City of St. Paul v. Stoltz
Decision Date | 19 February 1885 |
Citation | 33 Minn. 233 |
Parties | CITY OF ST. PAUL <I>vs.</I> J. W. STOLTZ. |
Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
J. T. James, for appellant.
W. P. Murray, for respondent.
The defendant was convicted upon a criminal prosecution for peddling clocks in the city of St. Paul, without having a license to engage in such business, in violation of an ordinance of the city. The prohibitory part of the ordinance is as follows: (Mun. Code, St. Paul, § 554.)
The evidence showed that the defendant was engaged in peddling clocks in the city, but it did not show that he was selling his goods, or offering to sell them, in any street or other public place. Therefore the defendant was not guilty of any offence, unless the mere fact of peddling such goods within the city, without a license, constituted an offence under this ordinance. This was the extent of what was charged against the defendant, and the respondent seems to rest the case upon the theory that this constituted a violation of the ordinance, and a criminal offence. We therefore assume, for the purposes of the determination of this case, that the ordinance was intended, not merely to forbid the prosecution of this business without license in the streets or other public places of the city, but generally and anywhere within the corporate limits. What we shall further say will be understood as having reference to this assumption.
The charter of the city contains no specific grant of authority to enact ordinances requiring peddlers to procure licenses to authorize them to engage in such business. It is only by virtue of Sp. Laws 1881, c. 93, § 16, that authority is claimed to have been conferred upon the common council to enact such an ordinance. That section is as follows: "The common council of the city of St. Paul, in addition to its other powers, is hereby authorized to ordain such other and further ordinances, not inconsistent with the laws of the state, which shall be deemed expedient for the good government of the...
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