White v. Mayor of Forsyth

76 S.E. 58, 138 Ga. 753, 1912 Ga. LEXIS 694
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedOctober 2, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 76 S.E. 58 (White v. Mayor of Forsyth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. Mayor of Forsyth, 76 S.E. 58, 138 Ga. 753, 1912 Ga. LEXIS 694 (Ga. 1912).

Opinion

Atkinson, J.

1. Where by act of the legislature the corporate limits of Eorsyth were so fixed as to include a circle with a radius of one half mile, and subsequently an act was passed, the title of which Was “An act to extend the corporate limits of the City of Eorsyth one-half mile in all directions in a straight line from the present limits of said city, and for other purposes,” and the body of the act declared that the corporate limits were extended “one half mile in all directions from the present limits of said city, thereby enlarging the radius of said city to one mile in every direction from the center of the court-house of Monroe county, instead of one half mile as it now exists,” such act was not void as being in conflict with the clause of the constitution which declares that “No law, or section of the code, shall be amended or repealed by mere reference to its title, or to the number of the section [754]*754of the code, but the amending or repealing act shall distinctly describe the law to be amended or repealed, as well as the alteration to be made.” Smith v. Mayor and Council of Macon, 129 Ga. 227 (58 S. E. 713); Burge v. Mangum, 134 Ga. 307 (67 S. E. 857).

2. Whether or not a local act has been duly published in the manner prescribed by the constitution, before its introduction in the General Assembly, is a legislative question, and not one for the investigation of which the courts will go behind the passage and approval of the act. Clark v. Eve, 134 Ga. 788 (3), 789 (68 S. E. 598).

3. The legislature has authority to extend the limits of a municipal corporation so as' to include therein additional adjacent territory. If this is done, it furnishes no ground for attack upon the act that the inhabitants of the added territory or owners of property therein will be subject to taxation on account of municipal improvements in the old territory previously made, or that it is inequitable to include them in the corporate limits or tax them or their property like other inhabitants of the city, because the new territory is not at once as fully supplied with municipal improvements and conveniences as that within the original limits. Such an act does not deny to the inhabitants of the new territory the equal protection of the laws. White v. City of Atlanta, 134 Ga. 532 (68 S. E. 103).

4. Primarily, where not controlled by special provision of law, it is for the governing body of a municipal corporation, in the exercise of a wise discretion, to give direction to the placing of municipal improvements and conveniences, having in view the necessity therefor, the income of the municipality, the location and character of the property, and the other facts throwing light upon the propriety of making a particular improvement at a given time.

(os) In so far as the plaintiffs attacked the action of the municipal authorities as an abuse of discretion, or as wanting in good faith, or as being in violation of their duty, the determination of the presiding judge upon the issues of fact was authorized by the evidence.

5. The title of the act of December 18, 1902 (Acts 1902, p. 427), was “An act to consolidate and to codify the various acts incorporating the City of Forsyth, in the county of Monroe, and the various acts amendatory thereof; to enlarge by providing additional powers and authority therein; to more specifically define and fix the duties of the various officers of said city and their compensation, and for other purposes.” In this act frequent references were made in general terms to the limits of the city, recognizing that they had previously been established, but there was no express declaration of what such limits were, either fixing or changing them. By the act of August 19, 1907 (Acts 1907, p. 649), to which reference has been made in the first headnote, the limits were so extended as to include a territory having a radius of one mile from the court-house. The act of August 14, 1909 (Acts 1909, p. 897), was entitled “An act to amend an act approved December 18, 1902, being an act to codify the various acts incorporating the City of Forsyth, and an act amendatory thereof, approved August 19, 1907, and for other purposes.” By the third section of that act the third section of the act of 1907 was stricken, and a provision inserted in lieu thereof. Eeld, [755]*755that neither the act of 1909 as a whole, nor the third section thereof, was "invalid as being in conflict with article 3, section 7, paragraph 8, of the constitution, which declares that “No law or ordinance shall pass which refers to more than one subject-matter, or contains matter different from what is expressed in the title thereof.”

(a) The act of 1907 made a change in the corporate limits. The act of 1909, in so far as it amended the act of 1907, was not invalid on the ground that its title described it as an act to amend the act of December 18, 1902, being an act to codify the various acts incorporating the City of Forsyth, “and an act amendatory thereof, a-pproved August 19, 1907, and for other purposes.” The words, “amendatory thereof,” in connection with the date of the approval of the act of 1907, did not constitute such a misdescription of that act as to render the act of 1909 ineffectual to amend it.

(J) Nothing here decided conflicts with the ruling in Blair v. State, 90 Ga. 326 (17 S. E. 96, 35 Am. St. R. 206), where it was held that an act entitled “An act to create a new charter for the City of Columbus and to consolidate and declare the rights and powers of said corporation, and for other purposes,” was unconstitutional in so far as it sought to create a police district outside the City of Columbus, including all lands within the State lying within a mile and a half of any point of the corporate limits, and to confer on the municipal government of the city certain specified powers and authority in such district, such as the regulation of the sale of liquors and the granting of licenses therefor, the enforcement of the municipal ordinances with reference to offenses relative to property, public peace, public morality, cheats, swindlers, offenses against public trade, fraudulent or malicious mischief, etc., on the ground that such provisions were not covered by the title.

(c) Nor is the present decision in conflict with that in Town of Maysville v. Smith, 132 Ga. 316 (64 S. E. 131), nor with any of the decisions cited and relied upon by plaintiffs in error.

6. The title of the act of August 14, 1909, which is “an act to amend an act approved December 18, 1902, being an act to codify the various acts incorporating the City of Forsyth . . and for other purposes,” is sufficiently broad to cover a provision conferring power on the municipality to exercise the right of eminent domain. The conferring of such power is not so distinct a subject-matter from the grant of other municipal powers, germane to the general subject, as to render the act invalid as containing two subject-matters.

(а) If any special provision of the act in regard to the grant of the right of eminent domain or its extent is'subject to objection, it would apparently not render the whole act void, as the legislative scheme of incorporation would not be materially affected by the omission of such provision.

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Bluebook (online)
76 S.E. 58, 138 Ga. 753, 1912 Ga. LEXIS 694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-mayor-of-forsyth-ga-1912.