O'Connor v. City of Fond du Lac

53 L.R.A. 831, 85 N.W. 327, 109 Wis. 253, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 289
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 26, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 53 L.R.A. 831 (O'Connor v. City of Fond du Lac) 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
O'Connor v. City of Fond du Lac, 53 L.R.A. 831, 85 N.W. 327, 109 Wis. 253, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 289 (Wis. 1901).

Opinion

MARSHALL, J.

Sec. 5 of subch. XYIII of the city charter of the appellant provides as follows:

“No action shall lie or be maintained against the city of Fond du Lac on contract until the claimant shall have presented to the common council, a statement of the claim and [258]*258tbe amount thereof, and the circumstances out of which it arose, duly verified on the oath of the claimant, and the council shall have allowed a regular meeting to pass tvith-out an adjustment with the claimant of such claim or demand.” Laws of 1883, ch. 152.

The complaint does not show that such charter condition to the maintenance of this action exists. No objection was taken by appellant on that ground, either by answer or demurrer. The record does not show that evidence of the existence of such condition was produced. The point is now made that such situation is fatal to the judgment, the following cases being cited in support thereof: Stooks v. Sheboygan, 42 Wis. 315; Hill v. Fond du Lac, 56 Wis. 244; Kelley v. Madison, 43 Wis. 638; Weed & G. Mfg. Co. v. Whitcomb, 101 Wis. 226. Stooks v. Sheboygan is unlike this case, because there the question of the existence of the condition was raised by demurrer. In Hill v. Fond du Lao, the question here raised was not involved, because the action sounded in tort and was held not to be included in the charter provision. Kelley v. Madison is unlike this case for two reasons: first, because the question was raised by a demurrer to the complaint; second, because it was held that the action was one sounding in tort and not affected by the charter provision against the maintenance of an action on a claim or demand till the same should be first filed as therein required. In Weed & G. Mfg. Co. v. Whitcomb, a statutory condition to the enforcement of a common-law right was treated as a condition of the right itself, confusing a limitation statute acting on the remedy only, which may be and is waived by a failure to insist upon it by answer or •demurrer (sec. 2654, Stats. 1898), with a statutory condition to the existence of a right, as, for instance, one necessary to a cause of action against a municipality for compensation for an iujury caused by a defective highway under sec. 1339. The same error was committed in Ryan v. C. & R. W. R. Co. 101 Wis. 506. It was corrected, as far as pos[259]*259sible, in Relyea v. Tomahawk P. & P. Co. 102 Wis. 301, which was affirmed in Meisenheimer v. Kellogg, 106 Wis. 30, and Malloy v. C. & N. W. R. Co., ante, p. 29.

So we see that none of the cases cited by counsel supports their proposition, while Relyea v. Tomahawk P. & P. Co., and Meisenheimer v. Kellogg, are to. the effect that charter provisions of the kind under consideration are in the nature of statutes of limitations and governed by rules applicable thereto. If not complied with, the objection must be taken by answer or demurrer or be considered waived. Oare must be taken not to confuse such statutes with those imposing a ■condition of the existence of a right. Noncompliance with the latter condition goes to the cause of action, not to the remedy for the redress of the wrong. The distinction between the two classes of rights is so clear that no one need go astray. In one case the right depends on the statute; 'in the other the right is independent of the statute, but its enforcement is regulated and limited by law. In the former, •failure to comply with the statute prevents the creation of the right, hence it is not waived by failure to raise the point by demurrer or answer; while in the latter the condition relates to the remedy only, and is waived unless insisted upon by answer or demurrer. That wass the rule at common law, and the statute (sec. 2654, Stats. 1898) expressly preserves it. Failure to comply with a statutory condition of the use of a remedy does not go either to the jurisdiction of the court or to the -cause of action.

The foregoing is in harmony with Sheel v. Appleton, 49 Wis. 125, and Benton v. Milwaukee, 50 Wis. 368. In Benware v. Pine Valley, 53 Wis. 521, the court said'that failure to comply with the condition of sec. 1339, as regards a claim for damages caused by a defective highway, and to allege ■such compliance in the complaint, was fatal to plaintiff’s cause of action, though the point be not raised by answer •or demurrer; and that anything said to. the contrary in the [260]*260other two cases- above referred to is wrong. The idea seems to have been in mind that the cases were, somewhat in conflict. In that the court fell into the error of not observing clearly the distinction between compliance with a statute which is the foundation of a right, and compliance with one ■which merely regulates or limits the enforcement thereof. The Benware Case was decided rightly, because service of the notice of the injury under sec. 1339, R. S. 1878, was a condition of the right there in question. The other two cases were also decided rightly, because the statutory condition involved operated only upon the remedy. Those cases were affirmed in Bradley v. Eau Claire, 56 Wis. 168; Collette v. Weed, 68 Wis. 428; Lombard v. McMillan, 95 Wis. 627; and Bigelow v. Washburn, 98 Wis. 553.

The case, on the merits, turns on the effect of ch. 247, Laws of 1897, on respondent’s right to hold the office of chief of police of the appellant, from the 1st day of May, 1897, till the 1st day of November thereafter. On that, these questions are presented for solution: When did the act take effect? Was McGrath the legal successor of respondent by the terms of the act and entitled to the office in dispute from the 1st day of May, 1897-, at least till displaced by an appointee of the board of police and fire commissioners ? If not, and the law by its terms took from appellant the power to elect a successor of respondent, or extended his term of office beyond the 1st day of May, 1897, was it in that regard constitutional ? We will consider each of such propositions, though it pretty clearly appears that the first is immaterial.

1. Appellant contends that the act in question became a law on the 18th day of April, it having been regularly published on the previous day; that the day of publication should be excluded in determining when the law became effective. That turns on the meaning of the words “from and after” in the last section, which says: “This act shall [261]*261take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication.” The word “ from,” and that in connection with the word “ after,” is sometimes used inclusively and sometimes exclusively. They have no certain literal or legal meaning that can be accepted as a guide under all circumstances. They are open to construction in many cases, so that courts sometimes hold that they are used exclusively, and at other times inclusively, as seems best calculated to effect the legislative intent; though it has come to be quite generally accepted as the rule that the meaning of the words in connection, “ from and after,” excludes the day from which the reckoning is to be made, and in order to avoid the application of it as a rule of construction there must be something in the act, or the result, of a literal application of the words to the subject treated by it, to indicate a contrary intent; Sedgwick, Stat. & Const. Law, 356; Smith, Stat. & Const. Law, § 616. That has been recognized as the law by this court. Stewart v.

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Bluebook (online)
53 L.R.A. 831, 85 N.W. 327, 109 Wis. 253, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oconnor-v-city-of-fond-du-lac-wis-1901.