City Of Richmond v. Supervisors Of Henrico Co

• Decision Date: 21 April 1887
• Citation: 83 Va. 204,2 S.E. 26
• Parties: City of Richmond v. Supervisors of Henrico Co.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

2 S.E. 26

(83 Va. 204)

City of Richmond

v.Supervisors of Henrico Co.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

April 21, 1887.

1. Municipal Corporations—Hospital—Establishment—Amendmf.nt of Statute.

A purchase by a city of land outside of its corporate limits, to use as the site of a small-pox hospital, in lawful pursuance of a general statute authorizing the establishment of hospitals, will be regarded as such an establishment of the hospital on the site in question that the city can use the property for said purpose without hinderanee, although before such use, and a few days after the purchase and conveyance to the city, an amendment of the law is enacted, providing that cities locating hospitals outside of their corporate limits must first obtain the consent of the county court and board of supervisors.

2. Statutes—Construction—Amendment.

Such an amendment to a prior statute will not be construed to be retroactive, unless the intent that it shall be so plainly appears on the face of the act.

3. Same—Intention.

The intention of the draughtsman of a statute, or of the individual members of the legislature, who voted for and passed it, are not to be taken into consideration in construing it.

4. Same—Re-enactment.

An act amending a prior statute, which re-enacts portions of it with additions, is not to be regarded as a repeal of the old law, and new enactment of it as amended, without express words to that effect. The old law, therefore, under which a proceeding is begun and substantially compteted, will be considered as continuing from the time of its original enactment, and the new or changed law as taking effect only at and subsequent to the passage of the amendment.

Appeal from cireuit court, Henrico county.

C. V. Meredith, for appellant.

Courtney & Patterson and Geo. W. Thomas, for appellee.

Fauntleroy, J. This is an appeal from a decree of the circuit court of Henrico county, entered on the twenty-sixth of February, 1887, in a suit in which the board of supervisors of Henrico county are complainants and the city of Richmond is defendant. The certified copy of the record of the said suit presents the pleadings and facts of the case. In December, 1885, there was a statute of Virginia (Code 1873, c. 84, § 6) in the following words: "The council of any town, or the court of any county, may establish in such county, or in or near such town, hospitals which shall be subject to regulations not contrary to law, made by such council or court." This statute had been in force from 1831.

In pursuance of the power granted by that statute, the board of aldermen of the city of Richmond, on the fourteenth day of December, 1885, enacted: "Be it resolved (the common council concurring) that a committee of seven be appointed, four from the common council and three from the board of aldermen, whose duties shall be to purchase a site for a small-pox hospital between the Brook and Mechanicsville turnpikes; and that the sum of ($7,000) seven thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and is hereby, appropriated for said purpose; and the committee on finance is hereby instructed to provide the said amount by bonds or otherwise." The common council concurred in the said resolution, January 4, 1886, and the mayor approved it January 5, 1886. A committee was appointed, as provided in the said resolution, and on January 19, 1886, they met and authorized their chairman to advertise for 10 days in the State and Dispatch for a suitable site for a small-pox hospital, in accordance with the resolution of the council. The following advertisement appeared in both the said newspapers: "Wanted to purchase, for cash, a farm north of the city of Richmond, and between the Mechanicsville and Brook turnpikes, for a small-pox hospital, distance from the city not to exceed five miles. All propositions must be in writing, addressed to R. B. Chaffin, chairman council committee."

During the appearance of this advertisement, the city was offered a place known as the "Morris farm, " situated between the Mechanicsville and Brook turnpikes, and about three or four miles from Richmond. The committee visited and examined the place, and, being satisfied that it was suitable, purchased it for the price of $5,600, for a small-pox hospital. It was selected and purchased for that purpose alone, under the aforesaid authority and directions of the council of the city of Richmond, by a special committee appointed for that expressed and sole purpose. The purchase was made on the twenty-ninth day of January, 1886, from a special commissioner of the circuit court of Henrico county, who reported the sale to the said court as having been made to the city of Richmond, (who had made the purchase for the specified purpose,) for the agreed and adjusted price of $5,600, which the city of Richmond desired to pay in cash, and to receive a deed for the property immediately.

The said court, by its order of that day, approved the sale, and directed the execution and delivery of a deed for the said property to the city of Richmond, which deed was executed by the said special commissioner and delivered to the city of Richmond on the thirtieth day of January, 1886, and duly recorded. Thus, on that day, the city had exercised her right, under the power and in the mode provided in the law of the state for the establishment of asmall-pox hospital. It was consummated, and nothing remained to be done. The enactment of the city council had been fully carried out. It had appropriated and paid its money for the farm, and the houses thereon, for a smallpox hospital. By the said purchase, under the definite and definitive resolution of the city council, the said farm, and the houses thereon, were dedicated and established for the purpose of a small-pox hospital, (see Boiling v. Petersburg, 8 Leigh, 233,) and the city of Richmond so regarded it; for, at the next meeting of the board of aldermen, held February 8, 1886, the only resolution passed was a simple order, turning over the said property to the committee on health, in which order the common council concurred at its next meeting held March 1, 1886.

On January 30, 1886, a bill amending the statute (Code 1873, c. 84, § 6) was passed through both houses of the general assembly, under a suspension of the rules, as follows: "The council of any town, or the court of any county, may establish in such county, or in or near such town, hospitals, which shall be subject to regulations not contrary to law, made by such council or court, provided, however, that the council of any city or town desiring to locate such hospital outside of the limits of their corporation must first obtain the consent of the county court, and the board of superviors of the county in which they propose to locate, as to the site to be selected for the hospital, " etc. This act was signed by the governor on February 5, 1886.

After the said amendment of the law, the county of Henrico insisted that the said city of Richmond could not use the said Morris farm for a small-pox hospital. The city insisted that the hospital had been duly established according to law, before the said amendment of February 5, 1886, and that her right to use it for the purpose for which it had been established could not be affected by the act of February 5, 1886. The county and city officials had several conferences, to see if their difference of opinion could not be removed or reconciled without the cost, delay, and vexation of litigation; the president of the board of health of the city urging that there was small-pox in the city of Norfolk, Virginia, and that it would probably spread to the city of Richmond, and thereby give occasion for the use of the hospital, which the city had established on the Morris farm, at any moment. The county of Henrico filed its bill, with affidavits and petition, praying for an injunction from the judge of the circuit court of Henrico county to restrain the city of Richmond from using the said Morris farm as a small-pox hospital. The city filed its answer, with exhibits and affidavits, claiming that it had already established its small-pox hospital at the said place, before the passage of the act of February 5, 1886, was passed, and hence that her hospital, thus provided and established regularly and strictly according to law, is not affected by the said act of February 5, 1886. On February 26, 1887, the judge of the circuit court of Henrico county entered a decree in this cause, awarding the injunction prayed for restraining the city of Richmond from using, or taking any steps towards using, the said Morris farm as a small-pox hospital, until the further order of the said court, and afterwards overruled the motion to dissolve the said injunction, and entered its order perpetuating the same. The city of Richmond appeals from this decree, and insists that it is erroneous and injurious to it.

The question presented to this court to decide is, had the city of Richmond "established" her hospital on the Morris farm, under section 6, c. 84, Code 1873, before the passage of the amendatory act of February 5, 1886. Was it so "established" on January 30, 1886.

The law, before it was amended by the act of February 5, 1886, fully empowered cities and counties to establish hospitals; and this power is given, not to private persons or corporations, but to the public bodies which are divisional governments of the state. Then the proper meaning of the word used in the statute, section 6, conferring the power to "establish" hospitals, is to bedeter-mined by ascertaining how a...