The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1885-03-19

| WUCft
the limitation 10 similar. the court holds that ii
is not admissible either by the letter the spir
OF the Constitution, that dissimilarty in charac
ter OF organization or powers 10 munipalties o
the same class or grade shall be created or per
petuated by euactments of the General Assem-
bly, and that it Is the substance and not the
mere form given to the enactment which mus
determine its constitut0nality SO Ill.,, 500: 81
ILL.,, 473. In California, Q7 Cal, 554) with q
like constitutional limitation, the court held
general law of uniform operation to be such g
law as bore equally in its burdens and benefits
upon persons standing in the same category
Speaking of the act Of 1879, this court, through
Mr.. Justice Westcott, says: did the act create
q class of municipal corporations of 900 regis
tered voters or more, We do not doubt it would
be general law of uniform operation but such is
not the case. The local option authorized makes
1t matter of discretion with all cities contain.
ing 1,60O or more registered voters, to remain in
the class containing 800 voters with municipal
government prescribed for that class or to be en-
braced in the 1 900 or more class, under another
and different municipal government for that class
In the event all the cities with 1900 or more
registered voters should accept this act as the
law OF their organization the law might in fact
nave uniform operation. That uniform opera
tion, however, would be the result of chance and
not OF the operation of a fixed rule prescribed by
the Legislature, while the constitution prescribes
no such contingency. The government in each
CLASS must De the same, and such must be the re-
suit OF the action Of the legislature independent
OF the contingency of local discretion option in
the premises The Legislature must itself, indie
| pendent ot acceptance by such cities, SO frame
| Its enactment that there shall be no dissimarity
IN character of organization or powers in muni-
| clpalltles Af the same class SO much therefore
| OF the act OF 1879 as authorizes new cla IS of
clties with additional powers in such cities. we
| think unconstitutional"
AS to section 81 Of Art T. it is said, in the
| 20 I:ttlo - a.
| termlnlng the Specification of the word 'sys-
lem, IN this connection. Its general signifca
ZION IS plain, arrangement method, and when
used IN reference to municipal government, it
means simply rules and regulations for the orgdni
zatton and government of municipal corporations"
and that consequently the mandate to the
Legislature is that it shall establish uniform rules
and regulations for their government. 1t also
| says: system Of municipal government in
| which cities Of the same class may have dissimi-
| larlty IN character Of organization, as we'll as
dinerent powers. is not uniform system within
| me meaning OF the constitution. Uniformity
| indicates consistency, resemblance, sameness, q
conformity to one pattern. The constitution does
mol prohibit cLtssttcd tloD of municipal CORPORA
TONS, but II does require that all municipal cor
poratlOns of the class shall possess the
same powers and be subject to the same restrc-
tions.
In the case of State er rel " Stark, 1e Fla,
"a, 1881, entitled An act to repeal and dissolve
municipal corporations under certain circum-
stances, and to provide the manner in which
such cities may become re-incorporated" The
act provides for a dissolution of municipal cor
poratiOns having a bonded Indebtedness, the
bonds to be past due and unpaid, and fund for
their payment not having been provided
On the written application of holders of
half of the unpaid bonds of the city, 10 the Judge
OF the Circuit Court, accompanied with satisfac-
tory evidence that the city is prin,a faeie bonded,
and that the bonds are past due and unpaid
and for which fund for their payment has not
been provided IT shall be his duty to make
certificate of such facts, and cause the papers
: to be filed in the Office of Clerk of the Circuit
Court On the presentation of a certified
copy of this certificate TO the Governor of the
State, he is to issue a proclamation declaring
that the charter of the city is repealed and the
corporation dissolved. The act then provides
for incorporation as follows 'On peti-
tion of 20 or more persons residing in the limits
OF The city thus dissolved it is made the duty OF
the Governor to appoint Mayor and five Alder
men, = to hold their offices for two years;
any vacancy is to be filled by the Governor"
The municipality thus organized says the
court, 81 is called provisional municipality, but
1t is IN fact permanent government. The
boundaries are to be the same as those of the
dissolved, and it is to have all the powers of
the antecedent corporation so far as they existed
under the act establishing a uniform system Of
municipal governments. 1t is plain that the
Legislature by its action instead of establishing
uniform system of government for cities having
bonded debt past due for which payment has
not been provided, places it soithtn the discretion
of the holders of one half of the cities bonds,
and twenty persons residing within its limits to
fL the character of its government to say
whether its Mayor and Aldermen its Marshal,
its Clerk, its Treasurer shall be elected by the
people or appointed by the Governor, and
whether the assessment and collection of its
revenue shall be done by its own officers or by
officers OF the county in which the municipality
may be situated. Any action of that de-
partmeut Of the government which destroys the
uniformity OF pre-exsting system, and permits
and authorizes in cities similarly situated systems
| of government differing essentially in the man
| of the selection of officers their terms OF
| Office, and the manner of the assessment and col
| lection of revenue cannot be sustained
| There may be ten cities in the precise situation
of the City of Fernandina with reference to
population, Indebtedness and all other re-
spects, and yet, dependent upon the action of one
half of its bondholders and twenty residents,
| i've Of them may continue under the elective
| system of municipal government, and four OF
| them through the action of some OF their credi-
tors and residents may adopt the system OF ap-
pointment by the Governor The Legs-
| lature must so act as, to itself establish, first
system Of municipal government, and second the
| system must be u uniform system" In cOnclu-
sion, the court says :" In what We have said it
must be understood that we do not decide or
| hold that the Legislature can under the consti-
tuition authorize the holders of one half OF the
| bonds Of indebted corporation to dissolve
such cOrporatiOn nor do we mean to say that
| the act stripped of the discretion vested in the
| bondholders would be constitutional We de-
eide the precise question before us, nothing more
| We say that even if such power exists, it is here
so exercised that it cannot be given effect and
| operation"
In the case of Lake vs. State er rel, 18 Fla,
sol, it was held that " a statute which creates
new class of municipal corporations, leaving
nothing to option or discretion as TO its opera
ton in creating the new class and which inn
poses like powers upon each municipality
| OF the new class, Is Ldc Of uniform OPP
grafton within the meaning OF that term as
used in the Constitution of this State" The
| facts of this case were as follows: Chapter 1852,
laws of 1897 entitled an act to provide q
uniform system of quarantine in this State "
! provided that the Mayor, Aldermen and City
Physician, if there be one, Of every incorporated
CITY or town in this State shall be and are hereby
constituted Board of Health for said incorpora-
ted city or town, and when there is no incOrpora-
ted town or city the Board OF County Commits
siouers shall constitute the Board for such county
Chapter 3212, approved March 2, 1881, provides
that the Governor shall appoint for any incor-
porated ctv or town, containing 300 or more
registered voters, Board Of Health, consisting
of FIVE discreet persons all vacancies oscur-
ring to be filled by the Governor; and the Mayor
Of the citv and Chairman of the Board of County
Commissioners to be sr-o1icio members of the
| BOARD The latter act was claimed to be uncon-
sti.u,onal a. not uniform 10 its operation. The
| Lie; ;oa