The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1916-12-16

! ton. This court cannot order a cen
1 sus taken or count made of the inhab
2 itants of the respective wards in orde
!. to determine how many representa-
. tives one is entitled to as compare,
+ with another. Whether the legisla
:, ture acted upon much or little evi
! dence as to the respective population
of the wards, it's finding is conclusiv.
and cannot be reviewed by this court
81 Cal. 4S9, % Pac. 851.
AS to Art. 2. This is the "due pro
cess of law" clause of the constitu
ton. 1t refers more especially to tn,
judicial department. It is difficult tt
see how this statute will deprive am
one of ''life, liberty or property" ant
it does not appear that all legal pro
cesses were not observed in it's con
fection and enactment.
AS to Art. Is, it does not appear
what reserved right Of the people is
violated by the statute in question.
AS to Art. 81, this is the article re-
quiring an act to embrace but one OBJ.
ject, and that to be expressed in the
title. 1t is contended that the act
creates an additional police juror for
the seventh ward and also one for the
eighth ward, and that therefore it nec-
essarily has two objects. But the two
objects are so closely correlated that
they form only parts of one main OBJ
ject, and the act does not violate the
intendment of the constitution. The
object of the act might perhaps have
been better stated in its title as fol-
lows: "An act to equalize represen-
tation upon the police jury of Ascen-
sion parish according to population by
creating an additional police juror for
each the seventh and eighth wards of
said parish or words of similar inn
port But as the title appears it fully
discloses it's object, without violating
the constitution; and as we have seen,
we are not concerned with the motive,
purpose, or policy of the legislature.
! As to Art. 49, the act does not vio-
late this article. Mulhaunt VS..
Shreveport, 126 La. 780, 1856.
AS to the 18th amendment to the u.
S. constitution, the provision in Sec
ton of this amendment that repre-
sentation shall be on the basis of
population, refers only to represen-
tation in the national house of repre-
sentatives. The Il. S. constitution
does not interfere in the form of state
government except to require that it
be republican, and to forbid the pas
sage of certain enumerated obnoxious
laws. The government of Louisiana
is and will remain republican, wheth-
! A nj 4 ~ 4 e,Io G.TJ
AS to Art. 48 Of the Louisiana con-
stitution, this article forbids our leg
islature to pass any local or special
law upon certain designated subjects.
1t is claimed that Act 100 of 1916 is a
local and special law, and the court
has no doubt but that it is such law,
in the sense of Art. 48.
It is claimed also that this act vio-
lates the twelfth prohibition, which
forbids the passage of any local or
special law creating corporations, or
amending, renewing, extending or ex-
planning the charters thereof"
In my view, the trainers of the con-
stitution desired to make it clear that
this prohibition should not apply to a
law like the present, and for that rea-
son they added Immediately to this
prohibition, the following proviso,
provided, this shall not apply = y =
to the organization of levee districts
and parishes"
The Interpretation of the word "or-
ganization" in this proviso has given
me more trouble than any other ques-
ton in the case. At first sight, it
| would seem to apply to the creation,
establishment and organization of
new parishes, but the more | have
studied the question, the more / am
convinced that its meaning should not
be so restricted.
The creation or establishment of a
parish is an entirely different thing
from its organization.
Blacks Law Dictionary defines an
organized county" as "a county
which has it's lawful officers, legal ma.
chinery, and means for carrying out
the powers and performing the duties
pertaining to it as quasi municipa
corporation" citing in re Sec. No. 6
SIS MINI. 80, So N. w. 323.
| Under our law, in the light of thi:
definition, the Organization" of {
parish is, more than anything else, it.
police jury.
| In Minnesota, this difference be
/ tween establishing county and or
ganizing a county seems to be vel
established See Words and Phrases
1st, Series, vol. 6,p. 5054.
| Our own legislature has to Ger
tain extent recognized this differene,
between establishing and organizing
La parish. By Acts Nos. n, 78 an,
I79 of 1910, the parishes of Jefferson
| Davis, Beauregard and Allen were re
| spectively created and established. !
is true that the title to each of thes
acts also uses the word Organize,
i but we search each act in vain for an
| provision providing police jury o
other governing body for the new par
| ish, and it is certain that without such
| the parish is not completely organized
| Words and Phrases, End Series, vol.
|p. 1898.
i We are puzzled to know how thes
new parishes first begun to exercls
I their functions as parishes, until ou
perplexity is removed by finding Ac
mo. 27 of 1910, which is general Lar
ito provide for the organization o
;, new parishes, /" and the first and chief
est provision is for a police jury fo
the new parish.
/ 1t is therefore in the sense of pre-
. viding governing bodies and agencie
. for parishes, through which they ca
exercise their functions as politics
corporations, that we must under
stand the word Organization" as use
/ A,,+