City of Jackson v. Boling

• Decision Date: 23 November 1970
• Docket Number: No. 46072,46072
• Citation: 241 So.2d 359
• Parties: CITY OF JACKSON et al. v. L. D. BOLING et al., Petitioners for Incorporation of the City of Pearl, Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 359

241 So.2d 359

CITY OF JACKSON et al. v. L. D. BOLING et al., Petitioners for Incorporation of the City of Pearl, Mississippi.

No. 46072.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Nov. 23, 1970.

John E. Stone, Jackson, O. B. Triplett, Jr., Forest, for appellants.

Thomas L. Zebert, Jackson, W. E. McIntyre, Jr., Brandon, for appellees.

ETHRIDGE, Chief Justice:

This case involves the question of whether a petition by qualified electors for incorporation of a new municipality complies with the statutory requirements. Holding that it does not, we reverse the decree of the Chancery Court of Rankin County overruling the plea to jurisdiction made by the City of Jackson and other objectors, and dismiss the petition.

The controlling statutory requirements for incorporation of an unincorporated territory are set forth in Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated, section 3374-03 (1956):

Whenever the inhabitants of any unincorporated territory shall desire to incorporate such territory as a city or town, they shall prepare a petition and file same in the chancery court of the county in which such territory is located or, if the territory is located in more than one county, the chancery court of either county. Said petition shall meet the following requirements:

(1) It shall describe accurately the metes and bounds of the territory proposed to be incorporated and there shall be attached to such petition a map or plat of the boundaries of the proposed municipality.

(2) It shall set forth the corporate name which is desired.

(3) It shall be signed byn at least two-thirds of the qualified electors residing in the territory proposed to be incorporated.

(4) It shall set forth the number of inhabitants of such territory.

(5) It shall set forth the assessed valuation of the real property in such territory according to the latest available assessments thereof.

(6) It shall state the aims of the petitioners in seeking said incorporation, and shall set forth the municipal and public services which said municipal corporation proposes to render and the reasons why the public convenience and necessity would be served by the creation of such municipal corporation.

(7) It shall contain a statement of the names of the persons the petitioners desire appointed as officers of such municipality.

(8) It shall be sworn to by one or more of the petitioners.

When such petition shall be filed, it shall be docketed as are other suits and causes in the chancery courts of this state.

The petition for incorporation of the City of Pearl was filed on March 12, 1970. It was sworn to by L. D. Boling and John Mohr, as permitted by code section 3374-03(8). This will be called the extended petition, in order to distinguish it from the shorter form hereinafter described. The extended petition contained the allegations required by statute, including a metes and bounds description of the territory proposed to be incorporated and a map of its boundaries. This map was dated March 12, 1970. This extended petition further undertook to incorporate 378 considerably shorter petitions signed by an alleged two-thirds of the 3,735 qualified electors in the territory.

These shorter petitions consisted of 378 documents, each of which was in identical language. They were signed by numerous citizens, with name, address and date of signature. The signature are dated as early as March 1969 up through the time of filing of the petition, March 12, 1970. These shorter petitions are the ones which we hold fail to comply with the requirements of code section 3374-03. Each of them contained toward the top one-third of the page the following:

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

COUNTY OF RANKIN

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED QUALIFIED ELECTORS, residing in the territory sought to be incorporated as Pearl, Mississippi, and described in the petition for incorporation, do hereby join as petitioners and agree to support the incorporation of said territory into a municipality; believing that by so incorporating we can secure for the inhabitants for the described territory many benefits of which we are now deprived, such as adequate fire and police protection and improved and adequate public school systems, recreational facilities for our youth.

A petition may be circulated in several identical parts or identical copies in order to obtain the necessary signatures. 42 Am.Jur.2d, Initiative and Referendum § 27 (1969). Collins v. Barrier, 64 Miss. 21, 8 So. 164 (1886), held that several identical copies of petitions...