Township of Summit v. City of Jackson

117 N.W. 545, 154 Mich. 37, 1908 Mich. LEXIS 669
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 10, 1908
DocketDocket No. 115
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 117 N.W. 545 (Township of Summit v. City of Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Township of Summit v. City of Jackson, 117 N.W. 545, 154 Mich. 37, 1908 Mich. LEXIS 669 (Mich. 1908).

Opinion

McAlvay, J.

The charter of the city of Jackson, as revised by Act No. 399, Local Acts 1905, tit. 9, § 4, on the subject of public health, provides as follows:

“The council may purchase the necessary lands and erect thereon, or otherwise provide, one or more hospitals, either within or without the city limits, and provide for the appointment of the necessary officers, attendants or employes, and for the care and management thereof; and for the care and treatment therein of such sick and diseased persons as to the council or board of health of the city shall seem proper, and, by direction of the council or board of health, persons having any malignant, infectious or contagious disease may be removed to such hospital, and there detained and treated, when the public safety may so require, and the council may provide such restraints and punishments as may be necessary to prevent any such person from departing from such hospital until duly discharged.”

Acting under this provision, the city council purchased certain lands without the limits of said city, and within the limits and jurisdiction of complainant township, and has used buildings already erected thereon for the treatment of patients brought from within the limits of said city into said township, affected with smallpox, “without the consent of the board of health of Said township, and without the license, authority, or consent of said township or any of its officers authorized thereto.” The bill of complaint in this case was filed against defendant, praying that it be permanently enjoined from the further use of said premises as a hospital for the treatment of contagious and infectious diseases, and for general relief. A temporary injunction was also asked for. Defendant answered the bill, admitting all the essential and material [39]*39charges therein contained, and justifying its action under and by virtue of the charter provision above quoted. A replication was filed, and a hearing had upon pleadings and proofs. A decree was granted and entered, dismissing the bill of complaint, with costs to the defendant. The question in the case involves the construction of the charter provision quoted. Complainant has appealed, and urges that the circuit court was mistaken in the construction put upon this statute, and asks this court to reverse the decree. Its position is stated in the brief of counsel as follows:

“The only question in the case is whether the naked power given to the city of Jackson in its charter shall be deemed subordinate or superior to the general provisions of the law regulating the public health.”

The question is an important one. The same provision is contained in the general law relative to the incorporation of cities of the fourth class, and also in the charters of other cities.

Complainant contends that the act should be construed as requiring the city to obtain the consent, license, and permission of the proper township authorities, before it can maintain a smallpox or other hospital for the treatment of infectious and contagious diseases, or bring patients infected with such diseases within the limits of the township; that the charter gives but the naked right to acquire such property, and is a local enactment, and should be construed as not repealing the general health laws; and that defendant’s construction would invade the general and well-recognized doctrine of local self-government uniformly applied in this State.

Defendant urges that by this charter provision the legislature has conferred upon the city a governmental function for the purposes of the preservation of the public health, and that from the provision quoted, and other provisions in the same act, a fair construction would be that the legislative intent was that the right to own a hospital site without the limits of the municipality carried [40]*40with it the right to use it for the purposes indicated, without reference to the consent or objection of the municipality in which the same might be located. The other charter provisions referred to are: Authority given to the council to enact all ordinances necessary to preserve the public health, to prevent the spread of contagious or other diseases, and to remove, care for, and quarantine persons infected with the same, either within or beyond the city limits; to exercise all the power of a health board, as conferred by general laws of the State, so far as the same are applicable and consistent with this act; to own or lease property, within or without the city, for cemeteries or parks; to go without the city limits for the purpose of removing obstructions from and clearing the channel of Grand river. Defendant also contends that this power granted is not new legislation, having been embodied in the city charter since 1875.

It is admitted by defendant that this authority or power ' granted the municipality to acquire property outside its corporate limits is the exception and not the rule, and that the reason is that in so doing it is acting as a governmental agency, and to hold that the legislative intent in authorizing such acquisition of property was limited to the bare right to purchase or otherwise acquire would leave a municipality shorn of any means to enter upon and enjoy the property for the purposes indicated.

The general laws pertaining to the public health provide, among other things (section 4436, 2 Comp. Laws), that a township may provide quarantine ground within or without its limits, provided, if without its limits, the assent of the township within whose limits it may be established shall first be obtained. Section 4437 provides that any two or more townships may at joint expense establish a quarantine ground for joint use, either within or without their limits, provided that, if such place shall be without their limits, they shall first obtain the assent of the township within whose limits the same may be. By section 4471, no person affected with any communicable disease [41]*41dangerous to the public health, or corpse, or article infected shall come or be brought into any city, village, or township of this State without the special permit of the board of health or health officer, and then only under the supervision of the health officer. The general public health laws further provide (section 4459):

“The provisions of this chapter, and the amendments thereto, shall, as far as applicable, apply to all cities and villages in this State * * * excepting in cases where charters of such cities and villages contain provisions inconsistent herewith.”

Is it not possible that these several provisions of the general health laws of this State and the provision of this charter under consideration, and like provisions in other charters, may be construed together as a whole, making a complete and consistent system of regulations in the interest of the public health ? It is clear to us that this may be done. It is evident that the legislative intent is, and has been, to preserve to each municipality its constitutional right of local self-government, which this court has ever been careful to preserve, as will appear from its expressions upon this question in the following cases: People, ex rel. Board of Park Com'rs, v. Detroit Common Council, 28 Mich. 241; People v. Hurlbut, 24 Mich. 44; Robertson v. Baxter, 57 Mich. 130; Attorney General v. Detroit Common Council, 58 Mich. 213; Board of Metropolitan Police v. Board of Auditors, 68 Mich. 576; Mason v. Railway Co., 104 Mich. 631.

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City of Wichita v. Clapp
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
117 N.W. 545, 154 Mich. 37, 1908 Mich. LEXIS 669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/township-of-summit-v-city-of-jackson-mich-1908.