City of Kosciusko v. No Equal Textile Co.

104 So. 102, 139 Miss. 220, 1925 Miss. LEXIS 145
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 11, 1925
DocketNo. 24953.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 104 So. 102 (City of Kosciusko v. No Equal Textile Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Kosciusko v. No Equal Textile Co., 104 So. 102, 139 Miss. 220, 1925 Miss. LEXIS 145 (Mich. 1925).

Opinion

E'ithbidge, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The city of Kosciusko, a municipal corporation operating under the Code chapter on Municipalities, on the 16th day of December, 1924, adopted the following ordinance:

“Section 1. That a solicitor within the meaning and application of this ordinance is any person who goes from house to house, or from place to place, in the city of Kosciusko, Miss., selling or taking orders for, or offering to sell, or take orders for goods, wares, or merchandise, or any article for future delivery for services to be performed in future, or for the making, manufacturing, or repairing of any articles, or thing whatsoever for future delivery, provided, however, that this ordinance shall apply only to solicitors who demand, accept, or receive payment, or deposit of money in advance of final delivery.

“Sec.- 2. That it shall be unlawful for any person tó act as a solicitor within the meaning and application of this ordinance without first procuring a license from the proper city officer, or officers as herein provided.

“Sec. 3. That any person desiring or intending to engage as a solicitor in the city of Kosciusko, Miss., shall malee application therefor to the mayor of the city on forms to be provided, stating therein the name and address of the applicant, the name and address of the person, firm or corporation which he represents, and the kind or description of the goods offered for sale, or the kind of service to be performed.

‘‘ Such application shall be accompanied by a bond in the penal sum of two hundred dollars, executed by a surety company or two responsible persons, residents of the state of Mississippi (in lieu therefor a cash bond of equal amount), conditioned upon the making of final de *229 livery of the goods ordered, or for the services to he performed in accordance with the terms of such order, or failing therein that the advance payment on such order he refunded. The said application together with such bonds or other indemnity shall he inquired into by the mayor, who if he finds said bond to he sufficient, shall order the issuance of the privilege license to said applicant upon the payment of privilege tax imposed by this ordinance.

£ £ Sec. 4. That privilege tax or license ho, and the same is hereby levied and imposed upon any solicitor within the meaning of this ordinance, doing or attempting to do such business in the city of Kosciusko, Miss., in the following sums to he paid by or on behalf of such solicitor to the city tax collector before the issuance of such license, to-wit: Solicitors on foot, seven dollars and fifty cents; solicitors with pack animals, twenty dollars; solicitors with vehicle and animal thirty dollars; solicitors with vehicle and two animals, fifty dollars; solicitors with motor vehicle, fifty dollars — such license to he valid for one year from date of issuance.

‘£ Sec. 5. If any person shall act as solicitor within the meaning and application of this ordinance in said city without complying with the requirements hereof, such person shall on conviction he subject to a fine of not exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding ten days, or both in discretion of the court besides the cost of the prosecution.

££Sec, 6. If any clause, section, or provision of this ordinance is declared invalid for any reason the remainder hereof shall remain in full force and effect; and that fact shall not affect or.destroy any other section, clause or provision not in itself invalid.”

The appellee, a nonresident corporation, incorporated under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania, filed its hill in the chancery court of Attala county, Miss., to enjoin the enforcement of the above ordinance against its solicitors operating in the city of Kosciusko, and soliciting orders for the complainant, and alleged that its solicitors secured a deposit from the purchaser on securing the or *230 der and that said order is transmitted to the complainant at its place of business in the city of Reading, Pa., or to some other office outside of the said state in which the order is taken, and that upon receipt of such order the complainant packs and ships to the person so ordering' said goods by parcel post throughout the United States. Said goods are shipped, C. 0. .!>., from out of the state of the residence of the purchaser and into the state of the buyer. That complainant has no place of business in the state of Mississippi, and does not own a warehouse or storehouse in the said city of Kosciusko, and does not complete any sale in the state of Mississippi, but ships all of said orders delivered in Mississippi from outside of the said state, and that complainant is engaged solely in interstate commerce. That complainant has numbers of agents in Mississippi taking orders as above stated. That two of such agents are in the city of Kosciusko, Miss., engaged in receiving and soliciting orders from individuals for goods, and who received therefor the initial payment for said goods, and who send said orders to the home office located outside of the state of Mississippi, and that said goods are shipped by parcel post, C. O. D., to the purchaser. That neither of the said solicitors delivers to the person ordering the goods any part of the same, but that the entire amount of goods so ordered are sent in separate parcels to the purchaser from points outside of the state and are delivered in the original package.'

Complainant further states that neither of its said agents and solicitors in the city of Kosciusko are resident citizens of the state of Mississippi, but reside in other states of the Union; that one of its agents was arrested and placed in jail in the city of Kosciusko on December 17, 1924, by the marshal of Kosciusko, and on the 18th day of December, 1924, he was tried before the city court of said city on the charge of soliciting orders without first obtaining a license therefor and was convicted on said charge and fined fifteen dollars; that another of said agents was arrested on the 15th day of December, 1924, *231 and was caused to pay a fine, or purchase a license for the privilege of securing orders from various persons as above set out; that said agents either had to pay said fine or license or else be confined in the city jail.

It is further alleged that the officers of said city have threatened to arrest the agents or solicitors of complainant if they continue to take orders as above stated, and that complainant is unable to do business in the city of Kosciusko, Miss., through its agents because of the fact that said officers will arrest the agents of the complainant, and prevent them from taking such orders, and that said officers are interfering with the complainant’s business and interfering with interstate commerce, and that said ■ officers are attempting to enforce said ordinance above set out in violation of the Federal Constitution.

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Bluebook (online)
104 So. 102, 139 Miss. 220, 1925 Miss. LEXIS 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-kosciusko-v-no-equal-textile-co-miss-1925.