Wells v. Town of Mt. Olivet

• Decision Date: 13 June 1907
• Citation: 126 Ky. 131,102 S.W. 1182
• Parties: WELLS v. TOWN OF MT. OLIVET.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

102 S.W. 1182

126 Ky. 131

WELLS v. TOWN OF MT. OLIVET.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

June 13, 1907

Appeal from Circuit Court, Robertson County.

"To be officially reported."

Action by R. D. Wells against the town of Mt. Olivet. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Jno. P McCartney and Robt. Buckler, for appellant.

Holmes & Ross and S. Throckmorton, for appellee.

CARROLL J.

This litigation involves the validity of the following ordinance "An ordinance to prohibit the hitching of horses or the leaving of horses standing on the streets or alleys of the town of Mt. Olivet, Kentucky.--The board of trustees of the town of Mt. Olivet ordain as follows: That any person who shall hitch any horse or horses, or leave any horse or horses standing, on any of the streets or alleys in said town, shall be fined five dollars for each offense; provided, however that any person may hitch any horse or horses to the public hitching rack on the court-house square in said town." The appellant was fined and imprisoned for violating this ordinance by hitching his horse at a place in the town of Mt Olivet other than the public hitching rack, and for the alleged illegal arrest and imprisonment sought to recover damages against the town.

The ordinance is assailed upon the ground that it is illegal, unreasonable, oppressive, and in violation of and beyond the powers vested in the trustees by the provisions of the Kentucky Statutes relating to towns of the sixth class; and because it was not enacted at a time or place or in the manner provided in the statute. The validity of that part of the ordinance prohibiting the leaving of any horse or horses standing on the streets or alleys of the town is not drawn in question; nor, indeed, could it well be, as it is clearly competent for municipal authorities to forbid persons from leaving horses standing in the streets unhitched and unattended. This question was before this court in Rowe v. Reneer, 99 S.W. 250, 30 Ky. Law Rep. 545, and it was there held that such an ordinance was not unreasonable or oppressive, but, on the contrary, a salutary by-law, enacted for the purpose of protecting life and property from injury by runaway horses. And, in our opinion, the entire ordinance is a valid exercise of the police powers granted to the town by the statute governing towns of this class. Nor is there anything in the record to justify the conclusion that it is invalid because not enacted in the manner provided by law. Hence the action of the lower court in sustaining a general demurrer to the petition was proper.

It is averred in the petition that the ordinance "was not adopted as required by the laws governing towns of the sixth class; that no ordinance had at the time of the passage of this ordinance ever been adopted by the board of trustees of Mt. Olivet fixing the time and place of the meetings of the said board of trustees, so that the public should have notice of the meeting." Ky. St. 1903, § 3696, provides in part that "all meetings shall be held within the corporate limits of the town at such place as may be designated by ordinance and shall be public." Under this statute it has been held that, when the trustees have designated by ordinance the place at which meetings of the board shall be held, a meeting at another place, unless some good reason could be shown why it was not held at the regular place would not be authorized under the statute, and the trustees at such meeting would have no power to enact ordinances for the government of the town. Shugars v. Hamilton, 92 S.W. 564, 29 Ky. Law Rep. 127; Town of Springfield v. People's Deposit Bank, 63 S.W. 271, 23 Ky. Law Rep. 519. But, when the trustees have not adopted an ordinance fixing a place of meeting, the members may assemble at some convenient and accessible place within the corporate limits of the town. The mere fact that the trustees have not by ordinance provided a place of meeting...