Hughes v. Parish Council

48 So. 2d 823, 25 A.L.R. 2d 852, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 745
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 22, 1950
Docket3295
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 48 So. 2d 823 (Hughes v. Parish Council) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hughes v. Parish Council, 48 So. 2d 823, 25 A.L.R. 2d 852, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 745 (La. Ct. App. 1950).

Opinion

48 So.2d 823 (1950)

HUGHES
v.
PARISH COUNCIL OF PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE.

No. 3295.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 22, 1950.

*824 Sam J. D'Amico, Baton Rouge, for appellant.

R. Gordon Kean, Jr., Baton Rouge, for appellee.

LOTTINGER, Judge.

In this case the plaintiff, O. M. Hughes, is seeking a Writ of Mandamus, ordering and requiring the Parish Council of the Parish of East Baton Rouge to issue him a license or permit to conduct a retail Class A beer business at his place of business situated on U. S. Highway 61, near the Zachary Crossroads in the Parish of East Baton Rouge.

The facts are not disputed. In 1937, pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 17 of the First Extra Session of 1935, Dart's Statutes, Code Cr.Proc. § 1362.41, the residents of the then existing Fourth Ward of the Parish of East Baton Rouge, petitioned the Police Jury for an election to determine whether Ward Four should be a dry ward. The election was held in May 1937, and the vote was "for liquor, 45", "against liquor, 247". Thereafter, the Police Jury spread upon its minutes, the results of the *825 election. Nothing further was ever done and that area then comprising Ward Four has been maintained and is now maintained as a dry area.

Plaintiff contends that he is entitled to the permit and that the Parish Council, as the Governing Body of the Parish, should be mandamused to issue him the permit for the following reasons:

First: That no ordinance was ever adopted in accordance with Section 6 of Act No. 17 of the First Extra Session of 1935, by the Police Jury.

Second: That Ward Four of the Parish of East Baton Rouge no longer exists because the people of the Parish did in 1948 under the provisions of a constitutional amendment, set up a new form of government and established new wards in the Parish and Ward Four was merged with wet wards to become the new Ward Two of the Parish of East Baton Rouge.

The District Court rendered judgment in favor of the defendants, the Parish Council of the Parish of East Baton Rouge and the individual members thereof, and against the plaintiff, O. M. Hughes, rejecting the plaintiff's demands and now plaintiff has appealed.

Dealing with the first point at issue in this case, we will turn to Section 1 of Act No. 17 of the First Extra Session of 1935, and examine its contents, which states as follows: "If any parish, ward or municipality, at any election held for the purpose, which shall be conducted as nearly as possible in accordance with the election laws of the State, shall, by a majority vote of its duly qualified electors voting at any such election, determine that the business of producing, manufacturing, rectifying, blending or handling, selling, using, distributing, storing, or consuming of alcohol or intoxicating liquors as defined in Section 2 of this Act, otherwise than when prescribed by a licensed physician as a medicine, in such parish, ward or municipality shall not be licensed or permitted therein, such business shall not therein be licensed or permitted."

Therefore, according to this section of this act, the qualified voters of Ward Four of the Parish of East Baton Rouge had a right to ask for and hold such an election. This election was held in May of 1937, and the vote was "for liquor, 45", "against liquor, 247". It is admitted that at the time of the holding of the election, there was within the Parish of East Baton Rouge, duly constituted, a Fourth Ward. It further appears at a meeting of the Police Jury of the Parish of East Baton Rouge, that they received a report from the supervisors of election and ordered the results of that election spread on the minute book of the Police Jury, which result was as stated above, "for liquor, 45", "against liquor, 247". It further appears that the Police Jury of said Parish did nothing more than the ordering of the spreading on the minute book, the results of said election. That they at no time subsequently enacted an ordinance with penal clauses, prohibiting the selling, etc. of alcohol or intoxicating liquors, in said ward.

It is contended by plaintiff that the Police Jury, to put the results of the election in effect, should have adopted such an ordinance. To bring light on this point we examine Section 6 of Act No. 17 of the First Extra Session of 1935, which is as follows: "In order to make the local option herein provided for effective in those parishes, wards and municipalities where any of the aforesaid business is prohibited by the vote of the electors, the governing authorities of any parish or municipality may provide for such prohibition by ordinance, and may provide penalties for the violation of such ordinance, not, however, to exceed a fine of $500.00, or imprisonment for six months, or both, at the discretion of the court, and such governing authorities may provide additional imprisonment not to exceed six months for failure to pay any fine." (Italics ours.)

These two sections must be construed as a whole to understand the true Legislative intent, together with the mandate and results of an election held for such a purpose. We do not believe that after the holding of the election, the Police Jury could have issued any permit to authorize the sale of liquor in Ward Four of the *826 Parish. Neither do we believe that the Police Jury can now take advantage of its failure to pass or enact an ordinance prohibiting the sale, etc., of liquor in Ward Four of the Parish. Section 1 of the act, as above quoted, specifically makes it mandatory upon the Police Jury that after the holding of such an election and the results be in favor of not selling intoxicating liquors therein that "such business shall not therein be licensed or permitted", so we do not see how the Police Jury can now be asked or mandamused to issue such a license or permit after having had an expression by legal election duly called for the purpose of determining the will of the people of Ward Four.

We further do not think that the Police Jury can now take advantage of its failure to enact such an ordinance as provided for in Section 6 of the act. This section does not make it absolutely mandatory on the Police Jury to pass such an ordinance but specifically uses the term "may provide for such prohibition by ordinance".

It is plaintiff's contention that the Police Jury should have and was required to pass such an ordinance and there has been cited to this Court two cases by both plaintiff and defendant, State v. Emerson, 197 La. 783, 2 So.2d 212 and Perot et al. v. Police Jury of Natchitoches Parish et al., 208 La. 1, 22 So.2d 666. The Perot case cited, supra, was a case where a number of residents of the Parish of Natchitoches brought suit to annul an ordinance of the Police Jury prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors in the Parish. It appears that the ordinance was adopted after a Local Option Election had been called and held as requested by residents of the Parish and a majority of the votes cast in the election were in favor of prohibition. The plaintiffs in this suit seek to enjoin the parochial authorities from enforcing the ordinance for various grounds and one of the grounds was that the City of Natchitoches is governed by a special charter, under which the municipality and not the Police Jury is given exclusive authority to regulate saloons and shops for retailing liquor. The Supreme Court in commenting on this contention, stated as follows, 22 So.2d on page 669:

"Under Act No.

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Bluebook (online)
48 So. 2d 823, 25 A.L.R. 2d 852, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hughes-v-parish-council-lactapp-1950.