Harmon v. City of Chicago
Citation | 37 L.Ed. 216,13 S.Ct. 306,147 U.S. 396 |
Decision Date | 23 January 1893 |
Docket Number | No. 1,022,1,022 |
Parties | HARMON v. CITY OF CHICAGO |
Court | United States Supreme Court |
Action in the circuit court of Cook county, Ill., by William Harmon against the city of Chicago, to recover moneys paid to it, under protest, as license fees for the use of tugs in navigating the Chicago river. In the trial court judgment was rendered for defendant, which was affirmed by the appellate court of the state for the proper district. 37 Ill. App. 496. An appeal being then taken to the supreme court of the state, the judgment was at first reversed, (see 26 N. E. Rep. 697,) but a rehearing was subsequently granted, and after reargument the judgment of the appellate court was affirmed, (see 29 N. E. Rep. 732.) From this judgment a writ of error was taken to this court. Reversed.
Statement by Mr. Justice FIELD:
This was an action against the city of Chicago, Ill., to recover the sum of $300 paid by the plaintiff on compulsion, and under protest, for licenses for 12 steam tugs, of which he was the manager and owner. The action was commenced in the circuit court of Cook county, Ill., and was tried by the court without the intervention of a jury, by stipulation of parties. At the trial the plaintiffs put in evidence the following agreed statement of facts:
'It is hereby stipulated and agreed that for the purposes of determining the right of the defendant to require of the plaintiff a license, and to impose and collect a fine or license fee therefor, under an ordinance of the said defendant hereinafter set forth, the following are the ultimate facts under which the said license was required, and the fine or license fee imposed and collected, viz.: That on the 26th day of September, 1888, the said plaintiff was the owner and manager of the following steam tugs, viz.: Tom Brown, F. S. Butler, J. H. Hackley, C. W. Parker, Bob Teed, A. B. Ward, W. H. Wolf, Crawford, G. B. McClellan, Mary McLane, Success, and Wahbun. That said tugs, and each of them, were of twenty tons burden, and upwards, and were on the said date, and for long time prior thereto had been, enrolled and licensed for the coasting trade, in pursuance of, and under the provisions of, title 50 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, to which reference is hereby made, and which are made a part hereof. That prior to the date aforesaid, and on the 5th day of March, 1883, the common council of said city of Chicago, acting under the power supposed to be vested in it by chapter 24 of the Revised Statutes of the State of Illinois, and under which the said city was at said time incorporated, passed and enacted an ordinance regulating the navigation of steam tugs and other vessels on Chicago river and Lake Michigan, and the waters tributary thereto, requiring that the owner thereof take out a license therefor, and imposing upon him a fine or penalty for failing so to do, which said ordinance is in the words and figures following:
'That said steam tugs were enrolled and licensed in the manner and for the purpose aforesaid by the United States authorities in and at the northern district of Illinois, in which the said defendant, the said city of Chicago, is situated, and were on the 26th day of September, 1888, and for a long time prior thereto had been engaged, in the coasting and foreign trade, and in commerce and navigation, namely, in towing vessels engaged in interstate commerce into and out of the Chicago river and harbor from and to said Lake Michigan, and, in pursuance of the conduct of the said trade, were navigating the said Chicago river and the waters of Lake Michigan, and the tributaries thereto, which said river is from time to time deepened for navigation purposes by dredging, under the direction and at the expense of said city of Chicago.
'(1) Whether or not the said defendant can require the plaintiff to take out the license, and collect therefor the fees provided for in the ordinance aforesaid.
'(2) Whether there was vested in the defendant the power to require of the plaintiff the license and fee provided for in the ordinance aforesaid, and in the manner shown by the foregoing state of facts.
'(3) Whether the said ordinance under which was license was required, and the said fee was imposed and collected, is legal and binding upon the plaintiff.
'(4) Whether the plaintiff is not entitled to judgment for the amount of fees so paid by him as aforesaid.
'It is hereby further stipulated that the said facts may be presented to the court and tried under the pleadings as they now stand, and that an order may be entered in said suit submitting the same to the Honorable Richard S. Tuthill for trial without the intervention of a jury, and that either party shall have the right to appeal from the decision and final judgment of the court herein in the same manner and to the same ex- tent as they would have if the same case had been tried in the usual and ordinary way.'
And there was also introduced in evidence on behalf of the defendant in error an ordinance of the city council of the city of Chicago, in the words and figures as follows:
On the trial of the case the issues were found for the defendant. Thereupon an appeal was...
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