The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-27
IS SURELY FAULTY
ATTORNEYS GENERALLY AGREE
AS TO THE NEW BICYCLE
LAMP ORDINANCE.
NOT MADE A M!SDEMEANOR
TO VIOLATE 1T, AS IS THE CASE
WITH OTHER ORDI-
NANCES.
COL. w. p. CLouGH a DIssENrER
He Thinks Its Critics Have Over
looked Two General Provisions
of the Statutes.

The more closely the new plcycle
ordinance is inspected by lawyers, not
members of the city council, the more
evident it is to them that it will not
hold water. Some Of them are in
c,,-,4 a. .,...... 49,. 49, -. u44lance WAS
purposely drawn loosely, because for
months the council has been tinkering
with bicycle ordinances, none of which
were any good. 1t seems to strike some
people that the city fathers are not
in favor of bicycle legislation any more
than they are in favor of street
railway ordinance that will give the
CITY anything but the worst OF 1t.
The Globe called attention to the
fact that the new bicycle ordinance
did not provide any alternative pun
ishment. which some attorneys regard
ed as a serious defect. A closer IL
spection, however, shows that more
serious defect is that the ordinance
does not provide that violation OF
its provisions shall be misdemeanor.
Where the ordinance might have been
made valid, through the application OF
some other statute, had this provision
been made, the fact that a violation
of the ordinance is not specified as
being a misdemeanor makes it simply
a civil enactment.
Col. w. P. Clough, after reading his
Glob yesterday, thought he knew
a section of law that would help out
the lame enactment of the city coun-
Gil. 81 think the writer of the article
and his informants must have over
looked the following laws of the state
of Minnesota" said Col. Clough, and
he called attention to this:
The judge of the municipal court shall
have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases cognlz-
able before justice of the peace, IN which
the city is a party; and shall have cognizance
and exclusive Jurisdiction of all suits, prose.
cutions or proceedings for the recovery OF
any fine forfeiture or penalty under any by.
law, ordinance or regulation Of said city OF
St Paul or its charter, or for the preach
or regulation, and in all cases Of offenses COM
mitted against the same
"Al prosecutions for assaults, batteries,
ARRAYS and other offenses not indictable and
for a breach or violation of any such by
law, ordinance or regulation, shall be COM
menced in the name of the city OF St PauI;
and the same proceedings shall be had In all
civil and criminal suits before said judge OF
the municipal court, when not otherwise here
in directed as are established and required
to be had in civil and criminal actions by the
laws of this state before justice of the
peace" Municipal code of st. Paul. p. 2S,
I'm all cases of conviction, under the
provisions of this title the justice shall
enter Judgment for the fine and costs against
the defendant and may commit him until
the judgment is satisfied or issue execution
on the Judgment in the name of the county;
provided that no justice shall commit de-
PENDANT under the provisions of this section,
for longer period than three months.
Code regulating proceedings by Justices OF
the peace, Statutes of Minnesota, 1878, p. 702,
sec. I'LL
There is a question in the minds of
some attorneys whether or not this law
would have helped matters out. 1t
would be a question for the court to
decide whether or not a conviction UNI
der this ordinance would be conV1c-
ton under the provision of the title
of the chapter quoted. But if such
were decided as being applicable to
the bicycle ordinance, there comes
what legal gentlemen say is q more
serious defect, that is the ordinance
does not provide for a violation being
q misdemeanor. The opinion Of Her.
man Oppenheim, who knocked out the
previous enactment, expresses the SEN
timent Of the lawyers questioned about
it. Mr.. Oppenheim said
THE ordinance is clearly invalid, in
that it fails to declare that violation
of any of it's provisions constitutes a
misdemeanor. 1t simply says that any
person violating any Of its provisions
shall upon conviction thereof, be fined
not less than 81 nor more than $50 for
each OffenSe. The failure to declare
such violation a mjsdemeanor or pub
lie offense, deprives the measure of it's
penal character, and therefore the
clause providing for the imposition of
q fine in case of a violation does not
authorize the magistrate to commit the
party fined to Imprisonment in default
of the payment Of such fine.
AS the ordinance now stands. it is
simply an enactment of a civil law,
rot law to punish wrong doing or
public offenses, or misdemeanors Of
any character"
81 have seen a great many ordinances
drawn" said another attorney, "but I
never saw one without the alternative
clause being attached"
Chief Goss, when asked what action
he would take as to the enforcement
Of the new bicycle ordinance now that
the point had been made that the Or
dinance was not valid one, said the
department had nothing to do with
the legal aspect of the ordinance So
far as the police. was concerned the
ordinance was q legal one and while
q day or SO grace would be allowed in
order to give wheelmen a chance to
comply with the provisions of the or
dinance, it would then be strictly en-
forced
Assistant Corporation Attorney Tay-
Tor, when asked for an opinion as to
The legality OF the ordinance without
the alternative proposition Of imprison-
lnent in default Of a fine, appeared
much surprised that the ordinance had
been passed in such shape, 'It must
have BEEN" he said, "a slip, and the
proper thing to do under the circum-