Case Name: CITY OF LAKE CHARLES v. ISAAC
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1921-05-02
Citations: 148 La. 1096
Docket Number: No. 24502
Parties: CITY OF LAKE CHARLES v. ISAAC.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Reports
Volume: 148
Pages: 1095–1097

Head Matter:
(88 South. 492)
No. 24502.
CITY OF LAKE CHARLES v. ISAAC.
(May 2, 1921.)
(Syllabus by Editorial Staff.)
1. Municipal corporations <&wkey;594(5)— City held to have power to suppress houses of prostitution through ordinances.
The municipal council of the city of Lake Charles had ample power, expressly conferred, to suppress houses of prostitution, so that an ordinance passed therefor is not ultra vires.
2. Municipal corporations. <&wkey;118 — Ordinance prohibiting houses of prostitution held not a war measure, and not to have terminated with the war.
The objection that a city ordinance prohibiting houses of prostitution was adopted as a war measure, and therefore became functus officio with the termination of the war, is not well taken, although during the war one of the military camps was near the city; which made such houses a menace to the welfare of the soldiers, a matter mentioned in the preamble, .there being nothing in the preamble or the body of the ordinance limiting it to war time.
Appeal from City Court of Lake Charles; W. C. Braden, Judge.
Elias Isaac was convicted, under an ordinance of the City of Lake Charles, of having maintained a house of prostitution, and he appeals.
Judgment affirmed.
T. A. Edwards, of Lake Charles, for appellant.
A. O. King, of Lake Charles, for appellee.

Opinion:
.PROVOSTY, J.
The accused was convicted, under an ordinance of the city of Lake Charles, of having maintained a house of prostitution. He has appealed, but has made no appearance in this court. He assails the validity of the ordinance on the ground that the forms prescribed by law for the adoption and publication of ordinances were not observed in connection with said ordinance. We find from the record that they were. Also, on the ground that the ordinance is ultra vires the power of the municipal council of the city of I.ake Charles. We find that the power to suppress houses of prostitution is expressly conferred upon saiá council. Also, on the ground that said ordinance was adopted as a war'measure, and therefore became functus officio with the termination of the war. True, the facts of the United States being at war, and of one of the military camps being near the city of Lake Charles, and of houses of prostitution being a menance to the welfare of the soldiers, are mentioned among the several -whereases of the ordinance; but nothing either in the title, the preamble, or the body of the ordinance limits its operation as to time.
Judgment affirmed.