The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-03-27


The present statute Of 1897 makes
or creates any commission " and % What att It
Goes purport to do is to change the
I'm t3nle CT holding an election in cities of
| Of elective and appointive ofiices
lnere-n, and IT does SO by a general law,
ana as nome of the officials concerned are
not come within tho reasoning Of the New
| York cases.
The last sentence of the New York Con-
| stltutlon above quoted, which reads
/ All ether officers, whose election or ap-
pertinent is not provided for by this Com
stltut1on, and all officers whose offices may
be hereafter created by law shall be elect
fa et51r py 9ne people or g appointed as the
rulings laid down generally by the Courts.
Tne act in question (Chapter 20, Laws
OF 1870 is constitutional. Its title reads
An act relating TO cities of the first
| class in this State and providing for the
holding of municipal or Charter elections
tnereln, and regulating the terms of cleo
tive and apppintiye offices therein
Ilhis title is a good title, as it is general
IN ITS nature, affecting, first the holding
municipal or Charter elections in cities
OF the first class; secondly, regulating the
therein
Article w, Sec z, paragraph IL, of the
constitution, commands that The Legis-
lature shall pass general laws providing
49, ~ ~iitA tA..'sNi q ssNt'
Regulating the Internal affairs of
towns and counties, appointing local Of
pal AFFAIRS
The title of the act in question relates
to cities of the first class. Chapter 49,
Laws of 1882, PIP. AZ, being "An act for
the classification of cities of this State
for the municipal legislation IN relation
thereto" enacts THAT from and after the
passage of this act the classification of the
cltles Of the State for municipal legssla-
ton in relation thereto, be as follows viz,
Cities of the first class etc.
In Section 2 enacts THAT CITIES of the
first class shall consist of all cities in this
4imits a population exceeding one hun
dred thousand inhabitants
In Section it was enacted s"Ehat it
SNAIL be sufficient classification Of cities
to which any law hereafter enacted shall
apply to refer in any such law to cities
under the classification herein provided
by. the. classification herein designated,
and such law shalll be construed to apply
to and embrace all cities of the class re-
ferred to in the act. ana all Courts of this
State shall take notice of this clse5siffca-
bon, and construe all legislation founded
upon the classification herein designated
as If this act was a part of the law under
consideration when any law passed on the
basis of the classification in this act
ShaI in aryWiSe be called in question:"
AS to the classification by population.
Justice Van Syckle puts It thus in State,
Hart Pros " Scott q Vroom, page $751;
Whether the basis of classification is
wise or judfcious, or whether it will oper-
ate as fairly as some other basis that
might be adopted, IS a question for the
Legislature and not for the Courts. The
extreme limit of our inquiry in this dir
ection is does population bear any rela-
tion to the subject to which the Legis-
lature has applied it? Is it gellnane to
the law?'
In Warner v. HoagGand, % Vroora, D. 66,
as to classification by population, the
Court says ''It is inco,ltestible at this
day that population may be made the
basis of classification in statutes reiat-
ing to municipal bodies, p. 66. See also
Mclaughlin v. Newark, 28 Vroon, p. 2S9;
20 Vroom, D. 202 AS to decision cf queS-
tions OF public policy, see Ridgefied Park,
% Vroom, p. 28s.
AS to law being general The Court
Of Errors and Appeals, State.
Necnan Pros. " Board of Freez,
hold holders 81 Of a1ss audg0n z yroom p $685. on
lates the internal affairs Of counties. or
provides for the laying out, ETC., of high
ways, based on valid classification, and
which may be put in action alike by all
of the class upon which it is based as a
general law the constitutional
interdict is, that the law itself shall not
be local or special.
An examination of the statute of 1897
shows that the title of the act is general
and its purport plain, and that the second
branch of the title, viz: and regulating
Offices is also in accordance with the
Constitution, which only lays an iilterdict
against more than one object, being ex-
pressed in the title of an act when there
is an intermixing in one and the same act
things which have no proper relation to
each other. Article w, Sec VII, of the
Constitution, paragraph 4
The act in reality only has one object,
that is to change the date of the election
and the making of the change operative,
there is no intermingling in one and the
same act such things as have no proper
relation to each other.
The title to this act is complete and is
one subject matter, the provisions of the
act relate to no other subject than that
AS the Court said in the case of Noonan
V. Freeholders of Hudson, so it could be
said of the present statue. "a simple
examination of the legislation in question
discloses that the law itself is complete
and efficient piece of machinery replete
with all powers necessary to it's effective
operation
STATUTE, PAMPHLET LAWS 1881. 3. as.
The Legislature Of New Jersey. on the
2sth day of February, 1881 pamphlet laws
1881, p. 49,, passed an act in these words:
That any officer of any city in this
State, who. now holds or hereafter shall
this State which fixes the term for a pre-
else and determined period, shall con-
tinue. to hold such office and to exercise
the duties of the same, Notwithstanding
the time limited for its continuance shall
have expired, until his successor has been
appointed and qualified
This statute was before the Supreme
Court in Stilsing vs.. Davis, XVI Vroom,
p. $50.
The statute Chapter %, laws Of 1870,
is on analogous lines to the law of 1851,
p. AZ, both provide what in the Judgment
Of the Legislature should be done when
official terms of municipal officers expire,
the 1881 statute indicates method where
there is no one to succeed an officer; the
present statute of 1897 points ollt the
method OF succession as Indicated by the
statute
The present Mayor of Jersey City was
elected on the second Tuesday OF April,
the first Monday in May, 1887, and there
would have been an election on the second
Tuesday in April of this year to elect his
successor, but for the passage of the act
Of 1897 The present law changes the date
of election for Mayor to the first Tuesday
after the first Monday in November. and
makes no provision for any election on
made no mention of the extension of the
term, then under the law of 1885, page AZ,
the present Mayor would hold over until
his successor was elected at the Noyeln-
Der election and qualified, and rather than
leave the Office in that condition the act
Of 1887 enacts that the encumbent of the
Office of Mayor shall continue III office
election, as necessary regulation to
carrying out of the legislative policy in
changing the date of the election. For
the purpose of holding the present in
cunbent in office, the extension of the
present statute is unnecessary.
The 1897 statute creates no new munf-
cipal Office and makes no new official
17r,l6 r.ffj