Ringer v. City of Paterson
Ringer v. City of Paterson
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Tbe appellants, Ringer and others, sued out a certiorari to test tbe legality of three assessments laid upon their properties, tbe first of which was for paving a portion of a public street in tbe city of Paterson, known as Main street; tbe second for tbe recurbing of the sidewalks along the same portion of that street; and tbe third for the making of water and sewer connections along the same. The Supreme Court, on the return of the writ, affirmed the assessments and the prosecutors have appealed.
The validity of this statute is attacked by the prosecutors upon two grounds — first, that the title of the act does not disclose a purpose to impose upon property owners benefited by the improvement any part of the expense thereof, and second, that the statute does not limit the assessment to the
Considering, first, the attack upon the title of the act. The constitutional provision appealed to requires that “every law shall embrace but one object, and that shall be expressed in the title.” Article 4, section 7, paragraph 4. The suggestion is that the title of the present statute is so vague and indefinite that it could not have indicated, either to the members of the legislature that enacted it or to the public generally, a purpose to place upon a municipality located within the territory of a county any part of the cost of a public improvement undertaken by the county; and that much less does it indicate a purpose to place upon property owners within the municipality any part of that portion of the cost of the improvement which is assumed by the city. The mere fact that the object of the legislation might have been expressed more specifically in its title affords no ground for declaring it void, so long as that title fairly points out the general purpose sought to be accomplished thereby. The constitutional requirement is complied with when the title fairly indicates the general object of the statute, although it does not declare the means or methods of attaining that object. Bumsted v. Govern, 47 N. J. L. 373; affirmed, 48 Id. 612; Anderson, v. Camden, 58 Id. 515, 518; Quigley v. Lehigh, Valley Railroad Co., 80 Id. 486. And it is this principle which has led our courts to hold in many cases that statutes having titles similar to that under consideration (for instance, “An act concerning cities;” “An act concerning boroughs,” and the like) do not violate the inhibition of article 4, section 7, paragraph 4 of the constitution. The title “An act concerning counties,” indicates a purpose to clothe the boards of chosen freeholders, who have charge of the affairs of our counties, with governmental powers, to vest in them, among other such powers, the supervision of, and control over, the public roads of our counties, the repair and improvement of such roads as occasion may require, the providing for the expense of such repairs and improvements, and, as cognate to this latter power, authority to contract
We consider, therefore, that the first ground of attack upon this statute is without legal support.
We consider, also, that the assertion that the statute does not limit the assessments to the benefits actually received by the lands upon which they are laid is equally without merit. The declaration of the legislature is that these assessments may be imposed by the municipality on such lands “in the manner and under the laws providing therefor,” &c. One of the laws providing for assessments for such benefits is chapter 152 of the laws of 1917, commonly designated as the Home Rule act. Section 21 of article 20 of that statute (Pamph. L., p. 378) provides that, in making an assessment for benefits resulting from a local improvement, that assessment shall be “a just and equitable assessment of the benefits conferred upon any lands or real estate by reason of such improvement,” and the necessary effect of this latter statute is to limit the assessment to the actual benefit received by the property upon which it is laid.
We concur, therefore in the view of the Supreme Court that the assessment for the repaving of Main street is valid and should be affirmed.
The attack upon the assessment for resetting the curb along Main street is based upon the construction which counsel for the prosecutors puts upon paragraph E, section 1, article 20 of the Home Rule act (Pamph. L. 1917, p. 370), which permits an assessment for “the curbing or recurbing, guttering or reguttering of a sidewalk in, upon.or along a
The challenge to the validity of the assessment for water and sewer connections installed by the municipality for the benefit of the prosecutors, upon their failure to comply with the notification of the municipality to make such connections themselves, is that the municipality failed to give to them the notice required by the statute to do this work. The requirement of the notice is contained in section. 4 of article 20 of the Home Rule act, and an examination of the return satisfies us that there was a proper compliance with the statutory provisions.
For the reasons stated, we conclude that the judgment of the Supreme Court affirming the assessments for recurbing and for the water and sewer connections should be affirmed.
The respondent is entitled to costs on this appeal.
For affirmance — The Chancellor, Chief Justice, Swayze, Parker, Kalisch, Black, Katzenbach, White, Gardner, Ackbkson, Van Buskirk, JJ. .11.
For reversal — Hone.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CHARLES J. RINGER v. CITY OF PATERSON
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published