State ex rel. Police Jury v. Hanna
State ex rel. Police Jury v. Hanna
Opinion of the Court
The city of Monroe was incorporated by Act 102, p. 237, of 1871. This charter was amended by Acts 81, p. 145, of 1873; 37, p. 75, of 1874; 57, p. 99, of 1876; 138, p. 196, of 1888; 128, p. 183, of 1896; and 137, p. 244, of 1898. By Act 47, p. 58, of 1900, a new and complete charter was granted to the city. The amendment by Act 81 of 1873, in its section 11, provided, as follows:
“That all real and personal property within the corporation of * * Monroe, and all persons, firms and corporations within the said corporation be and the same are hereby exempted from all taxes and licenses levied by the parish of Ouachita.”
The validity of this provision was sustained in Whited, Tax Collector, v. Lewis, 25 La. Ann. 568, where it was attacked as being violative of article 118 of the then Constitution (that of 1868), requiring taxation to be equal and uniform throughout the state, and providing that the General Assembly shall have power to exempt from taxation “property actually used for church, school and charitable purposes.”
This exemption provision was left unaffected by the said subsequent amendments, and was incorporated in precisely the same words in section 36 of the said charter of 1900.
In the present suit the police jury of the parish of Ouachita, in which parish the city of Monroe is situated, claims that the Legislature was powerless, under the Constitution of 1898, to grant the said exemption from parish taxation, and asks for a mandamus to the parish assessor to compel him to list the property of said city upon his tax roll for parish taxation.
The reasons assigned for this incapacity of the Legislature are, first, that by article 48 of the Constitution the Legislature is forbidden to pass any special or local law granting an exemption from taxation, and that the charter of a city is a special or local law: second, that by article 225 taxation is required to be equal and uniform within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and taxation would not be equal and uniform within the territorial limits of the
The said exemption, thus granted in 1873, was never thereafter modified, and it was not repealed by the act of 1900, since it was reenacted therein in the same words. The repeal and simultaneous re-enactment of a statutory provision is to be construed, not as a new statute, but as a continuation of the old. 36 Cyc. 1084; State v. Brewer, 22 La. Ann. 273, and cases there cited. The purpose of repealing a statute cannot be attributed to the Legislature, when it re-enacts it in the same terms.
No doubt the latter statute takes the place of the former; but because the condition upon which the exemption is granted has been made more onerous is no reason for inferring that the original exemption has been repealed. In so far as the two statutes conflict, the prior is repealed, but no further.
That rule may serve for showing that such provisions of these former statutes as have not been incorporated in the act of 1900 have been repealed, but not that the provisions which have been retained and perpetuated have been repealed; though even as to the provisions that have not been retained there may be some doubt, for the repealing clause does not profess to repeal all laws upon the same subject-matter, but only laws in conflict. “The doctrine that a statute is impliedly repealed by a subsequent statute, revising the whole matter of the first, does not apply where the revisory statute declares what effect it is intended to have upon the former, as where it provides that it shall operate to repeal all inconsistent or repugnant acts, all acts of a public or general nature, all acts in every case provided for in the Code, or all acts whose subjects are revised, consolidated, or re-enacted in the revision or Code. In such cases only such effect can be given to the revisory act as it directs. The enumerated acts are repealed; all others remain in force.” 36 Oyc. 1081.
Judgment set aside, and suit dismissed, at plaintiff’s cost.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE ex rel. POLICE JURY OF OUACHITA PARISH v. HANNA, Assessor
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Editorial Staff.) 1. Statutes’ The Monroe charter (Act No. 102 of 1S71) was amended by Act No. 81 of 1873, which in section 11 exempted all real and personal property within the corporation and all persons, firms, and corporations therein from all taxes and licenses levied by the parish on condition that the city bear a certain proportion of the parish expenses. Act No. 47 of 1900 granted a new and complete charter, hut contained the same exemption, except that a larger proportion of the parish expenses was imposed on the city. Held, that the exemption granted by the act of 1873 was not repealed by the act of 1900, since the repeal and simultaneous reenactment of a statutory provision is not a new statute, but a continuation of the old statute, and hence the exemption was not granted under the Constitution of 1898, and -was not subject to the restrictions of that Constitution. 2. Statutes &wkey;>167(l) — Repeal by Revision —Extent oe Repeal. That Act No. 47 of 1900 imposed a larger share of the parish expenses on the city did not work a repeal of the original exemption, .except in so far as the two statutes conflicted. 3. Statutes Though the entire ground occupied by the charter of 1871 and its amendments was covered by Act No. 47 of 1900, this only worked a repeal of such provisions of the former statutes as were not incorporated in the act of 1900. 4. Constitutional Law Act No. 81 of 1873, § 11, exempting property and persons within the corporation of Monroe from all taxes and licenses levied by the parish, was not repealed by the repealing clause of the Constitution of 1879, repealing all laws in conflict therewith on the theory that such exemption was inconsistent with article 203 of the Constitution, requiring taxes to be equal and uniform throughout the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, as the act of 1S73 was a special law while the constitutional provision was a general law.