Court Opinion

ID: 9854362
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:06:28.602605+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:02.446106
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE CARRICO,
dissenting.
*461In pertinent part, § 1-13 of the Code of the City of Hampton provides that “[a] 11 ordinances passed by the council shall be in effect from and after the second reading and passage of the ordinances.” I think this section requires not only a second reading but also a second passage before an ordinance may become effective.
Furthermore, I do not believe that one passage constitutes substantial compliance with a code provision requiring a second passage. Substantial compliance means “[cjompliance with the essential requirements, whether of a contract or of a statute.” Black’s Law Dictionary 1428 (6th ed. 1990) (emphasis added). The essentiality of a two-passage requirement seems obvious — to safeguard the public against hasty, ill-conceived legislation — and I do not think the requirement should be effectively repealed by “liberal construction.” Hence, I disagree with the majority that Code § 15.1-503 cures the purported defect in the 1961 ordinance.