Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-05-28


tv.lu,,r, passed by the common
Council Oi the city 1T Little Falls.
iiIal,ie the cOntr,Uct an amended AN
attempt ON the part Of the city. to
grant the RICH. tOe,pc ia ter works,
aud that the Same H. vt,i,i,! for the
reason that such Ainpn,iatOry or
.iinnnce does not contain the clause
IN the last part ri subdivision eleven
~ section furty-riyht. Of the city
charter. providing That every grant
Of the right t. erect water works,
shall provide for snle thereof 10 the
city al any time after fifteen wears:
We cannot sanction tins proposition.
The original ordinance number
thirty-Dne, pnssph hy the viiIagrcOun-
Gil, was something more than a
gran 1t was a grant In 40 far HH 1t
conferred upon the g.unters | he right
to erect water works, Nntl lHy water
mains una pip~s In the public streets,
alleys and grounds III the village
In addition ~ the grant Of such
right, however. the ordinance en-
bodies ArOntrArt wt ween the village,
aud the grantees, Tor the Supply|Of
water Al liked rates, and relating to
other Nmtiers and details
which form no part Of the
grant ITSELF The amen
hatury .,riihu"e does not amend
That pnrtinn Of the orig tnnl ordinance
referring to the grant, but relate
cntirrl! to other matters. and there
fore the fifteen year clause above re-
ferrpd to-. II not applicable to the
An,ent!ntOry ordinance 1t was COM
petent for the city council. and the
pMI ties to the original contract, 10
make the changes embodied in the
anIentia tory ordinance, without i'm
pairing the validity m the original
contract, providing 1t was valid In
it, Inception.
We will assume. for the purpose Of
this casr. that the grant Of the
franchises IN question. II valid, was
nude by the village in itH corporate
capacity, for upon no other theory,
prUhubIy. Gun such grant he up
held
This brings us to u cOnsi.ierut ton
~ til" first, and real questiOn In
vOlvell IN this cuHe. ia mclv; whether
the village an u municipality had any
power or authority to make the
contract In question; and az this
question involves the substance of
The other three questions hereinbe-
|
Hitiered together. ut IL Il general
rule and undisI'uted proposition of
law that a municipal corpora ton
possesses and can exercise the follow
Ing powers. and none Others: First,
those granted In express words; Sec
Ond, those necessarily and fairly i'm
piled in, or incident to the powers
expressly granted; aud third. those
essential to the declared objects and
purposes Of the corpora ton.
| Az Il general rule all corporations.
whether public or privare, derive
their ~, wern from Legislative grant,
and cur. do no act for which }hpth0r..
ity IL not expressly given, or may
not he reasonably inferred. But II
we were to say that they can do
nothing for which authority could
not De found in the language OF their
charters, we should deny them. in
some cases. the power Of self prescr
walton, IN we'll us many Of the means
necessary to effect the essential OBJ
ie"ts Of their Interpretations. And
therefore. 1t has long been an estAb-
lshed principle In the Ia W of co"pora-
tiOna, that they may exercise all the
powers within the fair intent and
purpose of their creation. when are
reasonably proper to give effect to
| the powers expressly granted. In
doing this, unless expressly restrict
ed, they must have II choice Of means
adapted TO ends, and ure not con-
fined to any ono mode Of operation.
In addition to the express and i'm
piled powers possessed by every
municipal corpOrAt ton. they have
certain POLICE POWERS, sO-called,
and many Of the powers most gen
orally exercised Ivy municipalities.
are vi this character, and are dele
gated to them. to TIC exercised for
the public good. or this nature IL
the authority to suppress nuisnnces.
preserve health, prevent fires and the
like; and 1t may be observed that
every citizen holds his property sub
ject to the proper exercise OF such
power. 1t ia not necessary to seek
for an express delegation OF power
to the CITY to contract for water
supply. in order to- determine
whether such power exists, for the
general powers with respect to police
regulations the preservat ton Ut the
public health and the general welfare
includes the power to use the usual
means Of carrying out such power
winch luCIuueS WuulCIpuI "dIcI uuu
lighting service. 1t has been re-
pea teddy held that the power to pre-
vent danger from fire. is on !ncidenta
power belonging to all municipal
Corporations. The rule has al ways
been that II municipal corporation
has inherent power tn provide for
the protection Of the property Of it's
citizens against fire. The preyention
OF damage by fire, is usually an OBJ
iect within the scope Of municipal
Authority, either by virtue of the
powers expressly granted, or Incl
dent thereto, or their inherent POLICE
POWERS.
1sT DILLON Nun. CORP. SECS. SO. al.
Il We fully appreciate the
OF the questions involved, not only
an regards this particular case, bur
as q legal proposition applicable to
all cases Of u like character. 1t isnO
part OF the duty OF this court to
make or unmake laws, but to simply
ascertain what the law is, az pro-
,nulOatpd in adiudicQ ted cases of Il