James Gardner v. People of the State of Michigan

• Decision Date: 27 November 1905
• Docket Number: No. 62,62
• Citation: 26 S.Ct. 106,50 L.Ed. 212,199 U.S. 325
• Parties: JAMES GARDNER, Plff. in Err. , v. PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

199 U.S. 325

26 S.Ct. 106

50 L.Ed. 212

JAMES GARDNER, Plff. in Err.,

v PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.

No. 62

Submitted November 9, 1905.

Decided November 27, 1905.

Mr. Fred A. Baker for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. T. E. Tarsney, John B. Corliss, and Corliss, Leete, & Joslyn for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

This appeal raises for consideration the question whether a certain ordinance of the city of Detroit, relating to the collection and disposition of garbage within that city, is repugnant to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

By the ordinance in question it was made the duty of the occupant or occupants of every dwelling house or other building in the city of Detroit to provide a suitable and water-tight box or other vessel of a convenient size to be handled by the garbage collector, in which such occupant or occupants should cause to be placed or deposited 'all offal, garbage, and refuse animal and vegetable matter of the premises.' Such occupants were required to keep the box or other vessel in the alley in rear of their premises, or at a place on the premises most accessible to the person collecting the garbage and offal; and it was made unlawful to put anything but refuse animal and vegetable matter in the vessel used for garbage and offal. If the vessel was placed in the alley, it must be provided with a tight cover, properly hinged, and located next to the lot line, from which it should not project more than two feet into the alley. § 1.

The remaining sections of the ordinance are in these words:

'§ 2. The word 'garbage' shall be held to include every refuse accumulation of animal, fruit, or vegetable matter that attends the preparation, use, cooking, dealing in or storing of meat, fish, fowl, food, fruit, or vegetables, including dead animals and condemned foods found within the city limits. All garbage shall be collected in water-tight closed metal boxes, and such boxes shall be purified as often as the health officer may direct, and shall have painted thereon the word 'Garbage.'

'§ 3. It is hereby made the duty of the contractor with the city of Detroit for the collection and removal of garbage and dead animals to collect and remove, in accordance with the ordinances and contract of the city, all garbage, dead animals, fish, and refuse animal and vegetable matter found within the city limits. No other person or party except the city contractor or its agents shall carry, convey, or transport through the streets, alleys, or public places of the city of Detroit such materials, and it shall be unlawful for any person to interfere in any manner with the collection and disposal of such materials by the city contractor.

'§ 4. It shall be unlawful for any person to deposit, throw, or place any garbage, fish, dead animals, or refuse animal or vegetable matter in any avenue, alley, street, or other public place within the city of Detroit; nor shall any person place such materials upon any private property, whether owned by such person or not, unless the same shall be inclosed in proper vessels or boxes, as provided in § 1.

'§ 5. The collection and removal of garbage shall be under the supervision of the board of health, and it shall be the duty of the board of health and police department, through their proper officials and agents, to enforce the provisions of this ordinance.' Revised Ordinances of 1895, as amended in 1901.

The city of Detroit rests the authority of its council to pass this ordinance upon its charter, which contains the following provisions: 'The council shall have power to provide for the preservation of the general health of the inhabitants of the city, and to make regulations to secure the same; . . . to abate or remove any nuisance; . . . to prohibit and prevent any person from having on his premises any substance or thing that is unwholesome or nauseous; and to authorize the removal thereof; . . . The common council is also empowered to enact and provide, by appropriate ordinance, for the manner of collecting, transporting, conveying, and handling of garbage and all animal and vegetable matter and refuse in said city; . . . and to require all persons in said city to dispose of the same in the manner provided by said common council in said ordinance for the removal and destruction thereof, and to impose and enforce appropriate penalties for any violation of said ordinance.' Charter of the city, chap. 7, § 43, par. 130.

By additional legislation in 1889 the common council was given the power 'to advertise for proposals, and contract for the removal, disposition, and destruction of garbage and all animal and vegetable refuse for a term of years.'

In 1901 the city and the Detroit Sanitary Works, a corporation of Michigan, entered into a written agreement, by which the latter undertook to collect, remove, and dispose of all garbage and dead animals within the limits of the city of Detroit for the term of ten consecutive fiscal years, beginning July 1st, 1901. In consideration of the faithful performance of the conditions and specifications specified in the agreement, the city agreed to pay to the sanitary company the sum of $515,000, in equal monthly instalments of $4,291.66 2/3 during the continuance of the contract.

The agreement between the city and the sanitary works contained, among others, the following provisions: '1. Garbage shall be understood to consist of all refuse animal or vegetable matter, including dead animals, found within the city limits, coming from private or public premises within the city. 2. The time for making the collection of garbage and dead animals shall be as follows, to wit: (a) Within and upon the public markets daily. (b) Within the two-mile circle as shown from the maps of the city, and from all hotels, restaurants, hospitals, slaughterhouses, and all other places where animals, game, or fowl are killed within the said city of Detroit collections daily. (c) Within all other portions of the city, collections three times in each week, times as nearly equally divided as possible. The work of collecting said garbage shall be performed to the satisfaction and under the provision of the board of health. (d) The board of health shall have authority to order daily collections outside of the two-mile circle whenever, in its judgment, it is necessary. The health officer shall also have authority to order extra collections to be made at any time when necessary, the contractor shall be required to cause such collections to be made within three hours of the time when such order is received by him. (e) Garbage shall be collected in and transported through the streets of the city in vehicles with water-tight closed metal boxes. 3. All garbage must be taken at least 2 miles outside the limits of the city of Detroit, and disposed of in such manner as to entail no damage or claim against the city of Detroit for such disposal. 4. It is expressly agreed that no garbage or other refuse collected by said contractor shall be dumped into the Detroit river or any of its tributaries, or into Lake Erie or any other lake. The common council reserves the right to make such rules and regulations with reference to the collection of the garbage as may, from time to time, be deemed necessary. No employee of the contractor shall receive in the city of Detroit less than one and fifty one-hundredths dollars ($1.50) per day. In case said second party shall fail to collect garbage or dead animals in accordance with this contract, and such failure shall continue for the period of twenty-four (24) hours after a written notice from the board of health of the city of Detroit, then, and in such case, said second party shall be liable to and shall pay to the said party of the first part the penalty of two dollars ...