Beard v. City of Atlanta
Beard v. City of Atlanta
Opinion of the Court
1. The ordinance under which the defendant was convicted requires that “Every licensed barber and apprentice in the city, after minimum price agreements or opening and closing agreements are operative under this article, shall procure an annual permit from the city barber board to practice under any such agreement. . . The annual fee for permits shall be five dollars.” This ordinance is attacked as unconstitutional as being in violation of Code (Ann.) § 2-401, as follows: “Laws of a general nature shall have uniform operation throughout the State, and no special law shall be enacted in any case for which provision has been made by an existing general law.” As to this constitutional provision, it was held in City of Atlanta v. Hudgins, 193 Ga. 618, 623 (19 S. E. 2d 508), as follows: “The subject matter of an existing general law is put beyond the reach of special laws. The broad objective of this paragraph of the Constitution was manifestly to prevent the confusion and uncertainty that would necessarily result if there existed at the same time a general law and a special law dealing with or regulating the same subject matter. It was intended to insure that once the legislature entered a field by enacting a general law, that field must thereafter be reserved exclusively to general legislation, and could not be open to special or local laws. The terms of the Constitution do not limit this rule to those fields and subjects which
2.. With the above-quoted yardstick in mind, we examine the special law on the regulation of the trade of barbering, contained in Chapter 7 of the Atlanta Code, in connection with the general law on the regulation of that trade as contained in Chapter 84-4 of the Code of Georgia. That chapter sets up a State Board of Barber Examiners with power to adopt rules and regulations prescribing the sanitary requirements of a barber shop; to examine barber shops in regard to cleanliness and sanitary condition; to examine applicants for certificates of registration; to require physical examinations showing the applicant is free from infectious or contagious diseases and to inquire into his character, ability, and experience. In addition to the examination fee the applicant pays a $5 registration fee, $7 for certificate of registration, and annual renewal fees of $2. When he has complied with these requirements, he is licensed to carry on the trade within this State. The purpose of the general law is accordingly to sift qualified from unqualified applicants, to license qualified applicants, and thereafter to keep practicing members of the trade under supervision, with provisions for revocation of said certificates of registration if the person involved fails to keep within the standards set up.
3. The Atlanta ordinance sets up a City Barber Board vested
It follows that the ordinance, in attempting to regulate a trade already under State regulation, cqmes within the cqnstitutional inhibition that no special law shall be enacted in any case for which provision has been made by an existing general law. It attempts to deal with “some remote segment or element of the general subject embraced in the general law,” but this attempt does not add anything to its vitality. The main purpose of the board appears to be to engage in price fixing under agreements of percentages of the practicing members of the trade. Nothing in the case of Anthony v. City of Atlanta, 66 Ga. App. 506 (18 S. E. 2d 82), can be construed as holding that the city has any constitutional right to engaged in price fixing, it being held there only that the question was not properly raised. On a similar question, and under a state of facts closely resembling the situation here, it was held in Trimble v. City of Topeka, 147 Kan. 111 (75 Pac. 2d 241), reversing the conviction of a municipal court for violation of a similar ordinance, as follows: “If the city
It was held in Mayor &c. of Savannah v. Charlton, 36 Ga. 460 (a case which has been frequently cited up to the present), that one obtaining a license from the State to practice medicine cannot legally be compelled to obtain a further license from the city before practicing there, as to so hold would be to elevate the ordinance of the city above the laws of the State. The annual permit required by the city, and the annual certificate of registration required by the State (although the latter was held in Ham v. State, 59 Ga. App. 872, 2 S. E. 2d 504, to be not such a license tax as came under a veterans’ certificate of exemption), serve the identical purpose of enabling one to practice a trade which, without such permit or certificate, he could not, and there is accordingly evidenced an intention on the part of the city to prohibit that which is authorized or licensed by the State unless this condition is fulfilled, and accordingly to infringe upon a field covered under State law. Further, § 7.3 is so interwoven with the remainder of the ordinance as to show a contrary intent.
4. It is contended by counsel for the City of Atlanta that the fee here charged is authorized by the act of 1937, p. 1503, authorizing the mayor and council to require any person engaging in any trade to “pay for such registration and for license to
From the above, it is obvious that, if the annual permit be considered a license to engage in barbering, its requirement is
The superior court erred in refusing to sanction the writ of certiorari.
Judgment reversed.
070rehearing
On Motion For Rehearing.
1. It is contended that the judgment of the superior court refusing to sanction the writ of certiorari is correct, although the reason therefore might have been erroneous, and that a correct judgment will be sustained although the reason given therefor is erroneous. The motion to rehear sets out that the bond required under the provisions of Code § 19-214 is insufficient, in that the certified copy of the bond attached to and made a part thereof bears this certificate: “This is to certify that this is a true copy of the certiorari bond in case G-16620 (s) Forrest E. Johnson, Clerk, Recorder’s Court, City of Atlanta.” It is contended that this certified copy fails to show the following essential facts: (1) that it was in the amount fixed by the presiding judge; (2) that it was approved by the clerk of court; (3) that it was filed with the clerk of the court. As to the first contention, the face of the bond shows that it was approved by the judge, and we do not believe he would have approved the bond if it had not been in an amount fixed by him. As to the second contention, the face of the bond also shows that it was approved by the clerk of the court. As to the third contention, the petition for certiorari incorporated in the bill of exceptions, certified to by the judge of the superior court, alleges: “That he has executed and filed with the Clerk of the Municipal Court of Atlanta . . . the bond required by Georgia Code Section 19-206, a certified copy of which is attached hereto and marked 'Exhibit D’.” Code § 19-206 contains the requirements of law relating to such bonds. In Hubert v. City of Thomasville, 18 Ga. App. 756 (1a) (90 S. E. 720) it is held as follows: “The best way to show that a proper bond
2. It is contended in the motion for rehearing that this court cannot properly pass on the constitutionality of the ordinance under which the petition for certiorari alleges the defendant was put on trial in the recorder’s court. The refusal of the judge of the superior court to sanction a writ of certiorari is a proper assignment of error. Paulk v. Hawkins, 106 Ga. 206 (32 S. E. 122). In passing on whether the superior court erred in such refusal, the properly pleaded allegations of the petition must be taken as true and applied to the assignments of error. Linder v. Benfroe, 1 Ga. App. 58 (1, 2) (57 S. E. 975); Green v. State, 4 Ga. App. 260 (2) (61 S. E. 234). Accordingly, error in refusing to sanction a petition for certiorari is tested in much the same way as error in sustaining a general demurrer to pleadings. This court cannot determine whether or not the superior court should have sanctioned the petition for certiorari except by an examination of the allegations of the petition seeking the writ; and the court is of the opinion, as hereinbefore set out, that the allegations of this petition, taken as true for the sole purpose of determining whether it should have been sanctioned, are sufficient to show error on the part of the judge of the superior court in his judgment of refusal to sanction the writ.
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