People v. Keir

43 N.W. 1039, 78 Mich. 98, 1889 Mich. LEXIS 807
Michigan Supreme Court·Decided November 15, 1889·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinions

Long, J.

The defendant was prosecuted and convicted in the recorder’s court under the following ordinance of the city of Detroit, and. adjudged to pay a fine of two dollars:

“An ordinance to amend section 11 of chapter 66 of [100] the Revised Ordinances of 1884, as amended April 5, 1889.
“It is hereby ordained by the people of the city of Detroit:
“Section 1. That section 11 of chapter 66 of the Revised Ordinances of 1884, as amended April 5, 1889, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:
“c Sec. 11. All farmers and gardeners selling, or offering for sale, from wagons, carts, or other vehicles, within the limits of the city of Detroit, any grain, vegetables, fruits, meat, live calves, sheep, poultry, or other articles of'produce, shall occupy and stand with such wagons, carts, or other vehicles, and nowhere else, on the Central market, Cass market, and Eastern and Western markets, in the places established according to the first preceding section, where the market clerk, or other officer in charge of such markets, shall direct: Provided, That no person, while selling, or offering or exposing for sale, any of the above-named articles, shall permit any wagon, cart, or other-vehicle to stand or remain on Bates street, Randolph street, Cadillac square, Congress street, Campus -Martius, Monroe Ave., or Woodward Ave., within a distance of 500 feet from any part of said Central Market grounds.’
“ Sec._ 2. This ordinance shall take immediate effect.
“Approved August 2, 1889.”

On the trial, it appeared that the defendant is a gardener, and resides some two miles outside the city limits; that about 6 6’clock in the afternoon of August 10, 1889, he drove upon Cadillac square, on the south side of the walk between Bates street and the market building, with his wagon, backed up to the walk, filled with vegetables; and he continued there, selling from his wagon, until half past 7 o’clock. At the time the defendant first stopped there, he was notified of the city ordinance, and that a complaint would be made against him if he continued selling in that place. While his wagon .was so backed against the walk, his horse faced outward into the street, nearly to the street-car track, and at times the wagon was backed upon the sidewalk. The place he [101] occupied was within 10 feet of the Central Market grounds.

At the close of the testimony, defendant's counsel moved to quash the complaint on the ground that the ordinance is invalid, for the reason that the same was ordered to take immediate effect; and, second, that there is no authority under the city charter for the enactment of said ordinance.

The provisions of the city charter relative to the publication of ordinances, and the time of their taking effect, are* that—

“All ordinances shall be published for three successive days in such official daily newspaper, and shall take effect in ten days after their enactment: Provided, however, That the common council may fix and prescribe a different period, and that no ordinance shall.take effect before one publication thereof.'' Local Acts of 1883, p. 602.

The ordinance fin question was approved August 2, 1889, and the full three days of publication had elapsed before its violation by the defendant, though the full ten days had not elapsed before that time from the date of its approval. The proviso means that no ordinance can be enforced, and violation thereof punished, until the public have been informed of its enactment by at least one publication. The matter of publication is only essential before enforcement. Stevenson v. Bay City, 26 Mich. 49. It must be held that the ordinance was in force at the time of the act complained of.

Counsel for defendant claim, upon the other question raised, that the ordinance makes no provision in reference to the manner of selling, nor as to the place of standing, or the remaining of the wagons, in reference to public travel, but in effect totally prohibits the selling, or offering for sale, of products of any description from wagons; that it is an unnecessary, harsh, and oppressive [102] restriction, not only as to producers, but to those desiring to purchase; 'that it is unnecessary and unreasonable, with reference to its avowed object, to prevent the obstruction of the streets, as the present ordinances are sufficient for that purpose; and that its object, apparent upon its face, is the creation of a monopoly of the trade by the hucksters occupying stands in the market.

Power is granted to the common council- by the city charter of Detroit to establish markets, market-places; to lease market stalls, booths, and stands; and to provide fully for the good government and regulation thereof. Local Acts of 1883, p. 608, § 41.

In Attorney General v. City of Detroit, 71 Mich. 92 (38 N. W. Rep. 714), the legal history of this market-place, as a public market, is fully discussed by Mr. Justice Campbell, from which it appears that this place, now called Cadillac Square,” was designated and set apart for a public market as early as 1833. Upon this—

“A building was erected, fronting on the Campus Martius, at the head of that avenue [Michigan Grand avenue], for the combined uses of a city hall and market; extending along the middle of the avenue, originally, about 100 feet. The lower story was used for meat stalls. Vegetables were sold in an open building not much sheltered except by a roof extending back in the avenue, from the brick building; and the country wagons for the sale of market products were gathered along the avenue for some distance further. In process of time the buildings, both open and closed, were carried along so as to-occupy the central part of the avenue to Randolph street, except as crossed by Bates street. In this way the whole of the avenue, along its middle portion, was made a market-place, sometimes called the ‘City Hall Market/ and sometimes the cCentral Market/”

In 1848, it was deemed advisable to formally vacate the-middle 50 feet of Michigan Grand avenue, through its entire length, which was done by the action of the com[103] mon council and a jury of inquest, under the right of eminent domain. From that time to the present the city had occupied and claimed the whole space by title in fee, and has occupied it- for market purposes. In that case the city was enjoined from interrupting the use of the market property, or any part of it, or any of the buildings used for that purpose, and directed to continue to maintain the market as such.

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People v. Keir, 43 N.W. 1039, 78 Mich. 98, 1889 Mich. LEXIS 807 (Mich. 1889).

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