Becker v. City of Washington

• Decision Date: 05 March 1888
• Parties: BECKER v. CITY OF WASHINGTON.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

7 S.W. 291

94 Mo. 375

BECKER v. CITY OF WASHINGTON.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

March 5, 1888.

1. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS — ORDINANCES — ENACTMENT.

Rev. St. Mo. 1879, § 4948, relating to ordinances, provides that "no bill shall become an ordinance until the same is signed by the president of the board of aldermen and the mayor," and section 4965 provides that "the mayor shall preside at all meetings of the board of aldermen," etc. Held, that an ordinance which has been signed by the mayor as such, and not by him as ex officio president of the board of aldermen, will not be invalidated thereby.

2. SAME.

A general allegation in a petition that an ordinance has been duly passed is sufficient without alleging that every antecedent act requisite to its legal passage has been done.

3. SAME.

The mere failure to set out in an ordinance the specifications for work to be done under it, where reference to them is on file in the office of the clerk, will not affect the validity of the ordinance.

Appeal from circuit court, Franklin county; A. J. SEAY, Judge.

Action by F. Becker, plaintiff and respondent, against the city of Washington, defendant and appellant, for damages done to his property by grading a certain street in pursuance to a city ordinance.

J. C. Kiskaddon, for appellant. Crews & Booth, for respondent.

BRACE, J.

The defendant is a city of the fourth class. The plaintiff is the owner of a house and lot on Main, between Jefferson and La Fayette streets in said city. On the 19th of June, 1882, the board of aldermen of said city, by its orders entered upon its journal, ordered that Main street, between two said last-mentioned streets, under the direction and superintendence of its street committee and street commissioners, be lowered, graded, macadamized, and guttered according to plans and specifications ("now") then on file in the office of the city clerk; and on the 3d of July, 1882, to carry such orders into effect, passed the following ordinance, which, on the same day, was signed and approved by the mayor, there being at that time no president of the board of aldermen: "Be it ordained by the board of aldermen of the city of Washington as follows: Section 1. All that part of Main street, in the city of Washington, between Market and Jefferson streets, shall be lowered to the grade now established, and recorded in the recorder's office in Franklin county, Missouri, and all that part of Main street, between Jefferson and La Fayette streets, in said city, shall be lowered, graded, macadamized, and guttered according to specifications therefor made by Julius Wilhelmi, Esq., civil engineer, and now on file in the office of the city clerk. Sec. 2. The work required to be done by the provisions of the preceding section shall be operated, managed, and controlled by the street commissioner and street committee of the board of aldermen of the city, and shall be commenced as soon as practicable. Sec. 3. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage." Prior to the passage of the ordinance Main street had been graded, macadamized, and pavements laid in front of defendant's lot, and plaintiff built his house with reference to that grade. The work provided for in the ordinance was done by and under the superintendence of the city's street commissioner, and paid for by the city. The macadam was removed and the grade of the street in front of plaintiff's lot lowered from three to five feet. The evidence tended to show that the plaintiff's property had been depreciated to an amount not less than three hundred, nor more than two thousand, dollars by such change of...