State v. City of Cape May

• Decision Date: 31 March 1897
• Citation: 36 A. 1089,60 N.J.L. 78
• Parties: STATE (FOSTER et al., Prosecutors) v. CITY OF CAPE MAY et al.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

36 A. 1089

60 N.J.L. 78

STATE (FOSTER et al., Prosecutors)

v. CITY OF CAPE MAY et al.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

March 31, 1897.

Certiorari by the state, on the prosecution of Charles P. Foster and others, against the city of Cape May, the city council of Cape May, J. Ashton Williams, recorder of the city of Cape May, and the Franklin Electric Light Company, to review proceedings of such city council relating to a contract for the lighting of the streets with electricity. Proceedings declared invalid.

Argued February term, 1897, before DEPUE, MAGIE, and GUMMERE, JJ.

E. A. Armstrong, for plaintiffs.

S. H. Grey, for defendants.

DEPUE, J. This writ brings up proceedings of the city council of Cape May for the lighting of the streets with electric lights. The city of Cape May was incorporated by an act passed in 1875 (P. L. 1875, p. 206). Section 40 of the charter provides that the city council shall have power to provide lamps and gas fixtures, and light the streets and public places of every description in said city. By an act passed May 22, 1894, it was enacted "that it shall hereafter be lawful for the common council * * * of any city * * * authorized to act in such matters from time to time, and by ordinance or resolution, to order and cause any public street or streets, place or places, or any parts thereof, in any such city, * * * to be lighted with gas, electric lights or otherwise, and for that purpose to erect and maintain, or cause to be erected or maintained, all necessary and proper posts, poles, lanterns and fixtures on any or all of the public roads, streets, lanes, or alleys, and to make and enter into any contract or contracts with any other party or parties for any term or terms not exceeding five years." On the 19th of March, 1896, the Franklin Electric Light Company submitted to the city council the following communication: "To the President and Members of City Council: The Franklin Electric Light Company hereby agrees to light the city of Cape May with as many electric lights as may be needed, and such lights to be similar to those lights now in use by said city, for a period of five years from the 15th day of May next, all night and every night, from dusk to sunrise, for the sum of thirty-five cents per night for each light so furnished. We agree to furnish such additional lights as the city may need during the summer months upon the same terms and at the same rate. We further agree, in the event of the acceptance by the city of the above-stated proposition, that said company will, on or before the first day of July next, move its present plant within the city limits, increase the capacity of the same, and add thereto a fifteen-hundred incandescent light plant." Other electric light companies also submitted propositions for lighting the city with electric lights. At the meeting of the city council held on the 13th of April, 1896, a resolution was adopted "that the committee on protection of property be, and is hereby, authorized to enter into a contract with the Franklin Electric Light Company to light the city with a sufficient number of electric lights to properly light the city, at thirty-five cents per light per night for a period of five years, provided said company shall, by the first day of July next, increase its present plant, and install an incandescent plant, in accordance with the proposition of said company bearing date March, A. D. 1896."

This writ of certiorari brings up the above resolution. The city claims the power to enter into a contract with the Franklin Electric Light Company for lighting the city, under the provisions of the act of 1894. The act of 1894 confers the power on the common council in its representative capacity to make contracts within the purview of the power granted by the act. The contention on the part of the city is that, having power to make such a contract, it was competent for the city council to delegate the authority contemplated by the resolution to one of its committees. Green v. City...