Laurel Hill Cemetery v. City and County of San Francisco
| Citation | 216 U.S. 358,54 L.Ed. 515,30 S.Ct. 301 |
| Decision Date | 21 February 1910 |
| Docket Number | No. 100,100 |
| Parties | LAUREL HILL CEMETERY, Plff. in Err., v. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Mr. Thomas E. Haven for plaintiff in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 358-360 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Jesse H. Steinhart and Percy V. Long for defendants in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 361-363 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:
This is an action to restrain the city and county of San Francisco and its officers from enforcing an ordinance forbidding the burial of the dead within the city and county limits. The allegations of the complaint are lengthy, but the material facts set forth are as follows: The plaintiff was incorporated in 1867 as a rural cemetery under a general act. The land in question had been dedicated as a burying ground, being at that time outside the city limits, and a mile or two away from dwellings and business. It was conveyed to the plaintiff, and later a grant of the same was obtained from the city in consideration of $24,139.79, which sum the city retains. The land has been used as a cemetery ever since; forty thousand lots have been sold, and over two million dollars have been spent by the lot owners, and other large sums by the plaintiff, in preparing and embellishing the grounds. By the terms of the abovementioned general statute the lots, after a burial in them, are inalienable, and descend to the heirs of the owner, and the plaintiff is bound to apply the proceeds of sales to the improvement, embellishment, and preservation of the grounds. There is land still unsold, estimated to be worth $75,000. There now are many dwellings near the cemetery, but it is alleged to be in no way injurious to health, or offensive, or otherwise an interference with the enjoyment of property or life. There also is an allegation that there are within the city large tracts, some of them vacant and some of them containing several hundred acres, in several of which interments could be made more than a mile distant from any inhabitants or highway. The ordinance in question begins with a recital that 'the burial of the dead within the city and county of San Francisco is dangerous to life and detrimental to the public health,' and goes on to forbid such burial under a penalty of fine, imprisonment, or both. The complaint sets up that it violates article 1, § 8, and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
The answer denied some of the above statements on the ground of ignorance, and categorically denied the averment as to the large vacant tracts available for burying within the city. The defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings, the notice showing the ground to be that the complaint did not state a cause of action, but going on to say that the motion would be made upon all the papers on file. The motion was granted, and an exception to the judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state. 152 Cal. 464, 93 Pac. 70, 14 A. & E. Ann. Cas. 1080. As the state court and the arguments before us assumed the material allegations of the complaint to be true, we shall assume that the judgment was ordered upon the complaint without regard to the denials in the answer, although it was then on file.
The only question that needs to be answered, if not the only one before us, is whether the plaintiff's property is taken contrary to the 14th Amendment. In considering it, the allegation as to the large tracts available for burying purposes may be laid on one side. The plaintiff has no grievance with regard to them. The Winnebago (Iroquois Transp. Co. v. Delaney Forge & Iron Co.) 205 U. S. 354, 360, 51 L. ed. 836, 839, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 509. Moreover, it is said by the supreme court of the state that burial within the San Francisco city or county limits already was forbidden by statute, except in existing cemeteries or such as might be established by the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors passed the ordinance now complained of; so that, as pointed out by the court, the ordinance in effect merely prohibited burials in existing cemeteries. It was, therefore, a specific determination by the lawmaking authority as to the relation of those cemeteries to their respective neighborhoods, and the question is whether the court can say that it was wrong.
To aid its contention, and in support of the averment that its cemetery, although now bordered...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Dutton Phosphate Co. v. Priest
... ... to Circuit Court, Alachua County; T. H. Wills, Judge ... Action ... by ... 1033, 57 L.Ed. 1427; ... Bradley v. City of Richmond, 227 U.S. 477, 33 S.Ct ... 318, 57 ... 578, 33 ... S.Ct. 182, 57 L.Ed. 364; Laurel Hill Cemetery v. City and ... County of San ... ...
-
Doe v. Zucker
...broad discretion in matters affecting the application and enforcement of a health law" (citing Laurel Hill Cemetery v. San Francisco , 216 U.S. 358, 30 S.Ct. 301, 54 L.Ed. 515 (1910) ; Lieberman v. Van de Carr , 199 U.S. 552, 26 S.Ct. 144, 50 L.Ed. 305 (1905) )).The Court therefore conclude......
-
Pennsylvania Coal Co v. Mahon, 549
...above the limiting height; but it is settled that the state need not resort to that power. Compare Laurel Hill Cemetery v. San Francisco, 216 U. S. 358, 30 Sup. Ct. 301, 54 L. Ed. 515; Missouri Pacific Railway Co. v. Omaha, 235 U. S. 121, 35 Sup. Ct. 82, 59 L. Ed. 157. If by mining anthraci......
-
Gorman Young v. Hartford Fire Ins Co Same v. Phcenix Assur Co
...355, 28 S. Ct. 114, 52 L. Ed. 236; Welch v. Swasey, 214 U. S. 91, 108, 29 S. Ct. 567, 53 L. Ed. 923; Laurel Hill Cemetery v. San Francisco, 216 U. S. 358, 365, 30 S. Ct. 301, 54 L. Ed. 515; Adams v. Milwaukee, 228 U. S. 572, 583, 33 S. Ct. 610, 57 L. Ed. 971; Barrett v. Indiana, 229 U. S. 2......
-
Three cases/four tales: commons, capture, the public trust, and property in land.
...life of the common law has not been logic: it has been experience."); see also Laurel Hill Cemetery v. City and County of San Francisco, 216 U.S. 358, 366 (1910) (Holmes, J.) ("Tradition and the habits of the community count for more than (34) BLACKSTONE, 2 COMMENTARIES *8. Both theories do......