City of Lovington v. Hall

359 P.2d 769, 68 N.M. 143
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 17, 1961
Docket6758
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 359 P.2d 769 (City of Lovington v. Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico 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 Lovington v. Hall, 359 P.2d 769, 68 N.M. 143 (N.M. 1961).

Opinions

NOBLE, Justice.

Appellant was convicted in municipal court of operating music machines and pinball machines within the city of Lovington without a license, in violation of Ordinance 132, from which he appealed to the district court. The district court found that the ordinance levying a license fee was a valid exercise of the police power conferred by statute, sustained the municipal court, and he again appealed.

The ordinance names some 50 specific occupations, trades, pursuits and enterprises, including appellant’s subject to licensing by the city. Appellant had placed 30 coin operated machines, including 18 music machines and 12 pin-ball machines in various places throughout the city. The license fee on each machine is $12.

The pertinent provision of the applicable statute, § 14-42-8, N.M.S.A. 1953 Comp., authorizing licensing by municipalities reads:

“The legislative or governing bodies of cities, towns and villages shall have the power to license and regulate * * provided that as to such occupations * * * the governing body of the city, town or village, shall, by ordinance declare that the licensing or regulation thereof is conducive to promotion of the health and general welfare of such city, town or village; and shall have the power to fix the license to be paid thereon or therefor, and may impose a separate license on each place of business conducted or maintained by the same person, firm, association or corporation.”

It is fundamental that an ordinance as well as a statute, is presumed to be valid and that one who attacks it has the burden of establishing its invalidity. Mitchell v. City of Roswell, 45 N.M. 92, 111 P.2d 41; City of Alamogordo v. McGee, 64 N.M. 253, 327 P.2d 321; City of Chicago Heights v. Western Union Tel. Co., 406 111. 428, 94 N.E.2d 306; Adams v. City of New Kensington, 357 Pa. 557, 55 A.2d 392. There can be no question that the municipality has power, under the statute, to regulate and to charge a license fee which does not exceed the probable expense of issuing the license and of regulating the business. City of Albuquerque v. Ranger Desdemona Oil Co., 26 N.M. 434, 194 P. 589; Tharp v. City of Clovis, 34 N.M. 161, 279 P. 69. The mere fact that such license fees produce some excess revenue does not render the ordinance invalid, but they must be “incidental to regulation and not primarily for the purpose of producing revenue.” Opinion of the Justices, 98 N.H. 527, 96 A.2d 733, 734; City of Chicago Heights v. Western Union Tel. Co., supra; Walker, Jr. v. City of Morgantown, 137 W.Va. 289, 71 S.E. 2d 60. And the license fee which a municipality may exact must bear some reasonable relation to the added burden and expense to the city by reason of such regulation. Larson v. City of Rockford, 371 Ill. 441, 21 N.E.2d 396; Lamere v. City of Chicago, 391 Ill. 552, 63 N.E.2d 863.

The Lovington Ordinance recites:

“ * * * it being hereby declared that the licensing and regulation of same is conducive to promoting of the-health and general welfare of the city.”'

It is said that by inclusion of the welfare clause the legislative body of the municipality has declared its purpose to exercise its police power and that such clause could have no purpose in a revenue measure. It is true that the declared purpose of legislation is to be given consideration in aid of interpreting the purpose, reason, or occasion for the statute or ordinance. Continental Oil Co. v. City of Santa Fe, 25 N.M. 94, 177 P. 742, 3 A.L.R. 398. Nevertheless, even though its declared purpose be for the exercise of the police power, the whole act will be examined to ascertain its characteristics and to determine whether there is actually an exercise of that power. It will not be upheld merely because of its declared purpose. Opinion of the Justices, (N.H.), supra.

That the purpose of the proper exercise of the police power must appear from the body of the act and not from a mere legislative declaration of purpose by the welfare clause is demonstrated in Lochner v. State of New York, 198 U.S. 45, 25 S.Ct. 539, 543, 49 L.Ed. 937, where it was said:

“The claim of police power would bé a mere pretext,- — become another and delusive name for the supreme sovereignty of the state to be exercised free from constitutional restraint.”

The question here is whether the appellant’s, or in fact any occupation, business, or trade required to be licensed by the ordinance was actually regulated. We said in City of Albuquerque v. Ranger Desdemona Oil Co., supra, that there must be regulation in order to collect a license fee, and in Tharp v. City of Clovis, supra, we stated that the regulatory provisions could be included in an ordinance separate from the one fixing the license.

Appellant, recognizing our holding in Tharp v. City of Clovis, supra, that in the absence of proof to the contrary we would assume that regulatory measures were provided by other ordinances, established by the testimony of the city clerk that no other ordinance provided for regulation of coin-operated music machines or pin-ball machines and that the work involved or cost to the city of issuing a license to appellant was no greater than that involved in the collection of an occupation tax.

Regulation has been defined as “an exercise of control.” Cloutier v. State Milk Control Board, 92 N.H. 199, 28 A.2d 554, 558. It is said that section 13 of the Lovington ordinance calls for such regulation as to make the ordinance a valid exercise of the police power. It reads:

“Section 13: Revocation of Licenses — The City Commission may, when any person, firm or corporation holding a license under the provisions hereof has been adjudged guilty of violating any City ordinance in relation hereto by any court of competent jurisdiction, revoke the license, and may, in the judgment of the City Commission whenever the public welfare shall require it, revoke any license issued hereunder, after due notice and hearing as provided in Section 12.”

We could agree except for the fact that, as has been pointed out, there are no other ordinances in any way prescribing rules, regulations or conduct for any business named, for the violation of which the owner or operator could be adjudged guilty, and to our minds the provision permitting the City Commission to revoke a license whenever, in the judgment of the Commission, the public welfare shall require it, is too indefinite and uncertain to be considered as a regulation, if indeed it is a valid ground for revocation. Thrift Hardware & Supply Co. v. City of Phoenix, 71 Ariz. 21, 222 P. 2d 994, 22 A.L.R.2d 810.

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City of Lovington v. Hall
359 P.2d 769 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1961)

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Bluebook (online)
359 P.2d 769, 68 N.M. 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-lovington-v-hall-nm-1961.