266 Mo. 711 | Mo. | 1916
The city of Moberly and contiguous territory in Randolph County for a distance of
Upon a hearing on the application for the writ of mandamus the circuit court found that defendants had issued warrants in said district for $3303.90- for work done therein, and it was ordered that they pay or issue warrants to plaintiff in the sum of $6030.70, or the balance remaining in the county treasury which had been- collected in said district under the twenty-five-cent levy.
Cross appeals were perfected from this judgment, plaintiff contending that it was entitled to the entire revenue collected in said district for the preceding year for road and bridge purposes, and defendants that the statute under which the levy was made was unconstitutional and hence void.
’The constitutionality of. section 10482, Revised Statutes 1909, as amended (Laws 1913, p. 669), provid
Three limitations, two express and one implied, say defendants, are found in this section; the first is as to the rate, the second as to the application of the tax when collected, and the third (which defendants say is implied) that the tax must be expended under the direction of the county court over the entire county.
It is only upon the assumption that the entire business of the county must be conducted by the county court and that the Legislature cannot provide otherwise, that any basis can be found for defendants’ contention as to the third limitation. No words in the section authorize it. Consequently it is not such' a clear and unmistakable implication as would, under the rule, authorize an affirmative conclusion as to its existence in harmony with defendants’ contention, but on the contrary, it is simply an inference. Constitutional provisions cannot be construed by inferences, especially when it is sought by such construction to render a legislative enactment invalid. In thus construing the section of the Constitution under consideration, we are not unmindful of the fact that it contains restrictive language, but the purpose of this language is unmistakable and is expressly limited to the amount of the levy on each $100' valuation, and the purpose for which the tax is to be used, and not to the officials or body corporate by which it is to be expended. We are not impressed, therefore, with the soundness of defendants’, reasoning in so construing section 22, article 10, of the Constitution, as to con-
fine the disbursement of the taxes therein authorized to the county courts of the respective counties, the effect of which would be to render invalid section 10482, Revised Statutes 1909, as amended. (Art. 10, Constitution) and may be exercised within its discretion when not violative of an express provision of the Federal or State Constitution. [Hann. & St. J. R. R. Co. v. State Board, 64 Mo. 294.] The comprehensiveness of this power, in the absence of the restrictions indicated, extends to the determination of the time, the amount, the nature and the purpose for which the tax is to be levied. [In re Sanford, 236 Mo. l. c. 684; 37 Cyc. 724, and cases.] The legislative power to tax being inherent, the creation of agencies or instrumentalities for the levy, collection' and disbursement of such taxes follows as a necessary consequence, and hence the right of the Legislature to enact a law delegating, in this case, the disbursement of the taxes collected to a board of commissioners of a special road district, is not an improper exercise of such power.
The particular provisions of the Constitution (Sec. 53, art. 4) prohibiting this character of laws are not pointed out. The Constitution does not prohibit local or special laws in all cases, such laws being forbidden only upon the subjects named in the Constitution or where a general law could have been made applicable (State ex rel. v. Speed, 183 Mo. 186). What are general laws as meant by the Constitution has been frequently determined. It is held' generally that a statute is not special or class legislation if it applies to all alike of a given class, provided the classification is not arbitrary. [Miners’ Bank v. Clark, 252 Mo. 20; State ex rel. v. Taylor, 224 Mo. 393.] Applying this rule to the statutes under review, we find from their terms that they apply alike to all road districts in the State which may be organized as bodies corporate and are conducted in conformity with the provisions of these acts. It does not matter whether much or little of the territory of a county is included in the districts thus organized; the .test of validity being, is the class created by these acts not arbitrary, and is each of the districts subject to and governed by these statutes ? If so, then they are not inimical to the constitutional provision in regard to special or class legislation. In our opinion they comply with the requisites of general laws and should be so construed. We so held in construing a similar statute in Biting v. Hickman, 172 Mo. l. c. 256, and in State ex rel. v. County Court, 128 Mo. 427.
The power of the Legislature in the creation of municipalities and public corporations of every description is not only absolute but unlimited in the absence of constitutional inhibitions. In the presence of this power we must presume that in- the creation of the special road districts the Legislature deemed them necessary, expedient and in the public interest. Thus
In view of all of the foregoing, we hold that the statutes in question do not, within the meaning of the Constitution, authorize the granting of public money to a corporation, nor do they interfere with the transaction of a county’s business required to be exclusively performed by a county court, nor do they involve a going into debt by counties as prohibited by the Constitution or authorize the expenditure of public money for another purpose than that for which it was collected, nor conflict with either the letter or spirit or the intent and purpose of section 22 of article 10 of the Constitution of this State.
From all of which it follows that the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed, and it is so ordered.