The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-07-15
COMMISSION HAS DISCRETION.

! In the matter of the discretion Of
the City Commission in respect to
graniing licenses. Iuigc Morse has =.
keu nc only position on this which is
consistent with 4 'lrr rc.a''' ~ m1'
nlcipal rights, in his decision on the
question Of liquor licenses.
The case before the court arose In
this way: An application for a liquor
license had been passed upon favor
ably by the court. but the commission
ers in their discretion thought it not
wise to grant the license; accordingly,
although the court had approved the
application. the commission refused 10
grant the license: tbcrcupon the COM
mission were cited for contempt OF
court. After some delay, and post
ponement or two, Judge Morse, on Sat
urday, discharged the commission from
contempt, holding that the discretion
to refuse a license. even though 1T had
been ordered by the court, is lodged In
the commission itself. Necessarily the
commission, az body, must exercise
in matters of this kind its proper dis
cretion. and as long as that discretion
is not abused. it is not for the court
to interfere with it.
This decision, so fairly and comrre
hensively made, is in exact line With
the position assumed By The Tribune
on this question from the first, 1t
seemed to us to he a clear case that
to rob the commission of discretion
like this would be to turn over practi-
cally the whole of the liquor question
to the courts. and arbitrarily to take
away from the commission the impor-
tant discretionary power that necessa-
rily must be lodged in that body, in
the interest of the public welfare and
the public peace and order; for, If the
city administration is not able to re-
fuse to issue a license, where, in the
judgment of the commission no license
should issue, or in case the record of
the applicant has been such as to JUS
tlfy the commission in refusing either
to issue license OF to renew a license
that had been issued heretofore, and
the term expired, was to deprive the
commission of very important admin
istrative power, without which it would
be helpless in the case of the liquor
traffic, In such case, the commission
would have no real power to pass or
enforce liquor ordinance.
If the commission has no discretion
airy power, then the peace and order
of the city would have to rest in other
hands, in this case. as claimed, in the
hands of the court But the courts are
not administrative bodies, but judicial,
and the proper function of the court
with regard TO this matter (if indeed,
the court has any proper constitutional
function at all) must necessarily go
merely to the matter of ascertaining
whether the application for the license
is in due form, legally, and meets the
statute in regard to the suficiency OF
the bond. To hold otherwise would be
to impose upon this city an admins
trative authority that is in fact alien
to the municipal boundaries. 1t would
give the voters outside of the city In
Salt Lake county, to the voters of
Tooele county and of Summit county,
who help to elect the judges of this
district, power over municipal affairs
Of this city which would be extraneous
and intolerable. This on general prin,
ciples. Specifically, it might fairly be
argued that the court, in such a case.
IS special commission such as (see
section 20, article 6, Constitution Of
Utah) the legislature is explicitly for
hidden TO confer any municipal power
upon, or to authorize to perform any
municipal function, and the comforting
of such power upon the Judges would
be violation of that constitutional
inhibition. True, the court is not called
commission for this purpose, but we
apprehend that no broadminded, judi
cial Interpretation would copine the
actualities of the case to the mere
word commission. Any body, wheth-
er called commission. court,
board, or supervisors, would necessarily
come under the rule So broadly and
lhJu III luC ctolS SOh
stitution.
On the three grounds stated, there
fore, the necessity of the maintenance
Of the discretionary power of the mu-
ncipal commission, in order to pre-"
serve the peace and good order of the
city; in that to confer this municipal
authority upon the court would give
voters outside OF and who have no in
terest in the city, the power, through
their election Of the judiciary, to con-
| troll the administration Of the city in
one of its most important phases; and,
third. in view of the positive command
of the Constitution that the Legislature
shall not create any commission (we
might fairly say any body to exercise
municipal control or perform municipal
! functions, it seems clear case that
any law which should expressly at