Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. Town of Whiting

68 N.E. 266, 161 Ind. 228, 1903 Ind. LEXIS 157
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 6, 1903
DocketNo. 20,051
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 68 N.E. 266 (Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. Town of Whiting) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. Town of Whiting, 68 N.E. 266, 161 Ind. 228, 1903 Ind. LEXIS 157 (Ind. 1903).

Opinion

Monks, C. J.

— In 1902 the board of trustees of the town of Whiting passed an ordinance regulating the speed of railroad trains within the corporate limits of said town and fixing penalties for its violation. An action was commenced before the clerk of said town by appellee against appellant to collect said penalties for an alleged violation of said ordinance. A trial of said cause resulted in a judgment against appellant. On appeal to the court below, a trial again resulted in a judgment against appellant.

Appellant insists (1) that said ordinance is not valid because “there is no statute authorizing incorporated towns to regúlate the speed of trains in the corporate limits;” (2) that said town clerk had no jurisdiction to try said catise, for the reason that the act approved February 28, 1901 (Acts 1901, p. 57, §§4346-4346d Burns 1901), so far as it attempts to confer judicial powers upon clerks of incorporated towns, is unconstitutional and Void.

It is evident that under §4404 Burns 1901 and clauses four, six, nine, and sixteen of §4357 Burns 1901, incorporated towns have the power to pass reasonable ordinances regulating the speed of railroad trains within their cor.porate limits. Scudder v. Hinshaw, 134 Ind. 56, 58-60; Nealis v. Hayward, 48 Ind. 19; Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. Town of Crown Point, 146 Ind. 421, 423-427; Dillon, Mun. Corp. (4th ed.), §§315, 393; Smith, Mun. Oorp., 1356, 1357; Elliott, Roads & Sts. (2d ed.), §§452, 807; Elliott, Railroads, §1082. Moreover, the legislature in §§2299, 5307 Burns 1901,'§§2178, 4020 R. S. 1881 and [230]*230Horner 1901, expressly recognized the power of incorporated towns to pass such ordinances.

Appellant’s first contention, under its second point, is that the part of said act conferring judicial power on .town clerks is unconstitutional, because the title of the act, “An act concerning town officers,” is insufficient to include the grant of such power. Section 19, of article I, of the Constitution provides: “Every act shall embrace but one subject and matters properly connected therewith; which subject shall be expressed in the title. But if any subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be expressed in the title.” The act in question is about town officers. No other subject is mentioned. The question is therefore whether or not the granting of judicial power to a town officer, the clerk, is a matter properly connected with such subject. Naturally, among the matters that would be looked for under the head of town officers, would be eligibility, appointment or election, qualifying and induction into office, term of office, rights, powers, duties, liabilities, fees, and compensation. These matters are properly connected with the subject. In the first section of the act in question the matters mentioned are the election and term of town officers. The second section relates to the powers and duties of town clerk. It is provided in said section among other things that “It shall be his duty to see that the laws of the State and the ordinances of the town are faithfully executed within his jurisdiction. lie shall possess all the powers of a justice of the peace, as defined by law. He shall hold court every day (Sunday excepted) at a place to be named by the town trasteos. lie shall be a conservator of the peace, and as such shall have, within the town limits and within the township or townships within which such town is situated, the powers conferred upon justices of the peace for all purposes. While sitting as a court he shall have exclusive [231]*231jurisdiction of all prosecutions for violation of the ordinances of the town; and he shall have, within the limits of such township or townships, the jurisdiction and powers of a justice of the peace in all matters, civil and criminal, arising under the laws of this State; and for crimes and misdemeanors his jurisdiction shall be coextensive with the county or counties in which such town is situated: Provided, that in trials before him he shall have equal but not higher powers than those of a justice of the peace. In all actions before a town cleric either party may have a trial by jury, a change of venue to a justice of the peace, and an appeal to the court of superior jurisdiction, under the same restrictions and in the same manner as is provided for appeals from justices’ courts. The same rules of pleading and practice shall be observed by such town cleric in all trials as are provided by law for the court of a justice of the peace. The town cleric shall give bond payable to the State of Indiana in a sum to be/fixed by the town board at not less than $2,000, the bond to be-approved by the cleric of the circuit court, with freehold surety, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties as town cleric, ' and of all other duties he may be required to perform, and shall file the same with the cleric of the circuit court within the time provided by law for the qualification of justices of the peace. All fines and penalties collected by him shall be paid to the treasurer of the town within one month after the same have been received by him except when otherwise directed by the acts defining the duties and powers of justices of the peace, in which case he shall pay all fines and forfeitures collected by him for violations of the penal laws, of the State in the same manner and under the same conditions that justices of the peace are required] by law to do.” The third section provides that “The town cleric shall- keep a docket, as justices of the peace are required by law to do. lie shall be entitled to the same fees in criminal and other cases, and for all his official acts, [232]*232as are given by law to justices of the peace. In case of a vacancy in the office of town clerk by death, resignation or otherwise, the town trustees shall immediately elect a successor, who shall, upon taking the oath and on giving bond, take charge of the town clerk’s docket and other papers and records, and serve until the next town election.” The fourth section confers the power to administer' oaths, take depositions, and the acknowledgment of instruments required by law to be acknowledged. The fifth- requires the town clerk to procure and use an official seal. The sixth relates simply to the duties of town marshal. It is clear that each provision of said act relates to matters properly connected with the subject “tbwn officers.”

As was said in Bright v. McCullough, 27 Ind. 223, 226, and Shoemaker v. Smith, 37 Ind. 122, 133: “The Constitution does not assume to divide the general scope of legislation, and classify the parts under particular heads or subjects, but, of necessity, has left that power to be exercised by the legislature, as it, in -its wisdom and discretion, shall deem proper. The Constitution assumes that different subjects of legislation do exist, and requires that each act shall embrace but one subject, and matters properly connected therewith, which subject shall be expressed in the title. The purposes of the provision, in view of the evils intended to be guarded against, can only be effected by requiring that the subject expressed should be reasonably specific, or, in other, words, should be such as to indicate some particular branch of legislation, as a head under which the particular provisions of the act might be reasonably looked for.”

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Bluebook (online)
68 N.E. 266, 161 Ind. 228, 1903 Ind. LEXIS 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baltimore-ohio-railroad-v-town-of-whiting-ind-1903.