Ex Parte Hodges

1938 OK CR 91, 83 P.2d 201, 65 Okla. Crim. 69, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 75
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 23, 1938
DocketNo. A-9530.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 1938 OK CR 91 (Ex Parte Hodges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex Parte Hodges, 1938 OK CR 91, 83 P.2d 201, 65 Okla. Crim. 69, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 75 (Okla. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

DAVENPORT, P. J.

This is an application for a writ of habeas corpus wherein the petitioners allege that they are unlawfully imprisoned and restrained of their liberty and seek to secure their release by order of this court from custody of the chief of police of the city of Shawnee.

*71 Petitioners allege they are engaged in operating a grocery store in the city of Shawnee; that they are charged with violating Ordinance 554, as follows:

“Be it ordained by the Mayor and Board of Commissioners of the city of Shawnee.
“Section 1. That Section 114 of Art. 6, of Chapter 29, of the Revised Ordinance of the City of Shawnee, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
“Section 114. Sunday Closing. It shall be an offense for any person, being the owners or having under their control any place of business, or business houses in the city, to open or cause the same to be opened between the hours of 12 o’clock p. m. Saturday night and 12 o’clock p. m. Sunday night, for the purpose of transacting business therein, and any person who commits such acts or permits or authorizes such acts shall be guilty of an offense. Provided, that nothing in this section shall apply to drugstores, hotels, restaurants, ice cream parlors, fruit stands, livery stables, service stations, paper plants, thea-tres and places of amusement. Provided further that nothing in this section shall prevent groceries and markets from selling meats, bread, fish and milk at any time before 9 o’clock in the morning.
“Section 2. That nothing in this ordinance shall operate to repeal any part or portion or section of chapter 29 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Shawnee for 1931, and that the same shall operate to amend only the section above stated and that the amended section as herein set forth shall be treated and construed as though it had been originally set forth in said chapter.
“Be it further ordained that for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is deemed to exist, by reason whereof, this ordinance shall become effective and take force immediately upon its passage and approval.”

Petitioners allege that said restraint is illegal and unauthorized, in that said ordinance is not general and uniform in its operation and effect, that it does not apply to all selling on Sunday commodities, articles of trade and *72 merchandise, and that such ordinance is special and exclusive and affects only those who sell groceries and meats on Sunday, and constitutes class legislation. That it is an attempt on the part of the city officials to regulate private business and industry; that said ordinance is unconstitutional with and in conflict with and is repugnant to the general statutes of the state of Oklahoma governing the same subject matter and especially section 2564, O. S. 1931, 21 Okla. St. Ann. § 908. That said ordinance if enforced would constitute an invasion of petitioners’ property rights and cause irreparable loss and damage; that said ordinance is a violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, U.S.C.A. Const. Amend. 14, and in effect takes away their property rights without due process of law; that said ordinance is arbitrary in its operation in that it prohibits the opening on Sunday of certain lines of business, and allows the opening of those in other lines, is not general in its operation and in effect only grants special privileges and immunities to certain classes while without legal excuse denies them to others, in violation of the Constitution and laws of the state of Oklahoma in such case made and provided.

Your petitioners further show to this honorable court that they and each of them have heretofore petitioned the honorable district court of Pottawatomie county for a writ of habeas corpus, and that thereafter, and on the second day of June, 1938, a hearing was had before said court and the said district court denied these petitioners said writ and refused to discharge them from imprisonment; all of which is fully shown from the case-made of the proceedings had before said court, which is hereto attached, marked exhibit “A” and made a part hereof as written herein.

The facts stipulated constitute a violation of said ordinance on the part of the petitioners, and the only ques *73 tion to be determined is the validity of the ordinance. The city of Shawnee is a city of the first class, and is organized and operating under a charter form of government, under the authority of section 3 (a) art. 18, state Constitution, Okla. St. Ann. Const, art. 18, § 3 (a).

1. Under the constitutional provisions any city containing a population of more than 2,000 inhabitants may frame a charter form of government, consistent with the support of the Constitution and laws of the state of Oklahoma, and a city adopting a charter is accorded full power of local government, and as said municipal corporation under its charter it has power to enact ordinances and enforce ordinances for the purpose of protecting public peace, order, health, morals and safety of the inhabitants, even though general statutes exist regulating the same subjects. Shinn v. State, 59 Okla. Cr. 433, 61 P. 2d 1126.

2. The courts of this state have uniformly held that the provisions of a charter adopted and approved in accordance with such constitutional provisions becomes an organic law of such municipality and supersedes the laws of the state in conflict therewith in so far as they attempt to regulate municipal matters. In re Simmons, 4 Okla. Cr. 662, 112 P. 951.

It has also been further held that such charter provisions, where they conflict with the general laws of the state must give way, and while they may run concurrent with the general laws of the state they must not run counter thereto. State ex rel. Burns v. Linn, 49 Okla. 526, 153 P. 826; Ann. Cas. 1918B, 139. In other words a municipality may move in the same direction as the Legislature but not contrary to or in opposite directions. 3 McQuillin on Municipal Corporations, sec. 894; Ex parte Johnson, 20 Okla. Cr. 66, 201 P. 533; Ex parte Johnson, 13 Okla. Cr. 30, 161 P. 1097.

Petitioners contend that the ordinance in question is invalid, as contravening section 59, art. 5, of the Consti *74 tution, Okla. St. Ann. Const, art. 5, § 59, which prohibits class legislation, in that it does grant special privileges and immunities to some citizens and denies them to others and is inconsistent with the fourth sub-division of section 2564, O. S. 1931, 21 Okla. St. Ann. § 908, which provides:

“The following are the acts forbidden to be done on the first day of the week, the doing of any of which is Sabbath-breaking:
“First. Servile labor, except works of necessity or charity.
“Second. Trades, manufacturers and mechanical employment.
“Third. All shooting, horse racing and gaming.
“Fourth.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Denton v. Winner Communications, Inc.
1986 OK CIV APP 20 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1986)
Opinion No. 70-116 (1970) Ag
Oklahoma Attorney General Reports, 1970
McGowan v. Maryland
366 U.S. 420 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Crown Kosher Super Market of Mass., Inc. v. Gallagher
176 F. Supp. 466 (D. Massachusetts, 1959)
Taylor v. City of Pine Bluff
289 S.W.2d 679 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1956)
Dillon v. City of Tulsa
1954 OK CR 91 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1954)
McHenry v. Clark
87 Pa. D. & C. 348 (Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, 1953)
Ex Parte Higgs
1953 OK CR 160 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1953)
Ex Parte Gammel
1949 OK CR 81 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1949)
Ex Parte Pappe
1948 OK CR 128 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1948)
Ex Parte Johnson
1943 OK CR 100 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1943)
Sparger v. Harris
1942 OK 418 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1942)
Builders Ass'n v. City of Detroit
294 N.W. 677 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1940)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1938 OK CR 91, 83 P.2d 201, 65 Okla. Crim. 69, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-hodges-oklacrimapp-1938.