Christie v. Mayor of Bergenfield
Christie v. Mayor of Bergenfield
Opinion of the Court
The writ of certiorari in this case brings under review a street improvement ordinance of the borough of Bergenfield
The legislation had its, inception in sections 9 and 12, respectively, of Pamph. L. 1917, ch. 152, art. 20', βAn act concerning municipalities.β Section 9 was amended by Pamph. L. 1918, ch. 163, and the pertinent features were stricken therefrom, and all of section 12 was repealed by Pamph. L. 1925, ch. 155. The last-mentioned legislation also contained substituted matter of the same purport as an amendment to section 1 of article 10 of the Municipalities act. Pamph. L. 1926, ch. 228, amended the legislation into the form existing at the time of the adoption of the ordinance in question. The wording of the present statute is sufficiently close to that of the. earlier legislation to make our decision in Specht et al. v. City of East Orange et al. (decided at this term of court), pertinent and controlling. Eor the reasons there given we consider that the requirement as to mailing of a notice is directory, and that the mandatory provision of newspaper publication, when complied with, is sufficient to sustain the validity of an ordinance and of an assessment imposed thereunder.
The second point presented by prosecutors is that the plans and specifications for the work included certain drains and catch basins in North and South Demarest avenues which were included in the original contract for the improvement and were actually installed in. the progress of' the work at a cost of $3,267.50, although no provision had been made therefor in the ordinance. This contention is. sustained by the facts and causes the assessment based thereon to be defective. The work should have been done by ordinance. Burnett v. Boonton, 75 N. J. L. 467. The municipality should have proceeded in its improvements along the
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.