Trustees of Free Pub. Library of Newark v. Civil Serv. Comm'n of N.J.

• Decision Date: 13 July 1912
• Parties: TRUSTEES OF FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF NEWARK v. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION OF NEW JERSEY.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

83 A. 980

83 N.J.L. 196

TRUSTEES OF FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF NEWARK

v. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION OF NEW JERSEY.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

July 13, 1912.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Certiorari prosecuted by the Trustees of the Free Public Library of Newark against the Civil Service Commission of New Jersey to set aside the action of the commission in classifying appointees and employes of the free public library of Newark. Action of the commission affirmed.

Argued February term, 1912, before BERGEN, VOORHEES, and KALISCH, JJ.

Pitney, Hardin & Skinner, for prosecutor.

Edmund Wilson, Atty. Gen., and Nelson B. Gaskill, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant.

VOORHEES, J. The prosecutor by this writ of certiorari would set aside the action of the state civil service commission in classifying the appointees and employes of "the Trustees of the Free Public Library of Newark" as part of the civil service of the municipality of the city of Newark.

The following facts appear: The provisions of an act entitled "An act to authorize the establishment of free public libraries in the cities of this state" (P. L. 1884, p. 110) were duly accepted by the city of Newark at an election on the 11th day of October 1887. Thereafter live trustees were appointed by the mayor of the city of Newark from among the citizens of that city to serve for the terms of one, two, three, four, and five years, respectively. Said five trustees, together with the then mayor and city superintendent of schools, duly organized, pursuant to the provisions of said act, on the 9th day of May, 1888. The trustees at the present time are the present mayor and city superintendent of schools of said city and five trustees appointed from time to time in succession to the original trustees. The said board of trustees was constituted by said act a body corporate under the name of the prosecutor.

The prosecutor has established, maintains, and administers in the said city of Newark a free public library, as authorized by the provisions of the act under which said prosecutor was originally incorporated and by the act entitled "An act concerning free public libraries," approved April 14, 1905 (P. L. 1905, p. 273), by the provisions of which the prosecutor is now governed. The city of Newark since the adoption of the act has appropriated and raised by taxation annually for the support and use of said library moneys in accordance with the provisions of the act of 1905, and has paid them over to the treasurer of the prosecutor, to be used by the prosecutor for the support of said library. On the 27th day of December, 1910, the civil service commission of New Jersey, claiming to act under the provisions of the Civil Service Law (P. L. 1908, p. 235), classified the employes of the prosecutor as of the classified civil service of the city of Newark, and as subject to the jurisdiction of the civil service commission and to the operation of the civil service law.

The question presented is whether the appointees and employes of the corporation known as "the Trustees of the Free Public Library of the City of Newark" fill offices or positions in the paid service of the state or of the city of Newark. If they do not, they are not subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Act. The first general act which authorizes cities to establish free public libraries was passed in 1879. P. L. 1879, p. 262. Before that legislation authorizing the formation of corporations for library purposes referred not to associations of a public character, but in the nature of private corporations, with power to issue stock and disconnected with any governmental agency. See P. L. 1854, p. 448; 2 Gen. St. 1895, p. 1945; P. L. 1856, p. 47; P. L. 1857, p. 409; P. L. 1860, p. 96; P. L. 1867, p. 272; P. L. 1882, p. 34; P. L. 1884, p. 139—as examples of such enactments. The act of 1879, supra, gave the common council the right to establish public libraries for the benefit of the inhabitants of any city and to levy a tax of not more than one-fifth of a mill on the dollar annually on all taxable property in the city to be collected like other taxes to be known as the "Library Fund." General oversight and control by the city is provided for in this act by the appointment by the mayor, with the approval of council, of the directors, and although such directors have power to make by-laws for their own guidance in conformity with the act, and exclusive control of the expenditures, etc., yet all moneys are to be deposited in the city treasury, but separate from the city's other funds, and to be drawn by city officers upon the vouchers of the directors. The library and reading room shall be forever free to the use of the inhabitants of the city, subject to reasonable rules to be adopted by the board "in order to render the vise * * * of the greatest benefit to the greatest number." Reports are to be made to common council, and the latter body are empowered to pass ordinances imposing penalties for the punishment of persons injuring the library or grounds, and for the failure to return any books, to be enforced in any manner provided in the charter of the city.

It is true that this act with the evident intent of encouraging private gifts provides that "any person desiring to make donations of money * * * shall have the right to vest the title to the money * * * in the board of directors * * * to be held * * * by such board when accepted, according to the terms of the deed, etc., * * * and as to such property, the board shall be held and considered to be special trustees." This act was permissive, and did not contain a referendum. It, however, sufficiently indicates a legislative intent to furnish to the inhabitants of cities by means of taxation free access to books for the improvement of their condition, while yet securing to donors as theretofore the same security for gifts as if this public character had not been imported into the organization. It was not an incorporation perhaps, but became a part of the municipal government. Act 1884, p. 81, may be passed without further comment than to state that it was designed to encourage free libraries, and where an incorporation under the act of 1875, and a free library maintained by public moneys coexisted in the same city, the municipal body might loan the latter to the former, conditional upon the city's representation in the board of trustees of the incorporated association.

We next notice the act of 1884, "An act to authorize the establishment of free public libraries in the cities of this state. P. L. 1884, p. 110. Under this act, the...