemplated by the constitution as being one of the functions of the militia of the State. 'Their other functions and dirties are summarized in sec-
It follows from what has been said that section twentty-seven (27)- of Chapter 4684, laws enacted in 1899, imposingthe duty upon the board of county commissioners in each county in which there is a company or battery o,f State troops to provide each company or battery with an armory for its meetings and drills and the safe storage of its arms and equipments, violates the provisions of sections one and five of Article Nine of our constitution, and is, therefore, null and void.
The judgment of the ..court below is hereby affirmed at the cost of the plaintiffs, in error.
Dissenting Opinion
concurring.
I concur fully in the conclusion reached by the Chief-Justice, that a county can not be compelled under section 27, Chapter 4684, acts of 1899, to erect an armory for the use of a company of State troops organized therein. In reaching this conclusion I have given due weight, to the legislative construction of the constitution of 1868, and that of 1885, as evidenced by the various acts of that body from 1868 up to the present time, imposing the duty
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I do not concur in the conclusion and views of the court in this case. The sole question involved is the constitutionality of section 27 of the act of 1899, Chapter 4684, “to provide for and encourage the organization of a corps: corps of volunteer militia for service as a land force, and to enforce the discipline therein,” and to repeal certain' prior laws on the subject.
The motion to quash the alternative writ is on the grounds that the section of the statute referred to is unconstitutional because in contravention of (a) section 5, Art. IX, (b) section 20 and 21, Art. Ill, (c) Art. XIV and (d) section 16 Art. Ill of the constitution of the State. After a reference to various provisions of the constitution the conclusion in the opinion prepared by the Chief-Jus,tice is that the section of the statute referred to is in conflict with section 5, Art. IX of the constitution, though mention is made in connection therewith of section 1 of said Article. The view expressed by Mr. Justice Carter, in agreeing to the conclusion reached, is that the
The fifth section of Art. IX of the constitution provides, in reference to county taxation, that the legislature shall .authorize the several counties in the State to assess and impose taxes for county purposes, and for no other purposes. The liniitation concained in this section is on the power of the legislature to authorize counties to levy taxes for other than county purposes. If the authorized tax is .for a county purpose, then there is'no liniitation so far as -this section is concerned. The constitution does not undertake to define what are “county purposes,” and as safti *by this court in Stockton v. Powell, 29 Fla. 1, 10 South. Rep. 688, the authorities have formulated no generally accepted definition of such purposes, but leave each case involving the question to be decided as it may. arise. In Gotten v. County Commissioners of Leon County, 6 Fla. 610, this court said in construing a similar constitutional provision, “that the constitution does not attempt to give a definition of the term ‘county purpose,’ and to -obtain a correct interpretation of that phrase we must look to the contemporaneous legislation upon that subject and -the uniform action of the county courts under the -territorial government.” And in Stockton v. Powell it is said, “in somewhat the same strain Judge Cooley in treating of what constitutes public purposes for which taxation may be levied, says in his work on taxation (2nd ed.) p. 116, that in deciding whether in a given case the object for which the taxes are assessed is public or private, the courts must be governed mainly by the course
If taxes can be authorized by the counties to erect such armories, it must be on the ground of a county purpose,, and if it can he authorized as such it can be enforced as a duty. Decisions in Illinois, under constitutional provisions somewhat similar to those found in Art. IX of our constitution, hold that the legislature may authorize a municipality to levy the tax, but can not compel it to do
The motion to quash did not question the alternative writ on the ground that the provision in reference to the ■construction of armories was in conflict with section 1, .Article IX of the constitution, but if it did, I do not think the result would be different. That section directs that the legislature .shall provide for a uniform and equal rate -of taxation, which means that when a tax for State purposes is authorized it must be uniform and equal on all The property in the State, not exempt, and when it is authorized for a county or municipal purpose it must rest uniformly and equally upon all the taxable property in 'the county or municipality respectively. County Com-missioners of Duval County r. City of Jacksonville, supra. 'If the construction of an armory is a county purpose, Then the tax to pay for it must rest upon all the taxable •property in the county. There is no suggestion in this case that such would not be the result if the county ■should be compelled to build the armory.
This is an outline of my views, without further discus■sionof the authorities, or a distinguishing of those cited 'in the opinion, which I think are not sufficient when properly applied to support the conclusion reached.