McGowen v. Shaffer

111 N.E.2d 615, 65 Ohio Law. Abs. 138, 1953 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 388
CourtSummit County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedApril 6, 1953
DocketNo. 187507
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 111 N.E.2d 615 (McGowen v. Shaffer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Summit County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGowen v. Shaffer, 111 N.E.2d 615, 65 Ohio Law. Abs. 138, 1953 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 388 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1953).

Opinion

OPINION

By EMMONS, J.

This is an action brought by the plaintiff on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, against the County Board of Health of Summit County, Ohio, to determine the validity of the revised sanitary code as passed by the Summit County Board of Health on November 1Y, 1945, amended on May 29, 1952, and December 15, 1952, and if found invalid, in whole or in part, to perpetually enjoin the defendant Board from enforcing the provisions of the code or such sections as are found to be invalid.

The court in its opinion will make a determination of the several points set out in the plaintiff’s brief as follows:

FIRST: THAT THERE IS NO STATUTORY POWER UNDER WHICH THE BOARD MAY PASS REGULATIONS RESPECTING LICENSING OF MASTER AND JOURNEYMEN PLUMBERS.

Reading §§3516 and 3637 GC, together, the legislature gave the municipalities of Ohio the right to provide for the licensing of plumbers, sewer tappers and so forth, and gave the respective councils of these cities power to enforce that right by ordinance or resolution.

Sec. 1261-16 GC:

“For tbe purposes of local health administration the state shall be divided into health districts. Each city shall constitute a health district, and for the purposes of this act shall be known as, and hereinafter referred to, as a city health [143]*143district. The township and villages in each county shall be combined into a health district, and for the purposes of this act shall be known as, and hereinafter referred to, as a general health district.”

Sec. 4420 GC provides in part:

“Except in cities having a building department, or otherwise exercising the power to regulate the erection of buildings, the board of health may regulate the location, construction and repair of waterclosets, privies, cesspools, sinks, plumbing and drains. In cities having such departments or exercising such power, the council by ordinance shall prescribe such rules and regulations as are approved by the board of health, and shall provide for their enforcement.”

It is to be noted that in any event the municipal .boards of health either regulate plumbing or, if there is a building department and so forth, the board of health must approve the rules and regulations as are passed as ordinances by the city council, thus, there is a control manifested by the municipal board of health, either by direct supervision of approving the ordinance adopted by council.

Referring to the general health district board, §1261-42 GC provides in part:

“All orders and regulations not for the government of the board, but intended for the general public, shall be adopted, recorded and certified as are ordinances of municipalities and record thereof shall be given in all courts of the state the same force and effect as is given such ordinances * * *”

Sec. 1261-30 GC provides in part:

“The district board of health hereby created shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties now conferred and imposed by law upon the board of health of a municipality # *

By these statutes then the general health districts of Ohio are given the same rights as those given to the municipal boards of health, along with the right to make such other rules and regulations as they deem necessary.

Counsel for plaintiff contends that the word “may,” as used in §4420 GC, vests a discretion in the boards of health. However, in 32 Pacific 365, Kansas City W. & N. W. R. Company v. Walker et al, the court quoted Bish. St. Crimes, second edition, paragraph 112:

“ ‘May be dismissed,’ in section 397 of the code, should be construed to read ‘shall be dismissed.’ ”

And in the case of Bansemer et al v. Mace et al, 18 Indiana 27:

“Syllabus 4. In the construction of statutes the word ‘may’ [144]*144will be construed to be synonymous with the word ‘shall’ where public interests and rights are concerned * * *”

The court, therefore, cannot agree that “may,” as used in the statutes supra, vests a discretion, but rather does the word mean that the boards of health in each district shall pass such rules and regulations as they deem necessary for the maintenance of the health and welfare of the public.

In the dictum of Realty Company v. Youngstown, 118 Oh St, page 215, the court said:

“Inspection and regulation accompanied by a license fee constitute an exercise of the police power.”

Ohio Attorney General’s Opinion 1729, written August 11, 1952, on page 431, after citing the case of Heilman Restaurant, Inc., v. LeFever, which was case No. 1209 Lorain County, and decided by the Ninth District Court of Appeals, but unreported, the writer stated:

“There is nothing in the decision to indicate that the court in any way questioned the possibility that such licensing power might have been conferred upon the board of health by a necessary implication in the statute prescribing the power of such board.”

And the writer continued:

“From all the foregoing it will be apparent that while the law is not fully settled in Ohio on the point, there is considerable authority for the proposition that boards of health may, as an incident to the regulation of an occupation which directly affects the public health, prescribe a licensing system therefor.”

10 Ohio Nisi Prius, New Series, 196 Wolfe et al v. City of Columbus:

“Syllabus 2. A license exaction in a proper case may reasonably include the costs of issuing the license and the necessary or probable expense of inspection and regulation, and the exaction will be presumed to be reasonable unless the contrary appears on the face of the ordinance imposing it, or it is established by proper evidence.”

This court is of the opinion that while the statutes do not expressly give the defendant Board the right to license master plumbers and register journeymen for a fee, by reason of the powers given the Board by statute there is an implied authority to so license and register, as well as the fact that it constitutes a proper and inherent exercise of police power.

SECOND. THAT THERE IS NO STATUTORY POWER TO ORDER AND REQUIRE PERMITS PREPARATORY TO THE INSTALLATION OF PLUMBING ON THE INSIDE OF A PRIVATE DWELLING.

[145]*145Counsel for the plaintiff, to substantiate his theory, quotes §1261-42 GC, which provides in part that:

“The board of health of a general health district may make such orders and regulations as it deems necessary for its own government, for the public health, the prevention or restriction of disease, and the prevention, abatement or suppression of nuisances, and shall have the power to require that no human waste, animal waste or household wastes from sanitary installations within the district shall be discharged into a storm sewer, open ditch or watercourse without a permit therefor having been first secured from the board of health of the health district * * *”

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Related

Cooperative Pure Milk Assn. v. Board of Health
252 N.E.2d 182 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1969)
Blower v. Alside Homes Corp.
187 N.E.2d 636 (Summit County Court of Common Pleas, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
111 N.E.2d 615, 65 Ohio Law. Abs. 138, 1953 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 388, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcgowen-v-shaffer-ohctcomplsummit-1953.