4 Wash. 773 | Wash. | 1892
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The nominal cause of action in this case is that the respondent is usurping the right to sit as a conn
“That the said proposed extension of the limits of said city was not submitted to or voted upon by the electors of said city as an amendment to the charter of said city, nor was the same published in two newspapers in said city for a period of thirty (30) days next preceding said election at which said proposition was submitted, nor was the election at which said proposition was submitted a general election in said city, and in no respect was the constitution of the State of Washington, relative to the submission of amendments to charters of cities of over twenty thousand (20,000) inhabitants, which had theretofore framed charters for their own government, or the charter of the said city relative to the submission of amendments, complied with in any respect; but that said proceedings, and all of them, were in strict and literal compliance of section (9) of an act of the legislature of the State of Washington, entitled ‘An act providing for the organization, classification, incorporation and government of municipal corporations, and declaring an emergency;’ approved March 27th, 1890.”
This complaint presents the question whether or not the enlargement of the territory of a city having a charter of the kind in question is or is not an amendment of its charter in contemplation of the constitutional provision above mentioned. Some question was made upon the argument whether, in view of this constitutional provision, it could be taken to have been the purpose of the legislature that the act of 1890 should apply to cities adopting charters for themselves, but, in our judgment, there can be no doubt that the intention was to make it apply to municipal corporations of every class, whether existing under special territorial charters, or under the constitution and subsequent laws of the state. The intention may have been wrongly directed, but we are satisfied' that it existed, and if we were to hold the statute inapplicable the intention must be set aside as unconstitutional.
Our constitution, art. 11, § 10, provides that any city containing a population of twenty thousand inhabitants, or more, shall be permitted to frame a charter for its own government, consistent with and subject to the constitution and laws of the state. Similar provisions are contained in the constitutions of Missouri and California. Concerning this provision, we note, in the first place, that it is applicable only to a “ city,” that is, a municipal corporation of the class of “city,” having a corporate existence under some charter, general or special, at the time when the self-framed charter is made. Having a corporate existence, it must have definite boundaries. In framing its charter it must do so with regard to boundaries as they exist. The city of Tacoma, for instance, was incorporated by act of February 4, 1886, and its boundaries were therein prescribed. Whatever its charter of 1890 might
Secondly, we note that the constitutional permission is to frame a charter for its own government. To permit the city by its own act to annex outside territory without further legislation on the subject than is contained in the constitution, would be to extend the language of that instrument, and make it read in effect that a corporation might frame a charter for its own government and the government of such additional territory as it might choose to include within its limits. Therefore the provisions of the constitution with regard to the amendment of such charters could have no force without the assistance of legislation. We conclude, therefore, that the scope of the constitutional provision goes only to the extent of providing that such cities may lay aside their existing systems of municipal regulation and control, and assume others not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the state, which are more in accordance with their ideas of propriety and convenience, and that it has no relation to the subject of boundaries or territory. The legislature, acting upon such a view, has seen fit, by act of March 27,1890, to provide by general law for the addition of territory to these and other municipal corporations. A general law was necessary upon this subject, because no special act, under the prohibitions contained in the constitution, could be passed upon that subject, since it would be covered by the provisions prohibiting the creation of municipal corporations by special acts.
Two cases have been cited to us, both very recent and of high authority, as precedents for our action — one from California and one from Missouri. People v. City of Oakl
The case of the City of Westport v. Kansas City, 103 Mo. 141 (15 S. W. Rep. 68), is in point, and were we to follow the decision therein announced by one of the departments of the supreme court of Missouri, our judgment must be different. The constitution of Missouri is substantially the same as ours, and the legislature of that state,
Formerly in this country no municipal corporation could. have an existence without special legislative enactment
From these premises the next logical step is, that if the annexation of territory to cities which have adopted their own charter's is necessarily an amendment of those charters, there can be no such annexation whatever under the constitution, and we should certainly be slow to reach such a conclusion. But, in the presence of a question of so much importance, we deem ourselves fortunate in that we are not driven to any fine arguments to uphold the power of the legislature to deal with this matter since the plain letter of the constitution — “to frame a charter for its own government” — is abundant warrant for doing so. It seems to us that the courts in Missouri and California have overlooked the considerations here mentioned', and that under these constitutional provisions annexation of territory is not to be regarded as an amendment to a city charter.
Anders, C. J., and Dunbar, Scott and Hoyt, JJ., concur.