In re Guerrero

10 P. 261, 69 Cal. 88, 1886 Cal. LEXIS 634
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 16, 1886
DocketNo. 20153
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 10 P. 261 (In re Guerrero) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Guerrero, 10 P. 261, 69 Cal. 88, 1886 Cal. LEXIS 634 (Cal. 1886).

Opinions

McKee, J.

The petitioner complains that he is imprisoned under a judgment given against him by the [90]*90City Court of Los Angeles, for having violated an ordinance of the city by “ carrying on, within the corporate limits of the city, in his own name, and for his own profit and benefit, the business of a place where spirituous and vinous, malt and mixed, liquors were sold in quantities less than one gallon, without first procuring a license so to do”; and he asks to be discharged from imprisonment, on the ground that the ordinance is void and the judgment of conviction invalid.

The ordinance is entitled “An ordinance to provide for the licensing of business carried on in the city of Los Angeles,” approved September 2'9, 1885; and the contention is that it is void, because the municipal legislative body of the city had no power to pass it, and because it was not authenticated and ordered published, as required by the city charter.

The charter was granted in the year 1878. Under it the city was administering its local affairs, as an existing municipality of the state, at the time of the adoption of the present constitution; sections 11 and 12 of article 11 of which provide:—

“Sec. 11. Any county, city, town, or township may make and enforce, within its limits, all such local, police, sanitary, and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws.
“See. 12. The legislature shall have no power to impose taxes upon counties, cities, towns, or other public or municipal corporations, or upon the inhabitants or property thereof, for county, city, town, or other municipal purposes, but may, by general laws, vest in the corporate authorities thereof the power to assess and collect taxes for such purposes.”
And section 5 of article 1 of the charter of the city granted power to “the mayor and council of the city .... to license the carrying on and conducting of any and all professions, trades, callings, and occupations, or other business, by any person, natural or artificial, within [91]*91the corporate limits of said city; to fix the amount of license tax thereon, and to .be paid by such persons therefor, at such sums, respectively, as the said council shall think equitable and just, and may, in the name and for the benefit of said corporation, enforce, in such manner as it sees proper to prescribe, the payment of such license taxes, by suit, either with or without attachment, in the proper court, under the laws of this state, or by fine and imprisonment, or either, or in such other manner as in said ordinance may be provided.” (Stats. 1877-8, p. 655.)

The power of the city to pass the ordinance under consideration is therefore derived from the charter of the city and the constitution of the state.

Of the power of the state to authorize the license of all classes of trades and employments there is no doubt; and there is just as little doubt that the legislature, at the time it granted to the city of Los Angeles its charter of incorporation, had authority to delegate to the city the power of the state for that purpose. But a legislative grant of power to a municipal corporation, to license business, etc., within its corporative limits, does not necessarily include a power to impose licenses for revenue purposes. The "distinction between the two powers is well recognized. Imposing licenses for regulating business, etc., is an exercise of the police power, while imposing them for revenue purposes is an exercise of the taxing power. (2 Dillon's Mun. Corp., sec. 768.) It may, therefore, be questionable whether, before the constitution of 1879, the city had, under its charter, power to impose licenses for purposes of revenue; but under the provisions of the constitution which we have quoted, there is no doubt of the power of municipalities to impose licenses for the purpose of regulation, or revenue, or for both regulation and revenue; and for those purposes the power of the municipality of Los Angeles has been sustained in City of Los Angeles v. S. P. R. R. Co., 61 Cal. 60.

[92]*92The present constitution did not abolish the municipalities of the state, nor abrogate their charters, nor change the powers granted by them, except where they may have been enlarged or contracted by its provisions; on the contrary, the constitution made existing municipalities more independent of state control, by inhibiting the state legislature from passing special laws for any municipality and from imposing taxes " for any municipal purpose.” At the same time it conferred upon all existing municipalities power to make and administer, Avithin their respective limits, all such local, police, sanitary, and other laws as as are not in conflict with general laAvs. (Art. 11, sec. 11.)

There was no general law passed by the legislature, which, in its terms or by implication, at the time of the passage of the ordinance in question, conflicted with the provisions of the ordinance or restricted the municipality of Los Angeles in the exercise of its power to pass the ordinance. (Ex parte Ah Toy, 57 Cal. 92.) The ordinance was therefore in harmony with the constitution of the state, the general laws of the state, and the city charter.

But it is contended that the ordinance did not become a law of the municipality, because, as passed by the " mayor and council,” it was not authenticated in the form prescribed by the charter, and was not ordered to be published as the charter required.

There is appended to the ordinance a certificate in the following words:—-

I hereby certify that the foregoing ordinance was adopted by the council of the city of Los Angeles at its meeting of September 22, 1885.
“ W. W. Robinson,
“ Clerk of the Council of the City of Los Angeles.”

This certificate appears to have been made under section 2, article 12, of the charter, which provides:—

"Every ordinance and resolution which shall have [93]*93been passed by the council shall, before it becomes effective, be signed by the clerk of the council, and be presented to the mayor for his approval and signature.”

It is said there was no such officer as “clerk of the council” elected or appointed by the city. But the charter authorized the election of a city auditor, who, it was provided, “shall also be ex officio clerk of the council.” There were therefore two offices whose functions were to be performed by one and the same person. In the performance of his official functions, where it became necessary for him to authenticate an official act, done in either office, the law of his position did not require the officer to designate himself as “ auditor and ex officio clerk of the council.” On the contrary, the code law provides: “When an officer discharges ex officio the duties of another office than that to which he is elected or appointed, his official signature and attestation must be in the name of the office the duties of which he discharges. (Sec. 1031, Pol. Code.) The signature to the certification of the ordinance was therefore according to law. (Touchard v. Crow, 20 Cal. 150.) And there was an order made, according to law, for the publication of the.ordinance. The ordinance itself contained an order for its publication, worded as follows:—

“ Sec. 5.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 P. 261, 69 Cal. 88, 1886 Cal. LEXIS 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-guerrero-cal-1886.