Edwards v. Lesueur

• Decision Date: 05 February 1896
• Citation: 132 Mo. 410,33 S.W. 1130
• Parties: EDWARDS v. LESUEUR, Secretary of State.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

33 S.W. 1130

132 Mo. 410

EDWARDS v. LESUEUR, Secretary of State.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

February 5, 1896.

CONSTITUTION — AMENDMENT — REMOVAL OF SEAT OF GOVERNMENT — EFFECT OF TERRITORIAL ENABLING ACT — CONSENT OF UNITED STATES — VESTED RIGHTS — ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION FOR AMENDMENT — PROCEDURE.

1. Const. 1875, art. 4, § 56, prohibits the general assembly from removing the seat of government from Jefferson City. Article 15, §§ 1, 2, provide that the general assembly may propose such amendments to the constitution as a majority of each house "shall deem expedient." Held, that the courts have no power to enjoin the submission to the people of an amendment providing for a change of the seat of government to Sedalia on the ground that, besides a provision for submission to the people as required by Const. art. 15, § 2, it contained conditions that some person or persons should grant land for the new site, or deposit with the governor sufficient securities to guaranty the erection of the buildings; that such person should be paid from bonds to be issued by the county of Pettis and the township of Sedalia, therein; and that the buildings were to be subject to the approval of a commission.

2. Missouri Enabling Act (Rev. St. 1889, p. 49) § 6, offered to the territorial convention four sections of land for the seat of government, on condition that the convention provide, by an ordinance "irrevocable without the consent of the United States," that all tracts sold by the United States within the state should be exempt from state taxes. The convention, in accepting the terms of admission to statehood, declared that "this ordinance shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States," but also framed a constitution which provided (article 9) that a commission should select a site for a seat of government on the four donated sections, but that, if a suitable site was not there found it was "to purchase the necessary land"; and a copy of such constitution was sent to congress, as required by the enabling act, and that body retained the same, and recognized the interpretation therein of the enabling act as to the location of the seat of government. Held, that the consent of the United States was not necessary to a constitutional amendment changing the location of the seat of government after it was established on such sections.

3. Property owners in a city in which the state seat of government is located have no vested rights in such location which would prevent a change thereof by a constitutional amendment on a vote of the people of the state.

4. Under Const. art. 15, § 2, providing that the legislature may propose amendments "as a majority of the members elected to each house shall deem expedient; and the vote thereon shall be taken by yeas and nays," a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment need not be read on three different days in each house, as an ordinary bill.

In banc. Appeal from circuit court, Cole county; D. W. Shackelford, Judge.

Petition by Joseph R. Edwards against A. A. Lesueur, secretary of state, for an injunction. From an order granting the writ, defendant appeals. Reversed.

This is a suit by plaintiff, as a property owner of Jefferson City, to restrain the secretary of state from discharging the duties enjoined upon him in respect to submitting to a vote of the electors of the state a proposal, passed by the last general assembly, for amending the constitution so as to provide therein for the removal of the seat of government from the city of Jefferson to the city of Sedalia. The amendment was proposed under a concurrent resolution, and is as follows:

"Concurrent resolution submitting to the qualified voters of Missouri an amendment to the constitution thereof, providing for the removal of the seat of government from the city of Jefferson to the city of Sedalia.

"Be it resolved by the house of representatives, the senate concurring therein, as follows: At the general election to be held on Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, A. D. 1896, an amendment to the constitution of Missouri shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the state in the following words: `The seat of government shall be removed from the city of Jefferson and located at the city of Sedalia. Any person or persons may grant and donate to the state any land, sum of money or other thing of value to be used for the purpose of erecting the necessary public buildings at the city of Sedalia, or may deposit with the governor sufficient securities or obligations to guarantee the erection of such buildings. Whenever a suitable capitol building, having the same or greater floor area and appointments as the present capitol and supreme court buildings, and equal thereto in stability and architectural merit, together with grounds of the same or greater area, and an armory building likewise similar or superior to the present armory, and an executive mansion likewise similar or superior to the present building used as the governor's residence, together with the grounds and appurtenances, shall be erected at the city of Sedalia, the same shall be accepted by a commission, consisting of the governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and attorney-general, and such officers shall at once remove the public records and personal property to such new buildings, and the city of Sedalia shall thereupon become the permanent seat of government. The plans and location of the capitol, armory and executive mansion and grounds shall first be approved by such commission. The county of Pettis and Sedalia township, in said county, may each vote an issue of twenty-five non-taxable three per cent. bonds, not to exceed in amount, respectively for each, one hundred thousand dollars, and such bonds may be ordered issued by a majority vote of those voting at a special election called for that purpose by the county court, and conducted generally in the manner provided by law for the issuing of bonds for the erection of court-houses. Said county and township bonds shall be given to the state for the purpose of assisting in paying for the erection of the buildings provided for herein; and such bonds, if voted and issued, shall be delivered to the governor of the state, and held by him in trust for the benefit of any person or persons who may erect such suitable public buildings, to be given to such person or persons on their completion and acceptance. The commission hereby constituted shall have full power, by a majority vote, to carry out the provisions and intent of this amendment, and such new public buildings shall be completed, as near as may be possible, on or before the first day of November, A. D. 1899, unless such commission, for good cause, grant further time. The state shall in no manner become liable for, nor shall it pay any part whatever of the cost of the new public buildings herein provided for, and the county before mentioned shall pay the entire cost of moving the records and personal property of the state to the new public buildings, so that the state shall be at no expense whatever in the change of the seat of government.'"

It is charged in the petition that said resolution is, and, if adopted, will be, invalid, for the reason that it does not provide that the same shall go into effect "as an operative amendment to said constitution, upon its adoption by a majority of the qualified voters of the state voting in favor thereof, but, on the contrary, by its terms and provisions, its taking effect, and becoming an operative and binding part of said constitution, is made to depend on the further facts or condition that some person or persons shall donate or grant to the state land or money, or other valuable thing, for the purpose, or erect the necessary public buildings at the city of Sedalia for the use of the state, or shall deposit with the governor of the state sufficient securities or obligations to guaranty the erection of such building, and also on the further fact or condition that a suitable capitol building for the state of Missouri, having the same or greater floor area and appointments than the present capitol and supreme court buildings, and equal thereto in stability and architectural merit, together with grounds of the same or greater area than those now possessed by the state at the city of Jefferson, and also that a state armory and executive mansion similar or superior to the present ones owned by the state, together with grounds and appurtenances thereto, shall be erected or furnished at the city of Sedalia, and shall be accepted by a commission consisting of the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, treasurer, and attorney general of Missouri, and also on the further fact or condition that the plans and location of said new capitol building, armory, executive mansion, and grounds therefor, shall be approved by said commission." It is further charged that the resolution is invalid, and, if adopted by the necessary vote of the people, would not become an amendment to the constitution, for the reason that it was not read on three different days in each house of the general assembly, and did not take the course of a bill in said assembly. A further charge is that, by the act of congress admitting the state of Missouri into the Union, the action of the convention of the territory called in pursuance of said act, and the subsequent legislation of the state in accepting and acting upon the conditions of said act, the seat of government was established at Jefferson City, and cannot be changed without the consent of the United States. It was also charged, in substance, that under said enabling act, and the acceptance thereof by the people of the territory, certain lands were donated by the United States to the state of Missouri, upon which to locate its seat of government, and such lands were sold by the state with the assurance to purchasers that the seat of government would...