Court Opinion

ID: 9723020
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:00:16.73282+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:43.901675
License: Public Domain

Brickley, J.
(dissenting). We find it necessary to dissent from the majority’s finding that the unmistakable language of § 192, which commands the defendant to "not knowingly permit a person to bathe or swim . . . unless buoys are established in accordance with section 141,” MCL 281.1192(1); MSA 18.1287(192)(1), is not a denial of authorization to carry on such activity absent compliance with § 141.
*388I
If we meant what we said in Ross v Consumers Power Co (On Rehearing), 420 Mich 567; 363 NW2d 641 (1984), that unauthorized governmental activity is not immune, and if the Legislature meant what it said in § 192, that the operator should not allow bathing or swimming unless § 141 is complied with, the conclusion that defendants have lost their immunity is unavoidable.
In Ross, supra, p 620, we said that in order to qualify as a governmental function, and therefore to be vested with immunity, the governmental activity must be "expressly or impliedly mandated or authorized by constitution, statute, or other law.” In other words, a denial of authority is not required in order to negate immunity status; only an absence of authority need be shown. It is therefore all the more remarkable that in this instance, when the Legislature has in such an unambiguous manner prohibited the activity in question, the majority would strive so mightily to conclude that because prohibition is conditional and because it has a regulatory purpose it is not a denial of authority. The majority simply refuses to accept that the Legislature intended what it said and to accept the consequences under Ross.
The Courts below erroneously assumed that by enacting § 192 of the Marine Safety Act, the Legislature not only intended to impose a regulatory duty on the operation of public beaches, but also intended to condition all authority to engage in that activity upon compliance with that duty. Nothing in § 192 or § 141 suggests that the Marine Safety Act’s requirements modify the grant of authority found in 1917 PA 156 [the general authority to operate recreational facilities]. [Ante, p 383.]
*389"Nothing,” that is, except the words of the statute. The majority further states, "There is no evidence that the Legislature considered 1917 PA 156 or the other enabling statutes in the drafting or enactment of the Marine Safety Act.” (Ante, p 383.) What possible reason could there be for the Legislature to consider the general enabling legislation that implies the authority to operate a beach when it decides to prohibit the operation of a beach as it has done, and to the extent it has done it, in the Marine Safety Act? Section 192 certainly suggests that the Legislature knew that there were beaches that were being lawfully operated; otherwise, why would it prohibit such operation under the conditions provided for in the act?
The majority then concludes that the general enabling statute and the Marine Safety Act are not in pari materia. "[T]he rule of the specific and later act controlling the earlier and general act is inapplicable.” (Ante, p 385.)
This established rule could, of course, be overlooked if there were ambiguity or doubt about what the Legislature intended in adopting § 192. There is no such ambiguity or such doubt here about the unmistakably clear language of § 192. The majority, try as it might, cannot convincingly say that a statute that states that the defendants "shall not knowingly permit a person to bathe or swim” does not interfere with authority to permit a person to bathe or swim from a bathing beach. This rule of construction, found "inapplicable” by the majority, embodies the sound recognition that it is often necessary for additional legislation to take into account the specific nature of the subject matter being addressed. While broad municipal authority existed to operate parks, the Legislature’s preference for uniform statewide marking and safety standards relating to water activities is *390reflected in the narrower Marine Safety Act. We thus agree with the plaintiff’s observation that authorization "to engage in marine activities is addressed and restricted in the narrower statute in a way which could not be done in a broad statute.”
Part and parcel of the majority’s view is the ironic notion that in Ross, which embodies a monumental effort to clarify the then-confused state of the law regarding the meaning of "governmental function,” we employed the "authority” concept as a mere term of art whose vague legal meaning required exploration in future cases rather than as a simple, unambiguous term whose everyday meaning is readily understood. We can only conclude that the result of today’s decision interprets this "term of art” to provide that activities for which authority is partially, temporarily, or conditionally denied, will still enjoy immunity if it can be shown that authority is intended to be restored upon meeting the temporal or conditional requirements specified in the denial of authority. The majority applies this gloss to Ross without any suggestion as to why it is necessary to distinguish between the two kinds of ultra vires activity.
Only in conclusory fashion does the majority say, "Enabling acts, which grant authority in broad terms, must be distinguished from regulatory statutes.” (Ante, p 385.) The majority supports this conclusion with an obviously accurate statement, but one which does not describe what the Legislature did in this instance.
Improper performance of an activity authorized by law is, despite its impropriety, still "authorized” within the meaning of the Ross governmental function test. An agency’s violation of a regulatory statute that requires the agency to perform *391an activity in a certain way cannot render the activity ultra vires, as such a conclusion would swallow the Boss rule by merging the concepts of negligence and ultra vires. [Ante, pp 385-386.]
Of course there is no reason why noncompliance with a regulatory statute would necessarily deprive a governmental entity of the authority to engage in the activity. What the majority avoids, however, is the fact that on this occasion the Legislature chose not just to mandate compliance with § 192, not just to provide penalties for failing to observe it, but also to prohibit absolutely the carrying on of the activity absent compliance with the statute. There is simply no reason to "merg[e] the concepts of negligence and ultra vires.” There is only a need to read the obvious meaning of this statute in which the Legislature clearly intended to give the operators of public beaches an opportunity to choose between complying with the Marine Safety Act or interrupting the operation of the beach.
Finally, the majority states in a footnote (ante, p 386, n 10):
The public acts are replete with regulatory statutes that employ conditional language potentially subject to the dissent’s analysis. Even if the dissent’s analysis is limited to approval, permit, or license requirements, one missed or mistaken step in obtaining approval for an otherwise authorized activity would subject governmental agencies to suit for any injury arising from the activity so conditioned, no matter how remote the injury is from the approval requirement.
This is the first suggestion, either in Ross or since Ross, that the rule that unauthorized activity does not amount to a governmental function was *392based on the assumption that absence of authority would not occur often, that liability should be limited to the purpose of the absence of authority rather than to the extent of the unauthorized activity, or that authority to engage in an activity should not be denied if the statute affecting the invocation of authority contains conditions which make compliance difficult.
ii
We have found no authority, nor can we envision any rationale, which would prevent the Legislature from conditioning the right to engage in a given activity on obtaining and complying with a regulatory permit. As we stated in Ross, authorization to engage in a given activity may be derived from the constitution or law; it is indisputable that authority given by statute can be taken away by statute. We therefore agree with the Court of Appeals that the conceded failure of the defendants to satisfy the conditions precedent embodied in §§ 141 and 192 rendered the operation of the swimming beach an unauthorized governmental activity.
While it is not necessary for us to base our decision on other considerations, we note that even if § 192 did not contain language of prohibition, the mere fact that the Legislature has in effect required a permit to be obtained before a swimming area may be opened to the public supports the same conclusion. It is undeniable that the Legislature enjoys plenary power to control the existence and extent of municipal powers. The well-settled, general rule of the legislative prerogative has been neatly summarized by the United States Supreme Court:
A municipality is merely a department of the *393State, and the State may withhold, grant or withdraw powers and privileges as it sees fit. However great or small its sphere of action, it remains the creature of the State exercising and holding powers and privileges subject to the sovereign will. [City of Trenton v New Jersey, 262 US 182, 187; 43 S Ct 534; 67 L Ed 937 (1923). Emphasis added.[1]
According to the Administrative Procedures Act of 1969, MCL 24.201 et seq.; MSA 3.560(101) et seq., a permit is a type of license. MCL 24.205; MSA 3.560(105). "A license’ is permission by competent authority to do an act which, without such permission, would be illegal.” Westland Convalescent Center v Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan, 414 Mich 247, 272; 324 NW2d 851 (1982) (citations omitted). The police power of the state, the plenary power of the Legislature over municipal activities which are of statewide concern, and the conditioning of permission to conduct an activity on compliance with licensure requirements all are called into play in the instant case.
A state’s police power with regard to the protection of health, morals, and welfare of the public includes the right to regulate, by requiring a license as a prerequisite to the carrying on of certain activities .... [51 Am Jur 2d, Licenses and Permits, § 14, p 19. Emphasis added.]
In summary, the statute has a dual purpose: to require a permit for placement of buoys before public swimming is allowed, and to prohibit the activity of operating a swimming area where there is no permit. Focusing our attention, as we must, *394on the latter, we agree with the Court of Appeals that the act’s statutory scheme expressly withdraws the previous, implied grant of authority to operate a swimming facility contained in MCL 123.51; MSA 5.2421. Thus, we conclude that the activity involved (the operation of a swimming area) was not authorized and, therefore, that liability for the alleged tort arising out of the activity (the drowning of the decedent resulting from the failure to warn him adequately of dangerous conditions in the lake) is not barred by governmental immunity.
iii
In view of the decision of the majority to consider the operation of the beach to be a governmental function, it is not necessary for us to address the question of the liability of the county defendants.
We would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.
Levin and Archer, JJ., concurred with Brickley, J.

 See also Detroit v AASER & MCE of A, 332 Mich 237, 253; 51 NW2d 228 (1952) ("The city of Detroit is merely 1 of the State’s governmental agencies; and, subject to constitutional provisions, the State may limit or restrict the powers of such governmental agencies”).