Commonwealth v. Rice

158 N.E. 797, 261 Mass. 340, 55 A.L.R. 1128, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1362
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedNovember 22, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 158 N.E. 797 (Commonwealth v. Rice) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Rice, 158 N.E. 797, 261 Mass. 340, 55 A.L.R. 1128, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1362 (Mass. 1927).

Opinion

Pierce, J.

The defendant was before the District Court of Springfield on a complaint which charged in substance that “the defendant did allow a certain motor vehicle to remain standing on a taxicab stand on the north side of Bridge Street, beginning thirty . . . feet westerly from Broadway curb, and extending westerly thirty . . . feet, without having been licensed so to do.” He was found [341]*341guilty and fined $3 in the District Court on March 11, 1927, from which sentence he appealed to the Superior Court.

The defendant waived his right to a jury in the Superior Court, and the case was heard by a judge of that court on a statement of facts, which were found by the judge to be as follows: “The defendant, Harry E. Rice, is a resident of Springfield, Hampdeñ County, Massachusetts. . . . On October 18,1926, the board of aldermen of the city of Springfield passed and the mayor approved an order for the regulation of certain vehicles used in the city of Springfield,” the material sections of which are: “Section 1. Every motor vehicle used for the carriage of passengers for hire shall be deemed to be a taxicab within the meaning of these orders, except a motor vehicle operated in the manner and for the purposes stated in G. L. c. 159, § 45. Section 2. No person having charge of any taxicab shall allow the same to remain standing on any public way within the city to solicit passengers or for any other purpose except in one or more places hereinafter designated as taxicab stands and then only upon being licensed so to do by license duly issued by the Transportation Board of the city council. Section 3. The following places in public ways within the city are hereby designated as taxicab stands, each for the number of cars specified and of a length equal to the number of lineal feet along the side of the curbstone specified and of a width sufficient for one car to stand therein when its wheels are within eighteen (18) inches of the curbstone. . . . (o) On the north side of Bridge Street, beginning thirty (30) feet westerly from Broadway curb, and extending westerly thirty (30) feet and to be used by two taxicabs. . . . Section 4. No person having charge of any vehicle shall allow the same to remain standing within the limits of any taxicab stand except a taxicab and then only at the stand which it is licensed to occupy. Section 5. The Transportation Board of the city council may grant and issue licenses and permits to one or more owners of taxicabs to occupy one or more taxicab stands, such licenses shall be indeterminate and shall be subject to termination at any time by the Transportation Board. Section 6. Applications for such licenses shall be [342]*342made to said board on forms furnished by it, and shall set forth, under oath such information as said board may require. Section 7. Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules and orders, the vehicles of the Fire and Police Departments, the Sealer of Weights and Measures and his deputies, and emergency vehicles of the Water Department and Public Service Corporations operating within'the city may stand in such reserved places from time to time and for such length of time as may be necessary in the performance of the public service in which they are then engaged. Section 8. Any person having charge of any motor vehicle who shall allow the same to remain standing on any taxicab stand except as licensed or permitted under the provisions hereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty ($20.00) dollars for each offense.” The order of the board of aldermen was approved by the mayor on October 18, 1926, and published in a newspaper published in Springfield on October 31, 1926. Its provisions were in effect on December 25, 1926.

“Bridge Street in the city of Springfield is a public highway, the abutting owners owning the fee thereof subject to the easement of travel by the public. The owner of land abutting on that part of Bridge Street described in the order . . . [as (o)] . . . has not expressly consented to the establishment of a stand for two taxicabs thereon. Such abutting owner has not been asked to consent and has made no objections to the establishment of such a taxicab stand on that portion of Bridge Street hereinabove described. ... On December 25, 1926, the defendant was in charge of a motor vehicle and allowed . . . [it] to remain standing within the limits of . . . taxicab stand (o) for about an hour . . . [it] was not a taxicab, and was not then licensed or permitted to occupy said stand under the provisions of . . . [the] order. . . . [The] taxicab stand was plainly posted by two signs reading, ‘Lie. 15 Taxicab stand —No Parking.’” The defendant made the following motion: “And now comes the defendant in the above entitled cause and upon all the evidence in the case, moves the court to find the defendant ‘Not guilty’ for the following reasons:

“1. The order passed by the board of aldermen of the city [343]*343of Springfield, October 18, 1926, purporting to be for the regulation of certain vehicles used in the city of Springfield is not a regulation of traffic upon a public street but is a grant of an exclusive privilege in a portion of a public street for the benefit of a private business and that such order is unconstitutional and void.

“2. That the order of the board of aldermen passed October 18, 1926, purporting to be for regulation of certain vehicles used in the city of Springfield is unconstitutional and void because there is no warrant in law for its enactment and approval.

“3. That the order of the board of aldermen passed October 18, 1926, is unconstitutional and discriminatory and grants an exclusive privilege in a specified portion of a public street for the sole use and benefit of a person carrying on a private business.

“4. That the order passed by the board of aldermen in the city of Springfield, October 18, 1926, cannot be construed to be a reasonable regulation of traffic in a public street.”

This motion was denied and the defendant duly excepted. The defendant Was found guilty. "Being of the opinion that the question of the validity of said order of the board of aldermen is so important and doubtful as to require the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court, at the request of the defendant . . . [the judge reported] the case to present the question of law of the validity of said order, it being agreed that if the order of the board of aldermen under which the complaint is brought is valid, the finding of guilty is to stand, otherwise a finding of not guilty to be entered.”

\ The briefs for the defendant and Commonwealth are in accord in referring the origin of G. L. c. 40, § 22 to St. 1847, c. 224, §§ 1, 2, St. 1850, c. 275, Gen. Sts. c. 19, § 14, Pub. Sts. c. 28, § 25, St. 1885, c. 197, R. L. c. 25, § 24,-St, 1920, c. 591, § 9. ' These statutes were confined to consolidation and rearrangement, to the rejection of superfluous words and condensation into concise form, and to the addition of the words “however propelled” in R. L. c. 25, § 24; and there was no purpose to change the meaning of statutes when [344]*344changes in diction were made. Commissioner’s Report on Revision of General Statutes (1858), pages 7, 8.

G. L. c.

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Bluebook (online)
158 N.E. 797, 261 Mass. 340, 55 A.L.R. 1128, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-rice-mass-1927.