State v. Overby

76 So. 220, 142 La. 21, 1917 La. LEXIS 1615
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 16, 1917
DocketNo. 22533
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 76 So. 220 (State v. Overby) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Overby, 76 So. 220, 142 La. 21, 1917 La. LEXIS 1615 (La. 1917).

Opinion

SOMMERVILLE, J.

Defendant appeals from conviction and sentence for shipping cattle from the parish of Morehouse without first having such cattle inspected and a record of the marks, brands, and a general description made by a cattle inspector as provided by an ordinance of the parish.

Ordinance 148 of police jury of Morehouse parish makes it unlawful to drive or ship any cattle from the parish without having them inspected by an inspector appointed by the president of the police jury, and without paying the inspector a fee of ten cents for each animal inspected. It is further made the duty of the inspector to make a record of the marks, brands, and a general description of the cattle, and to report same to the district attorney, together with the name of the owner or shipper. A violation of the ordinance is declared to be a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both.

There was filed a motion to quash the bill of information on the ground that the ordinance is unconstitutional, illegal, null, and void, and the police jury was without authority to pass it; that the police jury can exercise only such powers as have been expressly granted to them in express terms, etc.; that the ordinance creating the office of cattle inspector provides for his appointment, and fixes his compensation; that the ordinance orders a contribution or tax to be paid by the owner of ten cents per head on cattle inspected, direct to the said inspector as compensation of said inspector, and the said ordinance does not provide that said tax or' fee shall be paid into the parish treasury, and then paid out on appropriation by the police jury; that the ordinance deprives defendant of his property without due process of law; that the tax is not public in its nature, not equal or uniform, and not imposed with reference to the value put on said property for purposes of state taxation; and that the penalty named deprived him of his liberty without due process of law.

The state filed a motion to dismiss the appeal on the ground .that the court was without appellate jurisdiction, as no fine exceeding $300 or imprisonment exceeding six months was actually imposed, and no municipal law or ordinance of the state has been declared unconstitutional. But the appellate jurisdiction of this court also extends, under article 85 of the Constitution, “to all cases in which the constitutionality or legality of any fine, forfeiture, or penalty imposed by a municipal corporation shall be in contestation.” Defendant has contested the constitutionality or legality of the fine or penalty imposed by the terms of the ordinance ; and the motion to dismiss the appeal is denied.

[23]*23Defendant urges that the ordinance under which he has been prosecuted was passed by the police jury without any authority to that end. The Revised Statues, under the heading of police juries, their powers, duties, etc., in section 2743 provides:

“The police juries shall have power to make all such regulations as they may deem expedient. * * *
“Fifth. To pass all ordinances and regulations, which they shall deem necessary in relation to the marking, the sale, destruction of cattle in general, and especially of wild cattle, which are not marked; and also of horses and mules; and to take any measures concerning the police of cattle in general, in all the cases not provided for by law; to fix the time in which the cattle may be suffered to rove in the parishes of this state, where that custom prevails, so that such roving may not be detrimental to the crops; to determine what animals shall not be suffered to rove, and in what cases they may lawfully be killed. * * *
“Eleventh. To appoint all officers necessary to carry into execution the parish regulations, and to remove them from office.”

Defendant states in his brief:

“Because of rumors of cow stealing the police •jury of the parish of Morehouse, basing their authority on the fifth paragraph of section 2743 of the Revised Statutes, passed an ordinance, or attempted to, prohibiting the shipping or driving of cattle from the parish without first having them inspected and a record made of the brand, etc., inferentially for the purpose of preserving the same as evidence for the state in case of the violation of the law against the crime of cow stealing. * * * This ordinance, then, is for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the shipper or driver has stolen cattle in his herd. * * * The shipper or driver of cattle from the parish of Morehouse must show in advance that he is innocent of cow stealing, and that he is not in possession of stolen cattle.”

The law quoted from the Revised Statutes clearly gives the police juries the right—

“to pass all ordinances and regulations which they shall deem necessary in relation to the marking, the sale, destruction of cattle in general, * * * and to take any measures concerning the police of cattle in general, in all cases not provided for by law.”

And it, the police jury of Morehouse, provided for the inspection of cattle in the ordinance complained of, which clearly falls within the police power granted by the state to the police jury. The power given in the Revised Statutes to the police jury “to take any measures concerning the police of cattle in general” is a grant of “police power,” as that term has generally been understood and interpreted in this state. In the Slaughterhouse Cases, 16 Wall. (83 U. S.) 36, 21 L. Ed. 394, it was said that the “police power” is, from its nature, incapable, of any exact definition or limitation, and in Stone v. Mississippi, 101 U. S. 814, 818, 25 L. Ed. 1079, that:

It is “easier to determine whether a particular case comes within the general scope of the power than to give an abstract definition of the power itself which will be in all respects accurate.”

And again in the License Cases, 5 How. (46 U. S.) 504, 12 L. Ed. 256:

“Without attempting to define what are the peculiar subjects or limits of this power, it may safely be affirmed that every law for the restraint or punishment of crime, for the preservation of the public peace, health, and morals, must come within this category.”

See 6 Words and Phrases, p. 5425.

The ordinance in question was clearly exacted for the restriction and punishment of the crime of cattle stealing. It was therefore a measure concerning the “police of cattle,” which the Legislature authorized the police juries of the state to adopt.

It, the ordinance, required that cattle be inspected, and a record made of their marks.

“Laws requiring cattle to be inspected, weighed, or measured before being sold are valid, and vendors may be made to furnish samples gratuitously to aid enforcement of such regulations, and provision may be made by which, on application of an interested person, an inspection of property shall be made, in order to ascertain. enforce, or protect such person’s interest.” 8 Cyc. 1104.
“The object of inspection laws is to protect the community, so far as they apply to domestic sales, from frauds and impositions, and in relation to articles designed for exportation to preserve the character and reputation of the state in foreign markets.

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Related

Oubre v. City of Donaldsonville
120 So. 30 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1928)
State v. Malone
76 So. 790 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1917)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 So. 220, 142 La. 21, 1917 La. LEXIS 1615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-overby-la-1917.