Devlin v. City of Wilkes-Barre

69 Pa. D. & C. 99, 1949 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 286
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County
DecidedJuly 11, 1949
Docketno. 7
StatusPublished

This text of 69 Pa. D. & C. 99 (Devlin v. City of Wilkes-Barre) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Devlin v. City of Wilkes-Barre, 69 Pa. D. & C. 99, 1949 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 286 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1949).

Opinion

PiNOLA, J.,

We have before us a motion to continue the preliminary injunction granted May 4, 1949, restraining the City of Wilkes-Barre from closing plaintiff’s theatre and arresting operators of motion picture machines therein located. Plaintiff contends that the city has no right to require a projectionist’s license in addition to that issued by the State.

She is a resident of the City of Wilkes-Barre and operates the Family Theatre on South Main Street, in said city, with the approval of the Bureau of Inspection, Department of Labor and Industry of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

[100]*100The motion picture projectionists employed by her are residents of this county and hold licenses duly issued by the Bureau of Inspection of the Department of Labor and Industry. The city insists that these projectionists must obtain a license under the provisions of an ordinance adopted February 2, 1915.

The plaintiff contends: (1) That the motion picture board which conducts examinations for such licenses is illegally constituted, there being no ordinance creating the same, and (2) that since the State regulates projectionists and issues licenses to them, the city cannot require an additional license.

The first objection of plaintiff is well taken.

The rules and regulations adopted by the motion picture operators’ examining board of the city carry a notation that they are in conformity with the Act of 1909, apparently referring to the Act of May 1, 1909, P. L. 346 (now repealed). That act regulated the construction of booths or enclosures for moving picture machines and provided the specifications therefor. It contained no reference whatever to projectionists.

Under section 46 of the Clark Act of June 27, 1913, P. L. 568, the city was empowered to enact ordinances “not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of (the) Commonwealth, as may be expedient or necessary, in addition to the special powers in this section granted, for . . . the maintenance of the peace, good government, safety, and welfare of the city . . .” That provision is now contained in section 2403, par. 54, of The Third Class City Law of June 23, 1931, P. L. 932, 53 PS §12198-2403, par. 54.

Assuming that in the absence of action by the State this section gave the city the right to adopt the ordinance in question, nevertheless, a motion picture projectionist cannot be required to undergo an examination or to procure a license under that ordinance, be[101]*101cause the city has not created a proper examining hoard to function under it.

The ordinance adopted February 2, 1915, provides, section 1:

“. . . no person shall operate a moving picture machine within the limits of the City of Wilkes-Barre, unless he shall have first procured a license or permit from the Bureau of Buildings to handle pyroxylin plastic, celluloid or other picture films. No such permit shall be issued to anyone under the age of eighteen (18) years nor until the said Bureau of Buildings shall have been convinced by oral or written examination by the Electrical Board that the applicant is competent to operate such machine.
“No person duly licensed by the Bureau of Buildings shall operate a moving picture machine unless the following precautions are observed, to wit:
“(a) Moving picture machines shall be enclosed in a fireproof booth constructed and installed in accordance with Act No. 206 of the General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania approved May 1, 1909, to be approved by the Inspector of Electricity.”
Section 3 declares the ordinance to be “necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety . . .”

Counsel agree that a board was appointed by the city council in 1915, and biennially thereafter. The existing board, which consists of Mr. John Galvin, manager of the Comerford Theatre, Mr. Kain Jacobs, who is the representative of the operators, and Mr. Nicholas Macking, presently the electrical inspector of the City of Wilkes-Barre, was appointed by resolution on January 5,1948, to serve for a two-year period.

The creation of offices by a municipality can only be effected by means of an ordinance. Such power cannot be exercised by a resolution or mere appointment: 43 C. J. 599, §976; 37 Am. Jur. 857.

[102]*102The board was never properly created and no specific duties were ever assigned to it, nor any powers given to it by the City of Wilkes-Barre. Therefore, it is illegally constituted and the city is in no position to enforce the ordinance of 1915.

In passing, we wish to point out that since the ordinance does not fix the fee for the license, the board could not exact the fee of $3 required by section 3 of its regulations: 3 McQuillin on Municipal Corporations 664, sec. 1097.

This conclusion eliminates the necessity for our consideration of the second objection. However, since counsel request such action we will pass upon it.

The large number of cases in various jurisdictions indicates that the court in Power v. Nordstrom et al., 150 Minn. 228, 184 N. W. 967, properly characterized the present problem as a “vexed question”. The cases in other jurisdictions are interesting but not very helpful because whether the legislature has undertaken to occupy exclusively a given field of legislation so that a local regulation with regard to the subject covered may or may not be in conflict with it, is to be determined in every case upon an analysis of the statute and of the facts and circumstances upon which it was intended to operate.

The Administrative Code of June 7, 1923, P. L. 498, sec. 1702, provided:

“The Department of Labor and Industry shall have the power, and its duty shall be:
“(f) To issue licenses, after examination, to motion picture projectionists and apprentices, as may now or hereafter be provided by law;”

In The Administrative Code of April 9,1929, P. L. 177, the same language is contained in section 2202, 71 PS §562.

The Administrative Code prescribes the powers and duties of all administrative agencies of the State. It [103]*103is intended to be and is a general plan of administration of the various branches of the State Government. In this plan provision is made for the licensing of projectionists throughout the State. It is without qualification and without reservation of any right to interfere by any political subdivision of the State. In our opinion, the fact that the legislature included this power in the Administrative Code is quite persuasive of its intent that the State shall occupy the field.

As further evidence of its intent, the legislature included in the Act of April 27, 1927, P. L. 465, provisions for the licensing of projectionists. That act, which repealed the Act of 1909, P. L. 346, provides for the safety of persons assembled in buildings by regulating their construction and maintenance in municipalities other than cities of the first class, second class, and second class A, and empowers the Department of Labor and Industry to make rules and regulations for carrying into effect its provisions.

A careful reading of the act reveals clearly the intention of the legislature, that the State shall occupy the field of protection of its residents from fire and panic.

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Related

Brazier v. Philadelphia
64 A. 508 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1906)
Commonwealth v. Vigliotti
115 A. 20 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1921)
Power v. Nordstrom
184 N.W. 967 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1921)

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Bluebook (online)
69 Pa. D. & C. 99, 1949 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/devlin-v-city-of-wilkes-barre-pactcomplluzern-1949.