Herbert v. Board of Supervisors

130 So. 2d 250, 241 Miss. 223, 1961 Miss. LEXIS 335
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1961
DocketNo. 41825
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 130 So. 2d 250 (Herbert v. Board of Supervisors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Herbert v. Board of Supervisors, 130 So. 2d 250, 241 Miss. 223, 1961 Miss. LEXIS 335 (Mich. 1961).

Opinion

Kyle, J.

This case is before us on appeal by S. E. Herbert and others from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Carroll County affirming an order of the Board of Supervisors of said county, zoning out the sale of beer and wine in a strip of land one-half mile wide bordering the counties of Montgomery and Drenada. The appeal to the circuit court from the order of the Board of Supervisors was taken under authority of Section 1195, Missisippi Code of 1942, Rec., and upon a bill of exceptions as provided in said code section.

The bill of exceptions shows that petitions signed by numerous citizens of Supervisor’s District No. 1 of said county was filed with the Board of Supervisors on June 6,1960, asking that the Board of Supervisors adopt such reasonable rules and regulations regarding the sale of beer and wine in said district as would protect the people of the area from indiscriminate sale, which was corrupting the morals of the community, making it difficult to keep peace and order, and endangering the peace and safety of the people. The cause was heard by the Board of Supervisors on June 6,1960, same being the first Monday of June, 1960, and the order appealed from was adopted on that date.

The order of the Board of Supervisors found and adjudicated, among other things, the following facts substantially as follows: (1) That open lawlessness and defiance of law existed in the area of Carroll County immediately adjacent to Montgomery and Drenada count[227]*227ies; (2) that said lawlessness originated in and was fostered by the sale of beer and wine in said area-, and that said lawlessness was caused in a large part by nonresidents of said county coming into said county from counties wherein the sale of beer and wine was prohibited; (3) that in said area acts of violence, drunkenness and disregard of the rights of peaceful and law-abiding citizens was common, and law enforcement officers had been threatened with death or great bodily harm if they interfered with such lawlessness; (4) that the sheriff had been obstructed by physical violence in his efforts to enforce the law in said area; (5) that intoxicated persons had practically driven the peaceful and law-abiding citizens of the area from the public roads and made them fearful for their safety even in their own homes; and (6) that the conditions complained of would continue while the sale of beer and wine was unregulated in said area.

It was then ordered by the Board as follows:

“Section 1. That the sale, bartering or giving away of any beer or wine be and the same is hereby prohibited, at any place in sections 19, 20, and 29, Township 21 North, Range 5 East, and Sections 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24, Township 21 North, Range 4 East, which is within one half mile, by nearest public road, from the South boundary of Grenada County or the West boundary of Montgomery County, Mississippi.
‘ ‘ Section 2. That the opening of container or consumption of any beer or wine, on the premises of a holder of a permit authorizing the sale of beer or wine, or his permitting either to be done on his premises, and the sale, barter or giving away of any beer and wine by any such permit holder, except in unopened container, between the hours of 6:00 P.M. and 8:00 A.M., is hereby prohibited, in that area of Carroll County * * * which lies more than one half mile, by nearest public road, from the South bound[228]*228ary of Grenada County and the West boundary of Montgomery County, and less than one and one half miles, by nearest public road, from the South boundary of Grenada County and the west boundary of Montgomery County.”

The order further provided, in Section 3 thereof, that, ‘ ‘ the regulations and zoning herein provided shall be construed as cumulative in the interest of promoting the public health, morals and safety,” and in Section 4 thereof, that, “Any violation of this order shall be a misdemeanor and any person, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished a£ for a misdemeanor.” It was then declared that the provisions of the order should be separable, and if any clause or section thereof should be held invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such holding should not affect the validity of any other clause or section.

The appellants, as protestants, being aggrieved by the above mentioned zoning order of the Board of Supervisors, perfected their appeal upon bill of exceptions to the circuit court, as provided for in Section 1195, Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled. The bill of exceptions was duly filed with the clerk of the circuit court on June 15, 1960; and with their bill of exceptions the appellants filed a statement of their grounds of protest, which may be summarized as follows:

(1) That the action of the Board of Supervisors was taken without notice of any kind to the protestants.

(2) That the order adopted was unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious.

(3) That the order violated the constitutional rights of the protestants.

(4) That the order was beyond the legal power of the Board to make as a regulatory measure under Section 10224, Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled.

The cause was heard by the circuit judge in vacation, by agreement of the parties, on August 6, 1960, and at the conclusion of the hearing an order was entered af[229]*229firming the order of the Board of Supervisors. The appellants were thereafter granted an appeal to the Supreme Court with supersedeas.

The first point argued by the appellants’ attorney as ground for reversal of the judgment of the lower court on this appeal is that no notice of the purported hearing on the petition filed with the Board of Supervisors on June 6, 1960, was given to the appellants, and that the appellants had no opportunity to examine the witnesses who may have testified before the Board at said meeting, or to introduce evidence in rebuttal, or to be heard in opposition to the proposed zoning resolution before it was adopted. But that question has been settled adversely to the appellants’ contention by the decision of this Court in Miller v. Board of Supervisors of Forrest County, 230 Miss. 849, 94 So. 2d 604, in which this Court held that it was not necessary for the board of supervisors to give a notice and hearing prior to making a zoning order in a case of this kind. As the Court pointed out in its opinion in that case, the statute does not require such notice and hearing prior to the making of a zoning order. See also Board of Supervisors of Clay County v. McCormick, 207 Miss. 216, 42 So. 2d 177.

It is next argued that the order of the Board of Supervisors is unreasonable, capricious and discriminatory, in that the sale of beer and wine within the border area of approximately five square miles of territory in Supervisor’s District No. 1 is prohibited entirely; that two places occupied by holders of permits to sell beer and wine will be deprived of their right to do so; that good locations for the sale of beer in the prohibited area cannot be readily disposed of; and that the order of the Board of Supervisors will result in the owners of the property being deprived of their property without due process of law.

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Herbert v. BD. OF SUPRS. OF CARROLL CO.
130 So. 2d 250 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1961)

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Bluebook (online)
130 So. 2d 250, 241 Miss. 223, 1961 Miss. LEXIS 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herbert-v-board-of-supervisors-miss-1961.