96 Iowa 521 | Iowa | 1896
There are many eases where the doctrine of laches has been applied to sustain a municipal government where the organization, as attempted, was illegal. Much importance is attached by appellant to the fact that in this case the act serving as a basis for the annexation is absolutely void, and a distinction is drawn between proceedings where they are irregular, merely, and where they are void. The case of State v. Leatherman, 38 Ark. 81, is perhaps as directly in point on the particular question as any we have noticed. It involved a consideration of the legality of the establishment of Arkansas City, in that state. In Arkansas such corporations are established on the order of court, and it was found that the court making the order had no jurisdiction to make it, and as to that branch of the case the court said, “There was no jurisdiction, and the order was void.” The court then proceeded to the consideration of the question we are now considering, and, after detailing some of the consequences to result from a judgment avoiding the corporation, it is said in- the opinion, speaking of that city, with others, probably organized under similar orders, “To. declare them all null, after long acquiescence on the part of the state, would open a very Pandora’s box of litigation, and produce incalculable hardship and confusion.” In the
Appellant makes a comparison of the cases as to the time intervening between the adoption of the law and judgment, where laches were claimed as an estoppel. One case that we have cited is the same as this one, while in the others the time is longer. The time that will justify an estoppel, as we have said, varies with the cases; depending on what are the facts, and what is to be apprehended. Greater prejudice
We are not unmindful of the fact that the act in question attempts to extend the limits of the city by its own operation, instead of permitting it to be done, but we do not see that such fact should change the conclusion. The conditions out of which arise the necessity for the rule we apply are not the results of the enactment alone, but of the things done by the people relying upon it. By the act it is said that the limits of such cities “are hereby extended,” and that, as to corporations in the outlying territory, it provides in terms that they shall “cease and determine.” The people, in making the change, acted upon what purported to be fixed conditions; and these facts strengthen the equitable claim of the city that it should not be disturbed, at the instance of the state simply asserting the invalidity of its authority.
Finally, it may be said that, aside from the necessity of maintaining the integrity of the constitution against infractions from legislative action, there is not a reason suggested for, or a benefit anticipated from, the judgment sought in this proceeding. Such a judgment would disrupt the present peaceful and satisfactory arrangement of all the people of the city, as to its corporate existence, without a benefit, so far as we know, to any person. The law does not demand such a sacrifice for merely technical reasons. In fact, the constitutional vindication is complete with the declaration that the act is absolutely void. The judgment of the district court is affirmed.