Court Opinion

ID: 9581479
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:15:19.120073+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:59.104955
License: Public Domain

Steinle, J.
(dissenting). Under court interpretation in this and other jurisdictions, the provisions in statutes such as sub. (2) of sec. 269.56 • (Declaratory Judgments Act) are restricted in application to situations where a justiciable controversy exists between persons who have adverse interests; where the person seeking the relief has a protectible interest; where the controversy is ripe for judicial determination ; where the judgment requested is not merely to be in the nature of an advisory opinion. Under the decisions it is also the rule that the court may not determine future rights in anticipation of an event that may never happen. A complaint for declaratory judgment, when challenged by demurrer, must be tested in the light of such restrictions. In my opinion the allegations of the complaint in question satisfy *347the requirements, and are clearly within the orbit entitling declaratory relief.
Borchard, Declaratory Judgments (2d ed.), p. 794, in treating with construction and interpretation of statutes and ordinances under the Declaratory Judgments Act, points out that:
“The disputed duty or power of a governmental body is often determinable by a correct construction or interpretation of the governing statute, and it is in this way that many of these issues are directly put to the test.”
At page 798 of the same work it is said that:
“Public corporations . . . are not infrequently in doubt as to their duties, powers, and privileges, and urgently need conclusive judicial enlightenment. If the issue can be raised against a qualified opponent before they undertake the challenged or questionable action, a valuable public service has been served, the issue having been decided as effectively and conclusively as if it had been raised after a possibly fatal or mistaken action contemplated. It has been observed that it is a matter of judicial indifference whether the issue was raised by the individual affected by the governmental claim of power or privilege, or by the administration itself.” (Emphasis supplied.)
Here, the plaintiff seeks a determination of the powers and rights conferred upon the city by provisions of sec. 13.11 of the city of Milwaukee charter (legislation which has been in effect since 1854), in relation to the real estate owned by the plaintiff. True, the charter ordinance is not self-operative. Its provisions become effective by the city’s adoption of an ordinance. Had a declaration of the city’s powers and rights been sought without the city having initiated steps through its harbor committee to relocate the dock line so as to place it on the plaintiff’s land, then clearly the matter would be classified as abstract in character and could only *348be of an advisory nature. However, the action undertaken by the city’s committee presents a substantial threat to the property rights of the plaintiff. The issue presented by the complaint does not involve a question of condemnation, but rather a consideration as to whether in view of the ruling in Yates v. Milwaukee (1871), 77 U. S. 497, 19 L. Ed. 984, the city is authorized under provisions of sec. 13.11 of the charter ordinance, to create a mere artificial and imaginary dock line many feet away from the navigated part of the river, without making the river navigable up to that line, and thereby deprive the plaintiff of its land and riparian rights.
The controversy is definite and substantial. It touches the legal relations of parties having adverse legal interests. The plaintiff asserts a tangible- — a protectible — interest. Further, the controversy is alive and genuine, and it does not involve mere abstract disagreement or hypothesis. It is ripe for determination in view of the city’s assertion of a right which is denied by the plaintiff, and which the city threatens to enforce. The rights as claimed by both parties are present ones rather than such as may or may not come into existence in the future. Clearly, a justiciable controversy exists. The judgment would determine and declare whether the city, under provisions of sec. 13.11 of the charter ordinance, may or may not engage in the program which it threatens to undertake.
While the prayer of the complaint asked for relief to which the plaintiff was not entitled, viz., enjoining the threatened passage of the ordinance to re-establish the dock line, nevertheless, the allegations of the complaint do set forth a cause of action entitling plaintiff to a declaratory judgment for the reasons herein stated. The order overruling the demurrer, was correct.
*349In view of these considerations, I am obliged to respectfully dissent from the determination of the majority.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Currie joins in this dissent.