The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-07-27
LEGISLATIVE USURPATION.
Some Of the Unlawful Aggressions Of Indi-
anas Late General Assembly.


Louis T. Kitchener In Frank Lesl,es Illustrated
Newspaper. 1
The recent session of the General Assem-
bly, of Indiana is notorious, because of Its
frequent usurpations of power not belong
ing to it under the Constitution. So fire.
quent were those usurpations that Governor
Hovey felt compelled to exercise the veto
power more frequently than had ever been
done by any other Governor. In each in
stance the Legislature promptly and de-
family passed the acts, notwithstanding
the objections of the Governor. A number
of these acts, since the adjournment of the
Legislature, have been considered by our
Supreme Court, but shall only speak of
four.
One of the acts imposed upon the Su-
preme Court the duty of preparing and de-
livering to the Reporter the syllabi of the
opinions of the court, and of supervising
| the making of the index and tables of cases
by the Reporter in publishing the opinions
of the court. f.~o
The Constitution vests none other than
| judicial powers in the Supreme Court, re-
| qulres the court to give opinions III writ
ing, and forbids any. of the judges to re-
| port the decisions. The act was passed for
the av0wed purpose of reducing the salary
of the Reporter, and that was to be justified
| by requiring the already overwOrked and
underpaid judges to do the work which
| properly belonged to the Reporter, and not
to the court. The power oflthe Legislature
| Cont was nnestioned ;mmad;otelv and
| the law was held to be unconstitutional
In another of the vetoed acts the Legis-
lature attempted to create q Supreme Court
commission, consisting Of five persons. .'of
L to flo hn of for
ward chosen by the General Assembly.
| When these gentlemen came to the capital
to enter upon the discharge of their duties,
they were met with an action by the Gov
| ernor, brought for the purpose of testing
| the power of the General Assembly to
| pass such an act. The supreme Court held
that the act was unconstitutional, because
the Constitution created Supreme Court
| of five judges-in existence at the time of
| the passage of the act-and vested in such
| court the entire appellate jurisdiction of the
State: Even if there had been constitu-
| tional warrant for the creation of Su-
preme Court commission, it would not have
| been competent for the General Assembly
to choose the commission. So the five
commissioners" do not perform service or
draw pay.
Two other acts are those locally known
| as the Curtis bill' and the Brigham bill"
The first was to authorize, in cities of 3d.
| 600 or more Inhabitants, the establishment
| of Board of Public Works and Affairs"
| ward chosen by the General Assembly.
This board was to have control of all pub
lie improvements; construct, clean and re-
| pair the streets, alleys, bridges sewers,
sidewalks and curbing; and to make con-
tracts for furnishing light and water for
the city. All these things, and others, too.
were to be done at the expense of the tax
payers of the city, but they were not al
| The Brigham bill" provided that, III cities
of $4,000 or more inhabitants, there should
| be established Board of Metropolitan
Police and Fire Department" to consist of
three members, who were chosen by the
| Legislature. The members of this board
were authorized to exercise control of the
police and fire departments of the city, and
of all the property of such depaI tmehts.
| payers, but they were not to select the
members of the board. In word. these
acts took from the people of the city the
power of local self-g0vernment. and vested
| it IN the persons chosen by the General
Assembly. This was done in defiance of
the fundamental principle embodied in the
first sentence of our Constitution, that
| all power is inherent in the people; and
ought TO be, founded on their authority,
and instituted for their peace, safety and
well being" The fabric of our institutions
| rests on this great and essential principle.
Lieber begins his great chapter on self
government as follows:
| The last constituent or our liberty that shall
mention is local and constitutional self-gOvern-
liberty which have been mentioned received
| their true import In a pervadlng system of self
government, and, on the other hand, are its Ie-
| freshing springs. Individual liberty consists in
q great measure in politically acknowledged self
reliance and self-gOvernment is the sanction of
selfreliance and self determination in the vari-
GUS minor and larger circles in which govern
| ment acts and OF which 1t consists. Without
local self-government-in other words, selfgov-
| eminent consistently carried out and applied to
| the realities of life. and not remaining mere
general theory-there is no real self-governmeDt
| according to the Anglican views and feelings.
In his work on Representative Govern
ment' John Stuart Mill says. ut is obvi-
Gus, to begin with, that all business purely
lOcal-all which concerns one single local.
ity-should devolve upon the local author
tiles. The paving, lighting and cleaning of
the streets of the town, and in ordinary
circumstances the draining of it's houses
are of little consequence to any but its in
habitants. The nation at large is interested
it is interested in the private well-being of
any of its individual citizens" In People
VS.. Hurbut, "a Mich, A. Judge Cooley said:
"The State may mold local institutions &C
cording to its views of policy orexpediency;
but local government is a matter of ALSO
lutte right, and the State cannot take it
away. 1t would be the boldest mockery
to speak of q city as possessing mu-
nicipal liberty where the State not only
shaped its government. but at discretion
sent in its agents to administer it; or to call
that system one of constitutional freedom
under which it should be equally admissible
to allow the people full control in their
local affairs. or no control at all" And in
The People VS.: City of Troy. IS n. ", IS, it
was said by Judge Allen: This right of
self-government lies at the foundation of
our Institutions, and cannot be disturbed
or interfered with, even in respect 10 the
smallest of the divisions into which the
State Is divided for governmental purposes
without weakening the entire foundation;
hence it is right not only to be carefully
guarded by every department. of the gov
eminent, but every infraction or evasion
of it to be promptly met and condemned
especially by the courts, when such acts
become the subjects of judicial investiga-
tion.o
The views stated by these writers are
fully c0ncurred in by De Tocqueville
Bryce. Dillon. Fisk. Bancroft. and Jeffer'