40 N.J.L. 1 | N.J. | 1878
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The purpose of this proceeding is to test the constitutionality of the act of the legislature
The law thus brought under our cognizance is composed of two sections, the 'first of which decláres “ that such parts •of all public, special and local laws as provide for the appointment of commissions or commissioners, by the senate and general assembly of the legislature, in joint meeting, to regulate municipal affairs in any city in this state, be and the same are hereby repealed; ” and the second section provides “that in all cases where the above repealing section shall operate in any city in this state, there shall be substituted, in lieu of each of the existing boards of said commissions or commissioners, to exercise all the powers heretofore conferred upon such commissions or commissioners, a board to consist of six persons, namely, one shall be chosen by the electors in each aldermanic district in said city, who shall be a qualified voter of said city.” The rest of this latter section consists of regulations touching the mode of canvassing the votes at the election thus authorized, or designating» the terms of office and the salaries of the officers thus to be chosen.
Against this law thus summarized, the principal exception that has been urged is, that it is, in substance and effect, special and local, and consequently is in conflict with one of the recent amendments of the constitution of the state. The provision of the primary law thus invoked is Clause II., § VII., of Article IV., and which, so far as relates to the present subject, is in these words, viz.: “ The legislature shall not pass private, local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say: * * * Regulating the internal affairs of towns and counties; appointing local officers or commissions to regulate municipal affairs.” And again, subsequently, in the same clause, the words are, “ the legislature shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers, but they shall pass general laws, under which corporations may be organized and corporate powers of. every
But before proceeding to discuss the question thus raised by the counsel of the relators, it is necessary to determine whether these clauses of the constitution just recited have any applicability to the present case, for it is argued in behalf of the defendants that these prohibitions of the organic law do-not prevent special legislation with respect to the cities of the state, but such only as regulates “the internal affairs of towns and counties.” The contention is, that the word “towns” does not embrace “cities.” But this argument is founded on the false basis of looking only at the letter of the law, and turning away from its spirit. It is true that if the letter of the law were absolutely unambiguous and definite, and were' susceptible of but a single meaning, the clause would have to be read in such sense, no matter to what futility it might lead. But such is not this case; the word “ town ” has no such fixed signification as this, for though in its narrower sense it denotes something other than a city, in its broader scope it comprehends,such a municipality. Mr. Tomlyn, in his law dictionary, under the title “ Town,” says: “ Under the name of a town or village, boroughs, and, it is said, cities are contained, for every borough or city is a town.” Lord Coke, in 1 Inst. 116, showing the capaciousness of the term, has this language: “And it appeareth by Littleton, that a town is the genus, and a borough is the species.” Bouvier’s definition of the word city is, “ a town incorporated by that name.” These authorities suffice to show that the term in question is sufficiently elastic to take in, when put to some of its uses, the institution denoted by the term “ city.” Nor is the force of this consideration countervailed by the fact that some of the local governments in this state are incorporated under the designation of towns, and that others, by the same means, are denominated cities. Such, unquestionably, has been the practice, as appears on the pages of our statute-book, and it is this usage that has occasioned the ambiguity that is inherent in this phrase fin the constitution. But this uncertainty
In short, in my opinion the clause in question seems to have been provided with the intention to require that, for the future, all legislative regulation of the internal affairs of cities should be the creatures, whenever practicable, of general laws framed for the purpose. This is a domain from which special and local legislation is utterly excluded whenever the legis
This view of the effect of the first of the constitutional clauses above cited renders is unnecessary to consider, at the present time, the scope and operation of the second of such clauses. Succeeding on this first point, and standing on the vantage ground thus conceded to them, the counsel of the relators in their arguments assumed two positions: first, that the statute now in question must, upon judicial inspection, be pronounced to be a special and local act; and, second, this first contention failing, that, in point of fact, this act can apply to but a single city, and therefore is, on that account, a special and local enactment.
The inquiry into the operative scope of this law is important in the present discussion, because, if the act be a local or special one, then it would be necessary to consider the effect of that other clause of the constitution that requires a notice to be given of an intention to apply for the enactment of any local or special law. That any such notice was given in this instance is expressly denied in the information in this case.
First, then, is this statute, obviously and upon judicial view of its contents, a local or special law ?
In point of form it is manifest that this act does not belong to such a category. It imports generality of provision in all its parts; its title is general, embracing all commissioners appointed by the legislature to regulate municipal affairs, so, in its body, it repeals such parts of all public, special or local laws as provide for the appointment of such commissioners, and substitutes for such officers others, to be selected by the
But it is said that, although such is the frame and aspect of this statute, still it must be regarded as local and special, as of necessity it can be applicable to but a few places of the state, inasmuch as it is well known that but few localities in the state have been subjected to the rule of legislative commissions. This contention assumes the truth of the hypothesis that a law that embraces but a few localities, or a small number of objects, is not a general, but a special or local law. But I think there is a mistake in this. The terms “ general law” do not import universality in the subjects or operation of such law. The constitutional clause in question calls for the enactment, in this particular field of legislation, of general acts, but such so-called general acts are, for the most part, special and local in their effect and applicability, provided we put the widest possible signification on the terms special and local. But these two latter terms do not carry with them such a compass of meaning as this, as they stand in the clause of the constitution now under consideration. If such were their scope, they would render almost every attempt at useful legislation abortive. A law settling the methods by which all railroads should become incorporated would be special in the sense that it would be confined in its operation to but a single kind of corporations, and so a law would be local, by this same test, that should provide for the organization, under one system, of all the municipal governments in the state, as such a law would manifestly have a restricted effect with respect to locality. But who, conversant with the usage touching these terms, would venture the assertion that such statutes as these would not be general laws ? All legislation is based, of necessity, on a classification of its subjects, and when such classification is fairly made, and the legislation founded upon it is appropriate to such classification, such legislation is as legitimate now as it would have been prior to the recent amendments to the constitution. My theory is, that if a set of objects be fairly classified, a law embracing them will be a
The second objection above noted to the statute in question is that, in point of fact, it applies to but a single place, that is, to Jersey City, and therefore, being thus local and special, it is invalid for the want of a notice of an intention to apply for its passage.
In laboring this point in their argument, the counsel of the
But it is further, and in the last place, urged that as this statute can apply to Jersey City alone, it is, at all events, special and local, within the effect of that other provision of the constitution which exacts a notice of an intention to make application to the legislature for bills of this character. Art. IV., § 7, pl. 9. But unfortunately it is, in this information, assumed, without the necessary showing of facts, that this law has this singleness of applicability. This pleading shows that the defendants are clothed with office by force of a popular election, duly held in accordance with this legislative act, and as, under such circumstances, the regularity and validity of such act will be strongly implied, the facts necessary to vacate it must be set forth in a direct and traversable form. This has not, in this case, been done. An allegation that the statute is special and local as to Jersey City is not the statement of a fact, but a naked inference as to the law. The question, therefore, that was discussed, and which was founded on the assumption that the present law was operative in but a single place, cannot be considered or disposed of upon the record as it is now presented to our attention.
As the pleadings at present stand, the demurrer must be sustained.