City of Little Rock v. Reinman-Wolfort Automobile Livery Co.

155 S.W. 105, 107 Ark. 174, 1913 Ark. LEXIS 141
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 24, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 155 S.W. 105 (City of Little Rock v. Reinman-Wolfort Automobile Livery Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Little Rock v. Reinman-Wolfort Automobile Livery Co., 155 S.W. 105, 107 Ark. 174, 1913 Ark. LEXIS 141 (Ark. 1913).

Opinion

Kirby, J.

This suit challenges the validity of the following ordinance of the city of Little Rock:

Ordinance No. 1729.

AN ORDINANCE TO REGULATE LIVERY STABLES.

“Whereas, the conducting of a livery stable business within certain parts of the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, is detrimental to the health, interest and pros-' perity of the city of Little Rock; therefore “Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Little

Rock:

“Section 1. That it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to conduct or carry on a livery stable business within the following area, to'wit: ■ Beginning at the intersection of Center street and Markham street, thence east on Markham street to Main street, thence south on Main street to Fifth street, thence west bn Fifth street to Center street, thence north on Center street to Markham street, the place of beginning.

■ ' “Section 2. Any person, firm or corporation violating1 any of the-'provisions of this ordinance shall be" deemed guilty of misdemeanor and shall he fined in any sum not less than fifty ($50.00) dollars, nor more than one hundred ($100.00) dollars for each violation and each day any person, firm or corporation shall conduct or carry on a livery stable business within said limits shall be deemed a separate offense.

“Section 3. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force sixty (60) days'after its passage.”

From the decree declaring it invalid, an appeal was duly prosecuted.

It is contended that the ordinance is invalid, because, first, it prohibits the operation of a livery stable business, which is not per se a public nuisance within the area defined therein in which appellee’s business is, and has long been conducted and deprives them of their property without due process of law.

Second. It deprives them of the equal1 protection of the law and is an unjust discrimination against them.

Third. It fixes greater penalties for its violation than the city has power to impose.

The city derives its power from the State, and section 5454, Kirby’s Digest of the Statutes, provides: “They shall have the power to * * * regulate or prohibit the sale of all horses or other domestic animals, at auction in the streets, alleys, or highways, to regulate all carts, wagons, drays * * * and every description of carriages which may be kept for hire and all livery stables.” * * *

The State has the right under its police power to make regulations relative to the carrying on of certain lawful pursuits, trades and business, and as said by the United States Supreme Court in Williams v. Arkansas, 217 U. S. 79, quoting from a former decision in Gunning v. Chicago, 177 U. S. 183, “Begulations respecting the pursuit of a lawful trade or business are of very frequent occurrence in the various cities of the country and what such regulations shall be and to what particular trade, business or occupation they shall apply, are questions for the State to determine, and their determination comes within the proper exercise of the police power by the State, and unless the regulations are so utterly unreasonable and extravagant- in their nature and purpose that the property and personal rights of the citizen are unnecessarily, and in a manner wholly arbitrary interfered with or destroyed without due process of law, they do not extend beyond the power of the State to pass, and they form no subject for Federal interference.”

The State in the exercise of its police power has given to the city the power to regulate certain callings, pursuits, trades and business, as specified in said section of the statutes. The power to regulate gives authority to impose restrictions and restraints upon the trade or business regulated. “Regulate” means “to direct by rule or restriction, to subject to governing principles or laws.” Webster’s Dictionary. In City of Rochester v. West, 164 N. Y. 510, 58 N. E. 673; 53 L. R. A. 548, 79 Am. St. Rep. 659, the court said, “To regulate is to govern by, or subject to, certain rules or restrictions. It implies a power of restriction and restraint not only as to the manner of conducting a specified business, but also as to the erection in or upon which the business is to be conducted.” (Cronin v. People, 82 N. Y. 318.)

Judge Dillon says: “To regulate is to govern by or subject to certain rules or restrictions. It implies a power of restriction and restraint certainly within reasonable limits as to the manner of conducting a specific business and also as to the building or erection in or upon which the business is to be conducted. By virtue of the power to regulate, it has been held that the city council may by ordinance prohibit the carrying on of a business within certain specified portions of the city. By •virtue of a similar power, it has been held that it is within the authority of the common council reasonably to limit, the manner by prohibiting one or more methods * # # >>■ 2 Dillon on Municipal Corporations (5 Ed.) -§ 665.

In re Wilson, 32 Minn. 148, the court said: “Under a grant of police power to regulate, the right of municipal authority to determine where and within what limits a certain class of business may be conducted has been often sustained. For example, the place where markets may be had, butcher stalls or meat shops kept * * * the limits within which certain kinds of animals shall not be kept, the distance from a church within which liquor shall not be sold, etc.”

In City of St. Louis v. Russell, 22 S. W. 470, the Supreme Court of Missouri, passing upon the validity of an ordinance enacted by the city of St. Louis under its charter giving it the power to license, tax and regulate livery and sales stables, said: “The first question for our consideration is whether or not the power to regulate livery and sales stables includes the right to designate the places and in what part of the city they may be located, and to prohibit their erection at other places,” and further after quoting from other cases, “We think that the city has the power under its charter and ordinances to regulate the place of building livery stables and confine them to certain localities within the corporate limits, as well as to regulate the manner of their keeping, as to cleanliness, that they may not be or become obnoxious and deleterious to the health of her citizens. ’ ’

Although it is true as claimed by appellee that a livery stable is not per se a public nuisance and is recognized as a necessary and legitimate business, still the ordinance does not attempt to prohibit the operation of the business within the limits of the city but only within the small area defined therein and the city having express authority to regulate all livery stables could make the restrictions notwithstanding the business regulated is not a nuisance per se.

'McQuillan says: “While a livery stable in a populous community is not per se a public nuisance, it may become such and hence it has long been recognized as a subject necessarily within reasonable policé regulations.

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Bluebook (online)
155 S.W. 105, 107 Ark. 174, 1913 Ark. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-little-rock-v-reinman-wolfort-automobile-livery-co-ark-1913.