160 Ga. 251 | Ga. | 1925
The City of Albany, a municipal corporation of this State, filed its petition for injunction against O. F. Tarver, sheriff of Dougherty County, and alleged in substance the following: Plaintiff is the owner of, and uses in the discharge of its municipal governmental functions, numbers of motor-vehicles and motorcycles for its police, health, and street-construction departments, which vehicles it becomes necessary from time to time for the officers and employees of the city to operate. The officers and employees do not own any interest or property in the vehicles, and do not use them except for municipal and public purposes. The vehicles are not equipped with number-plates, nor has plaintiff paid any license-tax or procured a State license for the vehicles, as is required of persons and corporations under the act of the legislature approved November 30, 1915, known as the motor-vehicle law. The defendant, acting as sheriff and under authority of the act, is threatening and intends to arrest and prosecute, for each separate offense, plaintiff’s chief of police and all other officers and employees who operate or drive any of the vehicles on the streets and public highways, where they bear no number-plate and for which a license-tax has not been paid and a license procured as prescribed by the act of 1915, excepting only those officers and employees who drive and operate the motor-vehicles constituting the fire apparatus of the city. Plaintiff, being a political subdivision of the State of Georgia, is not subject to the tax, in that it is contrary to the public policy of the State that the State tax itself, or, what is the same thing, any one of its political subdivisions. The act of 1915 does not expressly show an intention to tax said vehicles, nor by necessary implication. In so far as the act of 1915 attempts to tax municipalities it is unconstitutional, in that it is violative of art. 3, sec. 7, par. 8, of the constitution of Georgia, which provides that “No law or ordinance shall pass which . . contains matter different from what is expressed in the title thereof:”
The title of the act of 1915 is “An act providing for the annual registration . . of motor-vehicles and motorcycles; regulating their use upon the public streets and highways of this State;
The defendant answered, admitting some of the allegations of the petition and denying material portions thereof. After hearing argument the court continued the temporary restraining order and
Does the act of the legislature of 1915 (above quoted), known as the motor-vehicle law, and the amendments thereto, apply to motor-vehicles owned by municipal corporations of this State and operated by its officers and employees? By section 4 of the act it is provided that ““every owner of a motor-vehicle or motorcycle shall, on or before the first day of March in each year, before he shall operate such motor-vehicle, . . register such vehicle in the office of the Secretary of State, and obtain a license to operate the same for the ensuing year; and every chauffeur employed to operate motor-vehicles shall likewise register and obtain a license as hereinafter provided.” Subsequent sections of the act provide how application for the license shall be made, and the fees prescribed for obtaining such licenses. By section 18 of the act it is made the duty of the sheriff of the several counties of this State, and they are clothed with authority, to swear out warrants and prosecute any and all owners of motor-vehicles who violate any of the provisions of the act. Section 23 of the act provides that “‘any person violating . . the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.” Section 2 of the act provides that “the term “motor vehicles’ shall apply to all vehicles propelled by power other than muscular power, except road-rollers, traction-engines, and railroad and railway cars and motor-cars running only upon stationary rails or tracks. The terms “horse-power’ and “ton weight’ shall, in this act, apply to and be governed by the ratings of the national automobile chamber of commerce.” By the act of 1921 (Acts 1921, p. 252), the motor-vehicle law was amended in several particulars. By section 1 of that act, section 2 of the act of 1915 was amended by adding the following exceptions to the provisions of the act: ““fire apparatus, passenger-carrying vehicles owned and used by counties for transporting children to and from schools, and motor-vehicles owned by counties and State and used in the construction of highways.” It will be observed that the language of the act is “that every owner of a motor vehicle,” etc., and the legislature itself has made certain exceptions to the operation of the act, and those exceptions are set out above, and do not include municipally owned motor-vehicles. The legislature has
.It is argued that the act of 1915 is violative of art. 3, see. 7, par. 8, of the constitution of Georgia (Civil Code, 1910, § 6437), for the reason that it contains matter in the body of the act which is not covered by the caption, in so far as it attempts to affect municipal corporations, it being insisted that the title of the act is not broad enough to permit the inclusion of municipal corporations in the body of the act. We can not agree to this contention. The caption of the act is “An act providing for the annual registration and identification of motor-vehicles and motorcycles,” etc. That language is broad enough to cover the registration and identification of all motor-vehicles and motorcycles, including motor-vehicles and motorcycles belonging to and used by municipal corporations. Art. 7, sec. 2, par. 1, of the constitution of Georgia (Civil Code, 1910, § 6553) provides that “All taxation shall be uniform upon the same class of. subjects, and ad valorem on all property subject to be taxed within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws. The General Assembly may, however, impose a tax upon such domestic animals as, from their nature and habits are destructive of other property.” Art. 7, see. 2, par. 2,
In the case of James v. Ray, 130 Ga. 694 (61 S. E. 594), where the legislature, in the general tax act of 1905 (Acts 1905, p. 27, sec. 2, par. 17), providing.for the levy of taxes for the years 1906-7,
Judgment reversed.