Bass v. City of Bangor

89 A. 309, 111 Me. 390, 1914 Me. LEXIS 5
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJanuary 14, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 89 A. 309 (Bass v. City of Bangor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bass v. City of Bangor, 89 A. 309, 111 Me. 390, 1914 Me. LEXIS 5 (Me. 1914).

Opinion

Haley, J.

The city of Bangor, acting in accordance with the city charter, on the 26th day of July, 1911, widened Central Street from the westerly line of Harlow Street to a point about one hundred feet northerly of Hammond Street, and awarded damages to the several persons mentioned in said proceedings in the sum of $41,000.

September 18, 1911, the city council, in accordance with the provisions of section 14 of the charter, apportioned a part of the damages allowed for the widening of said street upon certain lots or parcels of land adjacent to and bounded on said Central Street,, which in the judgment of the city council were benefited by said widening, in the aggregate sum of $21,504.98, the city council being authorized by the charter to assess benefits to an amount not exceeding three-fourths of the damages allowed for such widening.

The appellant is the owner of land at the corner of Hammond and Central Streets, measuring on Central Street one hundred and twenty-one feet, and was assessed for the benefits received by said land the sum of $4032.93. Appellant seasonably appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court from the assessment of benefits, under the [392]*392provisions of section 16 of said charter, and set forth in his appeal ten specific reasons for the appeal. The appeal was duly entered, and at the October term, 1912, of the Supreme Judicial Court, the evidence was taken out, and the case reported to the Law Court with the following stipulation; “upon so much of the evidence as is legally admissible under these proceedings, in the event of the proceedings of the Bangor city council relative hereto are sustained, the case to be sent back for further proceedings according to law.”

The appellant claims that sections 33 to 37, inclusive, of chapter 23, R. S., authorizing cities to assess land benefited by the widening of streets repealed so much of the charter of the city of Bangor as related to that subject, and that, as the proceedings taken by the city were not according to sections 33 to 37, inclusive, of chapter 23, but according to the city charter of the city of Bangor, the charter and the statute prescribing different methods of assessing the benefits,, the proceedings are void.

If the provisions of the charter were repealed by sections 33 to 37, inclusive, of chapter 23, R. S., the city council had no right to levy the assessment in question, as notice was given to the land owners whose land was adjacent and benefited by the widening of the street, according to the provisions of the city charter, and not as required by the statute, and 'an assessment upon land for benefits received by the widening of a street cannot be levied unless the notice prescribed by law is given, and the important question in this case is, were the provisions of the charter of the city of Bangor relative to assessments for benefits received by the widening of streets, repealed by the enactment of sections 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 of chapter 23, R. S. ?

The provisions of chapter 23, giving cities the right to levy assessments upon lands benefited by the widening of streets, which the appellant claims repealed the provisions of the charter of the city of Bangor upon the same subject, were enacted by the Legislature of 1872, chapter 26, at which time the charter of the city of Bangor upon that subject was the same as now, the charter having been granted by the Legislature of 1834. It was said in State v. Donovan, 89 Maine, 448, that “general acts are held not to repeal the provisions of charters granted to municipal corporations though [393]*393conflicting with the general provisions, unless the words of the general statute are so strong and imperative as to render it manifest that the intention of the Legislature cannot be otherwise satisfied.”

The rule as stated is sustained, not only by the authorities cited in the opinion, but by many others.

In Sheridan v. Stevenson, N. J. L., 371, which was a petition for mandamus against the tax collector to compel him to pay over taxes collected by him which he claimed by the general law he was.not obliged to pay over until December, while the special law that applied to the city of which he was collector stated October, the court says:

“The well settled law in this state is, that the provision of a special charter shall not be altered or repealed except by express words. .
“It must be presumed, in the absence of clear expression to the contrary, that the Legislature passed the general law with reference only to those to whom the general tax law before then was applicable, and not for the purpose of 'affecting corporations that had in their charter a specific provision for taxation. Railroad Co. v. Commissioners of Taxation, 38 N. J. L., 422.
“A general statute repealing all acts or parts of acts contrary to its provisions, will not be held to repeal a clause in any municipal corporation upon the same subject matter. This has been the language of our court since State v. Brannen, 3 Zab., 484. The repealing clause must be so expressed as to manifest the legislative intention to include all acts, whether special or local or otherwise, inconsistent with the provision of the act. Bank v. Bridges, 1 Vroom, 112. . . . The change of a city charter must be made by express words or by necessary implication. State Gorum v. Mills, 5 Vroom, 177.”
“It has been well settled in this state that a general law on a subject matter, which has been provided for in certain localities by special laws, will not, although it contains a general repealer of acts inconsistent' with it, annul or alter the special provisions in those localities. State v. Brannen, 3 Zab., 484; State v. Clark, 1 Dutcher, 54; Mayor v. Freeholders, 11 Vroom, 595; Brown v. Mullica Township, 48 N. J. L., 477.”

[394]*394In Roosevelt v. Supervisor, 40 Hun., 353, the Legislature authorized “every town” in the state by vote, to raise an additional amount of $750 for the improvement of roads and bridges beyond the $500 allowed to be raised for that purpose by the general law, and the court held, that act did not repeal the special law conferring upon Pelham unlimited power to vote money for that purpose saying, “the words ‘every town’ can operate on every town where there is no local law. . . . the two acts can be operated harmoniously at the same time — the local one in its locality and the general one elsewhere.”

In Higgins v. Bell, 53 Hun., 632, 6 N. Y. Suppl., 105, the court say: “The act of 1873 was a special local act, forming a system of government for Brooklyn. By well settled principles the general act of 1874 would not effect a repeal of the special act.”

People v. Munroe County Co., 93 N. Y. Suppl., 452, lays down the same doctrine and quotes from People v. Keller, 157 N.

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Bluebook (online)
89 A. 309, 111 Me. 390, 1914 Me. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bass-v-city-of-bangor-me-1914.