164 P. 567 | Or. | 1917
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the court.
The plaintiffs contend that the assessment is void because a sufficient remonstrance was filed against the proposal to pave the street and because the notice for bids was not published in conformity with the provisions of the charter.
Section 28 of the charter directs that a proposed improvement shall not be proceeded with “if the owners of more than two-thirds majority of the superficial area of the property adjacent to such street or part thereof,” file a written remonstrance within a specified time. Earnestly arguing that the remonstrance filed did not contain the necessary “more than two-thirds majority of the superficial area” of adjacent property, the city contends that the total superficial area is 1,261,011 square feet; that to be valid the remonstrance must have represented 840,675 square feet; and that the remonstrance was insufficient since it only contained 763,588 square feet. The plaintiffs insist that the remonstrance represented a larger area of superficial square feet than was admitted by the city and that it contained the necessary “more than two-thirds majority” of property. The difference between the
Tbe legal voters of the City of Salem amended their charter in 1911 and among tbe provisions of Section 26 is tbe requirement that upon tbe passage of a resolution by tbe council declaring its intention to improve a street and approving the plans, specifications and estimates of the city engineer, “the recorder shall duly give notice by publication for not less than five (5) successive days in a daily newspaper published in tbe city of Salem, Oregon, inviting bids for making said improvement. ’ ’
Tbe common council adopted a resolution on June 3, 1912, approving tbe plans, specifications and estimates of tbe city engineer, declaring its intention to improve South 12th Street and directing tbe recorder
The term “for” and the words “not less than” appear in the quoted provision. When used in the connection in which we now find it the term “for” means “through; throughout; during the continuance of ”: Century Dictionary. If the charter read that the notice must be published “for five days,” by the overwhelming weight of authority it would be interpreted to mean a publication through, throughout, during the continuance of five full days: 3 Words and Phrases, 2858; 2 Words and Phrases (2d series), 594; Northrop v. Cooper, 23 Kan. 432; Bacon v. Kennedy, 56 Mich. 329 (22 N. W. 824); Wilson v. Thompson, 26 Minn. 299 (3 N. W. 699); State v. Cherry County, 58 Neb. 734 (79 N. W. 825); Dever v. Cornwall, 10 N. D. 123 (86 N. W. 227); Wilson v. Northwestern Mut. Life Ins. Co., 65 Fed. 38 (12 C. C. A. 505); Finlayson v. Peterson, 5 N. D. 587 (67 N. W. 953, 57 Am. St. Rep. 584, 33 L. R. A. 532); 19 Cyc. 1104. The words “not less than,” like the language “at least,” signify “in the smallest or lowest degree; at the lowest estimate ’ ’; and legislation prescribing “not less than” or “at least” a specified number of days is usually construed to mean clear and full days for the specified period of time: 5 Words and Phrases, 4833; 3 Words and Phrases (2d series), 631; In re Gregg’s Estate, 213 Pa. 260 (62 Atl. 856); Canadian Canning Co. v. Fagan, 12 B. C. 23; Beg. v. Aberdare Canal Co., 14 Q. B. 854 (68 E. C. L. 854); Mitchell v. Foster, 12 A. & E. 472 (40 E. C. L. 238); Chambers Elec. L. & P. Co. v. Crowe, 5 D. L. R. 545; Ward v. Walters, 63 Wis. 39 (22 N. W. 844); 5 C. J. 1438. Emphatic as is the word “for”
“The time within which an act is to be done, as provided in this code, shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last, unless the last day fall upon Sunday, Christmas, or other nonjudicial day, in which case the last day shall also be excluded. The time for the publication of legal notices shall be computed so as to exclude the first day of publication, and to include the day on which the act or event of which notice is given is to happen, or which completes the full period required for publication.”
Quoting only such part of the section as is directly applicable it reads thus:
“ * * The time for the publication of legal notices shall be computed so as to exclude the first day of publication, and to include the day * * which completes the full period required for publication.”
Applying this statute to the record presented by this appeal June 5th must be excluded in computing the period of time prescribed by the charter and the whole of June 10th would be necessary to make the full period of five days; and therefore the notice for bids was not published in conformity with the charter. The published notice expressly stated that the bids would be opened on or after June 10th, and they were
If it be supposed that the charter required that the notice for bids be given “by publication'for not less than five (5) successive weeks” in either a daily or a weekly newspaper it is fair to assume that, in the light of our statute and judicial precedents, it would be conceded that the day on which the first publication issued would be excluded in computing the period of five successive weeks. The fact that the charter mentions days rather than weeks does not render Section 531, L. O. L., any the less applicable. The charter does not merely say that the notice shall be published five times, but the dominant command is that the notice shall be published throughout a full period of not less than five whole days. The time of the day upon which a paper is issued is usually at some hour after the beginning of that day, and this is one of the circumstances that prompts the enactment of statutes like Section 531, L. O. L.
Appirmed. Rehearing Denied.
Rehearing
Denied June 19, 1917.
'On Petition por Rehearing,
(164 Pae. 1184.)
On petition for rehearing. Rehearing denied.
Mr. Bert W. Macy, City Attorney, Mr. Grant Corby, Mr. William H. Trindle, Mr. H. D. Roberts, Mr. Rollin K. Page and Mr. Woodson T. Slater, for the petition.
Mr. Claire M. Inman and Mr. John H. Carson, contra.
The remainder of the argument found in the petition proceeds upon the theory that we held that the notice should have appeared in six successive issues of a daily newspaper. We did not rule that the charter required the notice to be printed and to appear in six successive issues of the newspaper.
The original opinion points out that Section 26 of the charter embraces two elements: (1) The period of publication; and (2) the manner of publication. The period of publication is measured by applying the rule established in Section 531, L. O. L. This rule excludes the first day of publication in determining the period of time. For example, if a statute directed the publication of a notice for at least one week in a weekly newspaper it woiild not be necessary to print the notice
Rehearing Denied.