State v. Milligan
| Decision Date | 18 November 1891 |
| Citation | 28 P. 369,3 Wash. 144 |
| Parties | STATE EX REL. NEWS PUB. CO. ET AL. v. MILLIGAN. |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
Appeal from superior court, Pierce county; FRANK ALLYN, Judge.
Action by the state on the relation of the News Publishing Company against the city of Tacoma and others. From an order imposing a fine for contempt in disobeying an injunction order defendant, S. C. Milligan, appeals. Reversed.
Crowley & Sullivan, for appellant.
Pritchard, Stevens, Grosscup & Seymour, and W. H. Snell, Pros. Atty., for respondent.
This action involves the construction of section 48, art. 3, of the city charter of the city of Tacoma, which is as follows It is contended by the respondent that by virtue of said section the city council is compelled to let the contract for the city printing to the lowest and best bidder, who must at the time be the publisher of a newspaper, or, at least, that they cannot let the contract to any one who is not at the time of the bidding the publisher of a newspaper. This was the construction placed upon the law by the court, and the construction that is necessary to sustain the injunction in this case; while it is contended by the appellant that no such restrictions are placed upon the city council, which is the sole and exclusive judge of the bids for the printing. This section may appropriately be characterized as an instance of unfortunate legislative expression, and a plausible argument may be predicated on either construction; and it cannot be gainsaid that the argument of counsel for respondents presents many reasons tending very strongly to support his contention. And yet it seems to us that such construction does not necessarily follow from the wording of the section, and the court will be inclined to give it the most liberal construction, and allow the fullest scope for competition, consistent with its terms. It cannot be presumed that in enacting this act the local legislature had in view a protective policy for the benefit of established newspapers, or that the welfare of newspapers entered into its calculations at all. It is evidently the spirit and intention of the law that the city council shall be clothed with authority to make the best bargain it can for the city with reference to such printing and it must necessarily be clothed with some discretion as to who is the lowest and best bidder. This discretion seems especially conferred upon it and upon no other tribunal; and in the absence of a fraudulent abuse of discretion, its judgment is supreme. It does not necessarily follow that the best bidder is the person who has a newspaper with the largest circulation; nor does it follow that, because the council is required, after having let the contract, to designate the newspaper published by the party securing said contract as the official newspaper of the city, the newspaper so designated shall then be in existence. If it sees fit, the city council has a perfect right to demand conditions precedent to the letting of the contract....
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