Holt Lumber Co. v. City of Oconto

130 N.W. 709, 145 Wis. 500, 1911 Wisc. LEXIS 69
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 14, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 130 N.W. 709 (Holt Lumber Co. v. City of Oconto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holt Lumber Co. v. City of Oconto, 130 N.W. 709, 145 Wis. 500, 1911 Wisc. LEXIS 69 (Wis. 1911).

Opinion

EjeRWIN, J.

The material allegations of the complaint, in so far as they form a basis for the plaintiff’s alleged right to recover, are set out briefly in the statement of facts. The learned trial judge in sustaining the demurrer wrote an opinion, which is in the record, in which he discusses various provisions of subch. XX of the general charter law (secs. 925— 208 to 925 — 239c, Stats. 1898) as they bear on the ordinances passed by the defendant city, and arrives at the conclusion that the complaint states no cause of action, and we are of the opinion that the conclusions reached by the trial judge are correct.

[505]*505Two main contentions are made by appellant’s counsel as grounds for reversal of tbe order appealed from:- (1) That sec. 925 — 208, being tbe first section of subcb. XX, is an option law, and that when tbe city exercises its option thereunder and elects one of tbe methods of payment for sewers its power in that regard is exhausted and it cannot change to any of the other methods provided therein; and if the statute permits the change it is unconstitutional. (2) That if it be held that sec. 925 — 208 is not an option law and that the statutes in question are constitutional, there is no authority for payment for any sewer work other than for main sewers, and that the tax is void because levied for sewers other than main sewers.

The defendant city was divided into sewer districts under its special charter in May, 1895, by ordinance No. 212, and subch. XX of the general charter was adopted in September, 1895. In November, 1904, ordinance No. 217 was passed, which provided that the cost of all sewers should be paid out of the funds of the sewerage district within which the sewer or sewers may be constructed. In February, 1905, the defendant city passed ordinance No. 280, which divided the city into sewer districts and amended the prior ordinance and confirmed the method of paying for constructing and maintaining sewers as provided by ordinance No. 277. Afterwards and in October, 1909, ordinance No. 318 was passed, which provided that the cost of all main sewers thereafter constructed, except the cost of catch-basins, overflow pipes, and temporary catch-basins, the cost of repairing and cleaning sewers, and the expenditures for temporary work necessary to carry on the system of sewerage, should be paid out of the general fund, the intention being that, no expense for ■ the construction of main sewers should he paid by abutting property owners or out of any sewerage district fund.

It is strenuously insisted by counsel for appellant that the defendant city had no power to pass ordinance No. 318, because it had no authority to change the method of payment for [506]*506sewers, — that its power in that regard, having been exercised by the passage of a prior ordinance, was exhausted. Counsel relies upon Northern T. Co. v. Snyder, 113 Wis. 516, 89 N. W. 460; State ex rel. Williams v. Sawyer Co. 140 Wis. 634, 123 N. W. 248, and some Pennsylvania cases; also Atlantic City W. W. Co. v. Atlantic City, 39 N. J. Eq. 367, and East Tenn., Va. & Ga. R. Co. v. Frazier, 139 U. S. 288, 11 Sup. Ct. 517. A careful examination'of the cases cited convinces us that they do not support the appellant’s contention. The Northern T. Go. Gase deals with a situation clearly involving an option law, namely, a general law pertaining to county government, giving an option to county boards to severally put the same into effect in their respective counties, and giving no power to repeal their action and restore the former situation, and it was held that, the county board having given effect to the law, it could not abolish such effect. In other words, the case holds that power to give effect to an option law does not carry with it by implication power to abolish it. In State ex rel. Williams v. Sawyer Co., supra, the county board passed a resolution adopting the provisions of ch. 651, Laws of 1907, relating to the establishment of special municipal courts in the counties of this state, and it was held that it could not afterwards rescind its action. At page 641 the court said:

“If the law had been properly adopted and the proper resolution had been passed creating the court, it would be beyond the power of a county board by subsequent resolution to rescind its action, at least in the absence of express legislative authority so to do.”

This court has ruled that an option law “must be a complete enactment in itself. It must contain an entire and perfect declaration of the legislative will, and it must require nothing to perfect it as a law. The only thing that may be left to the people to determine is whether they will avail themselves of its provisions.” State ex rel. Williams v. Sawyer Co., supra [507]*507(p. 636) ; State ex rel. Att’y Gen. v. O’Neill, 24 Wis. 149 Slinger v. Henneman, 38 Wis. 504; Minneapolis, St. P. & S. S. M. R. Co. v. Railroad Commission, 136 Wis. 146, 116 N. W. 905; Adams v. Beloit, 105 Wis. 363, 81 N. W. 869.

Sec. 926, Stats. (1898), as amended (Laws of 1899, cb. 51: Supp. 1906), provides:

“All cities incorporated by special act shall have the powers, privileges and franchises and be subject to the duties and liabilities in this chapter provided for, as well as those applying to specially incorporated cities in chapters 40a and 41, in addition to those provided by the act of incorporation, all conflicting provisions of such special act to the contrary notwithstanding. . . . Any such city may adopt the provisions of any subchapter, section or subdivision of any section of chapter 40®, and may exercise any power or franchise thereby conferred upon cities organized under said chapter, in addition to or in lieu of the provisions of its special charter and the powers and franchises therein specified, by an ordinance adopted for that purpose by. a three-fourths vote of all the members of the council elect, and when adopted as herein prescribed such ordinance shall operate to that extent as an amendment of such charter. . . .”

The feature of the law in question which gives it character as an option law is the right conferred to allow adoption of the general charter or a part of it and not an option in the administration of the law after adoption. After subeh. XX of the general charter was adopted by defendant city it was bound by it and could not abrogate it. Northern T. Co. v. Snyder, 113 Wis. 516, 89 N. W. 460. The defendant city could not say it would be bound by some of the provisions adopted and not by all. When it exercised its option it exhausted its power. There is nothing in the law indicating an intention on the part of the legislature to delegate power to the defendant city to reject any provision of subeh. XX or modify it after it had been adopted, even if the legislature had power to delegate such authority to the city.

This court has decided, in a case respecting the adoption [508]*508•of a portion, of tbe general charter, that an option law must be a complete law in all its details when it leaves the legislature, so that nothing is left open save the determination of the fact when it is to go into effect; that any other rule would result in practical delegation of legislative power.

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

Related

Orange City Water Co. v. Town of Orange City
188 So. 2d 306 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1966)
Brucato v. City of Lawrence
156 N.E.2d 676 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1959)
Huff v. City of Wichita Falls
48 S.W.2d 580 (Texas Supreme Court, 1932)
Zweifel v. City of Milwaukee
201 N.W. 385 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1925)
Bugajski v. Milwaukee Western Fuel Co.
157 N.W. 521 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
130 N.W. 709, 145 Wis. 500, 1911 Wisc. LEXIS 69, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holt-lumber-co-v-city-of-oconto-wis-1911.