THE STATE OF FLORIDA, EX REL. CARY D. LANDIS, AS ATTORNEY GENERAL, RELATOR,
v.
C. H. CRANDON, CECIL A. TURNER, F. G. BAILEY, R. P. BARFIELD AND J. D. REED, AS AND CONSTITUTING THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, RESPONDENTS

Fla. | 1932-04-21
105 Fla. 309 Florida Supreme Court (1932) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 141 So. 177
Cited by 3 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court held that two 1931 legislative acts attempting to redistrict Dade County's Commissioner districts were unconstitutional because they were passed without complying with the constitutional requirements for special or local legislation. The Court granted a quo warranto petition for ouster of the County Commissioners.


Holding

Both acts are unconstitutional and invalid. Act 14687 fails as a general law because it applies only to Dade County without legitimate classification, and was passed without compliance with the notice requirement for special legislation. Act 15143, being explicitly a local law applicable only to Dade County, is invalid for not complying with constitutional requirements for special or local legislation.


Key Quotes

“Notice of intention to apply for the passagé of said Chapter 14687 does not appear to have been given, nor evidence thereof recorded on the legislative journals, as required by Section 1 of Article III of the Constitution of Florida, as amended at the general election in 1928”

Establishes the critical constitutional violation that renders Act 14687 unconstitutional regardless of whether it is characterized as general or special legislation.

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Facts & Procedural History

The 1931 Florida Legislature passed Acts 14687 and 15143 designed to redistrict Dade County into new County Commissioners' Districts. Act 14687, thoug…

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Topics

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Opinion of the Court
Per Curiam.

Per Curiam.

The Legislature at its 1931 session passed two Acts entitled as follows:

“14687. AN ACT to Require the County Commissioners in Certain Counties in the State of Florida to Redistriet the County Commission District Therein; to Provide a Penalty for Violation Thereof; to Provide a Time When New Commission Districts Shall Become Operative and For Other Purposes.”
“15143. AN ACT Abolishing County Commissioner’s District Number Four as Now Existing and Established in and for Dade County, Florida; Changing and Altering the County Commissioners Districts of Dade County by Creating a New County Commis*310sioner’s District Number Four and Establishing its Boundaries; Designating the Five New County Commissioners’ Districts in and for Dade County as Changed and Altered by Such Abolishment and Creation; Providing When This Act Shall Become Operative, and for Other Purposes.”

These Acts, it is alleged in a quo warranto proceeding, were designed to bring about a re-districting of Dade County into new County Commissioners’ Districts,—that Chapter. 14687, supra, is so framed that it is applicable to no other County than Dade, though general in form.

Notice of intention to apply for the passagé of said Chapter 14687 does not appear to have been given, nor evidence thereof recorded on the legislative journals, as required by Section 1 of Article III of the Constitution of Florida, as amended at the general election in 1928, so if that Act is to be construed as other than a general law sustainable as such upon a legitimate classification of counties according to population, it is plainly unconstitutional as having been passed by the Legislature without a showing of compliance with Section 21 of Article III as amended. Keene v. Lake County, 98 Fla. 1247, 125 Sou. Rep. 908; State vs. Brevard County, 99 Fla. 226, 126 Sou. Rep. 353; Whitney v. Hillsborough County, 99 Fla. 628, 127 Sou. Rep. 486; Douglas v. Webber, 99 Fla. 755, 128 Sou. Rep. 613; Milner vs. Hatton, 100 Fla. 210, 129 Sou. Rep. 593.

On the other hand, if the said Act is to be construed as intended to operate as a general law, so as to dispense with the proof required by Section 21, of Article III of the Constitution as amended, it cannot be sustained as such under the authority of Anderson vs. Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, 102 Fla. 895, 136 Sou. Rep. 334, and Knight v. Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, 102 Fla. 922, 136 Sou. Rep. 631, in which cases legislation of an almost identical *311character was declared unconstitutional as based upon an arbitrary classification.

The general laws of the State authorizing the redistrieting of County Commissioners’ District (Section 2147-2152 C. G. L., 1469-1474 R. G. S.), if still effective and applicable, are expressly shown by the pleadings not to have been sufficiently complied with in this ease to sustain under the Sections just cited the redistricting here shown to have been attempted. Therefore, the attempted redistricting here brought into controversy, must stand or fall on the validity of one or the other of the 1931 Acts hereinbefore referred to.

A County is not a municipality within the purview of Section 8 of Article VIII of the Constitution. State ex rel. McQuaid v. County Comm’rs Duval County, 23 Fla. 483, 3 Sou. Rep. 193. So special or local legislation relating to Counties is not subject to the rule announced in Middleton v. St. Augustine, 42 Fla. 287, 29 Sou. Rep. 421, 89 Am. St. Rep. 227, to the effect that special or local legislation affecting municipal corporations under Section 8 of Article VIII is not controlled by the proviso to Section 21 of Article III (either in its original form, or as amended in 1928).

Chapter 14687, supra, is unconstitutional for the reason that it is not a valid general law and was not passed as a special or local law in compliance with Section 21 of Article III as amended. Chapter 15143 is in terms a local law applicable only to Dade County, and not having been passed in compliance with Section 21 of Article III of the Constitution as amended, is also invalid for that reason, if no other. So it follows that the relator’s motion for judgment of ouster must be granted and it is so ordered.

Judgment of ouster awarded.

*312Buford, C.J., and Whitfield, Ellis, Terrell and Davis, J.J., concur.

Brown, J., not participating.


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Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Harris, 120 Fla. 555 (Fla. 1934)
    …ot permissible or the classification adopted is illegal’ (Knight v. Board Public Inst., 102 Fla. 922, 136 So. 631); a local law is one relating to, or designed to operate only in, a-specifically indicated part of the State (State ex rel. v. Crandon, 105 Fla. 309, 141 So. 177), or one-that purports to operate within classified territory when classification is not [*563] permissible or the classification adopted is illegal (Anderson v. Board of Public Instruction, 102 Fla. 695, 136 So. 334). A general law op…

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