STATE, EX REL. CARY D. LANDIS, ATTORNEY GENERAL, AND JOHN JACK,
v.
CHARLES JONES, WILLIAM LAMAR AND FRED QUEDNEAU
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The Florida Supreme Court upheld a Punta Gorda municipal charter amendment against a quo warranto challenge, holding that a 1934 constitutional amendment prohibiting special legislation on municipal government is not self-executing and requires implementing legislation to become operative.
The Court held that the constitutional amendment is not self-executing and requires legislation to make it operative. Therefore, the legislative act amending Punta Gorda's charter was valid, and the quo warranto challenge failed.
“this is a quo warranto proceeding to test the authority of local municipal officers who claim and are exercising authority as such officers under an Act passed at the last session of the Legislature amending certain sections of the charter of Punta Gorda, upon the ground that the 1934 amendment of Section 24 of Article III of the Constitution absolutely prohibits the adoption of any special or local laws incorporating cities or towns, or providing for their government, jurisdiction, powers, etc.”
Establishes the nature of the case and the constitutional provision at issue
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceLocal municipal officers in Punta Gorda were exercising authority under a legislative act amending the city's charter. The Attorney General filed a qu…
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This is a quo warranto proceeding to test the authority of local municipal officers who claim and are exercising authority as such officers under an Act passed at the last session of the Legislature amending certain sections of the charter of Punta Gorda, upon the ground that the 1934 amendment of Section 24 of Article III of the Constitution absolutely prohibits the adoption of any special or local laws incorporating cities or towns, or providing for their government, jurisdiction, powers, etc., and that this prohibitory clause is self-executing, thus rendering the Act in question void. It is argued that unless this provision of the amendment be held to be self-executing and presently effective, the Legislature may indefinitely delay compliance with the command of the first part of the amendment, which says that “The Legislature shall establish a uniform system of county and municipal government,” etc., and that it was the intention of the amendment to speed up legislative action in accordance with its positive commands by preventing all special legislation on this subject from and after the effective date of the amendment.
There are also good reasons for holding that the amendment as a whole requires legislation to make it operative, and that it is not, therefore, self-executing. Some of these reasons, have already been set forth in the opinion of this *218Court in the case of State, ex rel. Mathews, v. Alsop, 163 So. 80, decided at the present term, which is controlling here. In spite of the very earnest and able argument of counsel for relator, we are by no means convinced that the decision already arrived at was erroneous.
On the authority of the cited case, the demurrer to the information is sustained and the alternative writ heretofore granted will be and the same is hereby quashed.
Whitfield, C. J., and Davis, J., concur.
Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur in the opinion and judgment.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Am. Bakeries Co. v. City of Haines City, 131 Fla. 790 (Fla. 1938)…and cannot become operative until the Legislature has seen fit to pass the general system of' laws for the classification and government of cities and towns so commanded by the amendment. See State v. Alsop, 120 Fla. 628, 163 So. 80; State v. Jones, 121 Fla. 216, 163 So. 590; State v. Emerson, 126 Fla. 576, 171 So. 663. In this case the American Bakeries Company and Seybokl Baking Company, both Georgia corporations, filed a bill against the City of Haines City, Florida, to enjoin the enforcement of Ordinan…
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State v. Bloodworth, 134 Fla. 369 (Fla. 1938)…t special legislation affecting municipal corporations. See State, ex rel. Matthews, v. Alsop, 120 Fla. 628, 163 So. 80; State v. Town of Belle Glade in Palm Beach County, 121 Fla. 200, 163 So. 564; State, ex rel. Landis, Attorney General, v. Jones, 121 Fla. 216, 163 So. 590; State, ex rel. Brown, v. Emerson, 126 Fla. 576, 171 So. 663.” In the absence of a provision of the charter of the City of Miami controlling the removal of its duly elected City Clerk, and Section 84, supra, providing that the general…
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The City of Miami v. State, 139 Fla. 598 (Fla. 1939)…cases. The 1934 Amendment to Section 24, Article III does not become effective until the Legislature divides the municipalities of the State into classes required by the amendment. See State v. Alsop, 120 Fla. [*622] 628, 163 So. 80; State v. Jones, 121 Fla. 216, 163 So. 590; State v. Town of Belle Glade, 121 Fla. 200, 163 So. 564; State v. Emerson, 126 Fla. 576, 171 So. 663; State v. Ault, 129 Fla. 686, 176 So. 789. There can be no implied powers in Chapter 15772, the General Refunding Act of 1931, that a…
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- State v. Alsop, 120 Fla. 628 (Fla. 1935)