Anderson v. Brandon

47 S.W.2d 261, 121 Tex. 188, 1932 Tex. LEXIS 108
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 2, 1932
DocketNo. 5821
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 47 S.W.2d 261 (Anderson v. Brandon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Brandon, 47 S.W.2d 261, 121 Tex. 188, 1932 Tex. LEXIS 108 (Tex. 1932).

Opinion

Mr. Justice PIERSON

delivered the opinion of the court.

In the application for Writ of error the question presented for determination is thus stated:

“There is but one question involved in this suit; that is, whether the provision of the Charter of the City of Dallas, providing that the lien of any assessment shall relate back and become effective as of the date of the resolution ordering the paving, is constitutional. -If it - is, then the lien of the plaintiffs in error dates from the 18th day of July, 1924, prior to the time when Anderson established his homestead upon the property. If it is not, then the defendants in error have no lien because at the time of the passage of the ordinance of assessment on June 24, 1925, the property was the homestead of Anderson and wife, and not subject thereto.”

Any further statement of the case is rendered unnecessary [191]*191by the clear and succinct manner in which plaintiffs in error have stated the question for decision.

Plaintiffs in error challenge the constitutionality of article X, section 1, subdivision (i), of the Dallas charter, which provides :

“The lien of such assessment shall revert back and take effect as of date of the original resolution ordering the improvements and the passage of such resolution shall operate as notice of such lien to all persons.”

It. is urged that this provision is in contravention of section 56, article 111, of the Constitution, which reads as follows:

“The Legislature shall not, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, pass any local or special law authorizing:
“The creation, extension, or impairment of liens.”

We are unable to concur in the view that this provision of the Dallas charter runs counter to the above quoted section of the Constitution of this. state.

Prior to the adoption of the Home Rule Amendment to the Constitution in 1912, the Legislature was authorized by special law to grant or amend the charters of cities having more than 5,000 inhabitants. Article XI, section 5, State Constitution. In order to obviate the necessity of' such cities coming to the Legislature whenever any change'was desired in their charters, and in order to facilitate self-government in said cities, the Home Rule Amendment to the Constitution was adopted. Said Home Rule Amendment in part provides:

“Cities having more than 5,000 inhabitants may, by a majority vote of the qualified voters of said city, at an election held for that purpose, adopt or amend their charters subject to such limitations as may be prescribed by the Legislature, and provided that no charter or any ordinance passed under said charter shall contain any provision inconsistent with the Constitution of the State or of the general latos enacted by the Legislature of this State.”

Some states permit their cities of a certain class to adopt or amend their charters entirely free from legislative control. The people of Texas, however, in adopting the Home Rule Amendment, reserved the power to the Legislature by general law to make provisions regulating such cities. The purpose was to permit cities of the class named to legislate upon any subject for themselves, so long as such legislation did not infringe upon legislative enactment or the provisions of the State Constitution. City of Beaumont v. Fall, 116 Texas, 314. The Home [192]*192Rule Amendment to the Constitution provides that cities may adopt or amend their charters “subject to such limitations as may be prescribed by the Legislature,” and that their charters and ordinances shall not be “inconsistent with the general laws enacted by the Legislature in this state.”

In the exercise of the powers so withheld, the Legislature, in conformity to said Home Rule Amendment, enacted legislation enumerating certain powers which might be exercised by such cities. These powers are contained in article 1175, Revised statutes, 1925. Section 16 of said article, among .other powers granted cities adopting charters under the Home Rule Amendment, provides as follows:

“* * * to provide for the improvement of any public street, alleys, highways, avenues, or boulevards by paving, raising, grading, filling or otherwise improving the same and to charge the cost of making such improvement against the abutting property, by fixing a lien against the same, and a personal charge against the owner thereof according to an assessment specially levied therefor in an amount not to exceed the special benefit any such property received in enhanced value by reason of making such improvement, and to provide for the issuance of assignable certificates covering the payments’ for said cost, provided that the charter shall apportion the cost to be paid by the property owners and the amount to be paid by the city, * *”

This provision applies to all home rule cities, and is therefore a general law of this state. Under its provisions the City of Dallas is authorized to improve its streets and to charge the cost of making such improvements against the abutting property by fixing a lien against the same, and a personal charge against the owner. The conferring by the Legislature of this express authority to home rule cities of necessity clothed such cities with such incidental powers as were essential and necessary to make effective the power thus granted. It will be observed that the provisions of section 16, article 1175, do not attempt to fix the specific time when the lien authorized to be placed against the abutting property shall become effective. In order to carry out the express power granted, — that is, to fix a lien against abutting property, it was, of course, necessary that some definite time be fixed at which such lien should become operative.

It is clear the Legislature intended to confer the power upon the cities to create a lien for these improvements, and since the Legislature did not fix a time at which such lien [193]*193should become operative, the power to fix the time such lien should become effective was necessarily conferred by implication upon the cities themselves. It is a cardinal rule of statutory construction that the courts must presume that the Legislature, in the enactment of a law, always intends to confer all such incidental powers as are necessary to render effective the powers expressly granted. Brown v. Clark, 102 Texas, 323, 116 S. W., 360; 36 Cyc., p. 1113.

Section 16, above quoted, does not prescribe any of the details by which home rule cities may fix the liens for such improvements. In order that said liens may be valid, it is, of course, necessary that a proper hearing as to benefits be given the owners of property. Cities are empowered to take such steps as may be essential to fix liens in harmony with the provisions of the Constitution and statutes of the state.

Plaintiffs in error rely upon the case of Johnson v. City of Fort Worth, 299 S. W., 883 (Com. App.), to sustain the contention that no lien was fixed against their property until the passage of the ordinance levying the assessment. A fair construction of the opinion in the above case, we think, sustains the validity of the provision of the charter which is assailed in this case.

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Bluebook (online)
47 S.W.2d 261, 121 Tex. 188, 1932 Tex. LEXIS 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-brandon-tex-1932.