State v. Orr

• Decision Date: 25 June 1896
• Citation: 68 Conn. 101,35 A. 770
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE v. ORR.

35 A. 770

68 Conn. 101

STATE

v. ORR.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

June 25, 1896.

Appeal from criminal court of common pleas, Fairfield county; Walsh, Judge.

Charles S. Orr was convicted in the city court of Bridgeport of violating an ordinance of such city which prohibits any person from collecting and transporting garbage and offal without a license, and appealed to the criminal court of common pleas. From a judgment of conviction, he appeals. Affirmed.

Defendant did not dispute the violation of the ordinance as alleged in the complaint, but he claimed (1) that the ordinance was void; and (2) that, if it was not, he was entitled to an acquittal on the ground that he tried to procure a license, and failed, because the board of health of such city refused to license any one.

David B. Lockwood and Alfred B. Beers, for appellant.

John H. Light and V. R. C. Giddings, for the State.

BALDWIN, J. The charter of the city of Bridgeport conferred upon the common council ample power to regulate by ordinance the collection and re noval of garbage and offal. The ordinance brought in question upon this proceeding deals only (section 2) with "such refuse matter as accumulates in the preparation of food for the table." "Refuse matter," as the term is thus employed, can embrace nothing which has not been refused or rejected as unsuitable for table use. It may be thus rejected because it has little or no value for human food, or because it is decayed or unwholesome. It mast, in its nature, be perishable, and can include little which is not liable to become decomposed or offensive if left where it falls. The common council therefore had authority to regulate its disposition in such a way as to prevent it from becoming the occasion of a nuisance. Much, however, that is of the nature of garbage and offal, and has slight value for table use, may be not unsuitable for the food of animals, for manure, or as materials for manufacture. Construing this ordinance with the strictness properly applicable to municipal legislation of a penal nature, the term "refuse matter" can only extend to matter which is in fact noisome, or which has been refused and rejected by the owner as worthless. Meat trimmings, potato parings, specked apples, and many other things of a like character, might be thrown aside in preparing table dishes, and yet properly utilized afterwards for other purposes. The mode of regulation of the disposition of kitchen refuse which is contained in this ordinance seems to be one of an alternative character. The board of health is empowered to take such measures as it may deem effectual for the removing of this refuse from the whole city or any portion of it, and to this end to employ or make contracts with one or more persons, subject to certain rules, of which the following are the leading ones: No person shall collect and transport such refuse in the city without first having obtained a permit from the board. It shall all be carried through the city in water-tight, covered carts, so loaded as not to spill; each to be plainly marked "City Garbage Cart," with the name of the contractor, and number of the cart, and of the ward, and to be used only when inspected, approved, and licensed by the clerk of the board. All such refuse is to be placed by the person on whose premises it originates in suitable covered vessels, set there in a position convenient for removal, or in some place designated by the clerk of the board, so that it "may be called for by the garbage contractor of said city; provided, however, that any person may be excepted from the provisions of this section upon obtaining a permit to that effect from the clerk of the board of health." No other matter whatever can be placed in such a vessel. "The garbage contractor or other person employed by the board of health shall call regularly at all dwellings, tenements, hotels, restaurants, or other buildings designated by the said board, and remove promptly and in as cleanly a manner as possible all garbage or offal that may be offered, and shall return the receptacles to the place on such premises from which the same were taken. All garbage and offal which shall be removed through said city shall be carried and deposited in such places as may be designated and approved by the board of health, and shall be disposed of in such manner as not to create a nuisance, and the covers of all carts, wagons or vessels used for the purpose of removing such garbage or offal, shall be kept tightly closed while they are being transported through the streets of the city. No deposit of garbage or offal shall be made within the limits of the city of Bridgeport, or upon any wharf, or upon any vessel lying at any wharf, except by permit from the board of health." The clerk of the...