Winchester v. Redmond

• Citation: 93 Va. 711,25 S.E. 1001
• Parties: CITY OP WINCHESTER v. REDMOND.
• Decision Date: 19 November 1896
• Court: Supreme Court of Virginia

25 S.E. 1001

93 Va. 711

CITY OP WINCHESTER

v.REDMOND.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Nov. 19, 1896.

Municipal Corporations — Powers —Offering Reward for Criminals.

1. in the absence of express authority conferred by its charter or by general law, a municipal corporation has no power to offer and pay a reward for the apprehension and conviction of persons violating the criminal laws of the state.

2. Authority to a council of a city to offer a reward for the detection of criminals cannot be inferred from a "general welfare" clause of its charter, the matter being properly a subject of state, and not municipal, jurisdiction.

3. The offer by a city council of a reward which it has no authority to pay is ultra vires, and creates no obligation enforceable against the city.

Error to circuit court, Frederick county; Thomas W. Harrison, Judge.

Action by Redmond against the city of Winchester. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Reversed.

R. M. Ward, for plaintiff in error.

William R. Alexander and R. T. Barton, for defendant in error.

RIELY, J. This case is before us upon a writ of error to a judgment of the circuit court of Frederick county, rendered againstthe city of Winchester, for the amount of a reward offered by its common council for the apprehension and conviction of incendiaries. The main and important question for our determination is: Did the council have the power, under the law, to offer the reward, and bind the city for its payment? A municipal corporation, as well as other corporations, is, in this country at least, the creature of the legislative power of the state, and its charter is its constitution and fundamental law. Upon the provisions of its charter and such other statutes of the state as are applicable to cities and towns depend the powers that are conferred upon the corporation, and that may be exercised by its council, which is its legislative body. it possesses no powers except those conferred upon it, expressly or by fair implication, by the law which created it and other statutes applicable to it, and such other powers as are essential to the attainment and maintenance of its declared objects and purposes. it can do no act, nor make any contract, nor incur any liability, that is not thus authorized. These principles lie at the foundation of the law of municipal corporations, and are the guides in the construction and adjudication of their powers. "it is a general and undisputed proposition of law, " says a distinguished jurist and eminent commentator in his excellent treatise on this subject, "that a municipal corporation possesses and can exercise the following powers, and no others: First, those granted in express words; second, those necessarily or fairly implied in or incident to the powers expressly granted; third, those essential to the declared objects and purposes of the corporation, —not simply convenient, but indispensable. Any fair, reasonable doubt concerning the existence of power is resolved by the courts against the corporation, and the power is denied." Dill. Mun. Corp. (3d Ed.) § 89. The city of Winchester is a municipal corporation chartered by the legislature of the state. An inspection of its charter discloses that no express power was given to the corporation to offer a reward for the detection, apprehension, or conviction of offenders against the criminal laws of the state. Nor does any statute of the state confer upon municipal corporations such authority.

But it is claimed that the exercise of such power is authorized by section 9 of the charter of the city, which, after conferring upon the council a number of particular powers, authorizes it "to do all such things as it may deem proper for the prosperity, quiet, and good order of the city." This language, though very broad, is yet not without its proper limitation. it is to be construed with reference to the object contemplated by the state in the grant of the charter, and the extent of the power it confers is to he measured and limited by the purposes for which the corporation was created. A municipal corporation is a local and subordinate gov ernment, created by the sovereign authority of the state, primarily to regulate and administer the local and internal affairs of the city or town incorporated, in contradistinction to those matters which are common to and concern the people at large of the state. And it is only in regard to the local and internal affairs of the city or town that its council, unless expressly authorized, has the right to legislate. To this end, specific powers are usually given in express words; and when a general and indefinite power, as the one under consideration, is superadded, it is to be confined in its exercise to the ordinary objects and purposes of municipal corporations, and not to be construed to comprehend a matter which is common to the state, and affects its people at large. The line of distinction may not always be perfectly clear. Cases doubtless do sometimes arise when it is not readily perceived whether the power exercised by the council of a city or town is implied in the powers expressly given, or is necessary to the accomplishment of the objects and purposes of the corporation, or whether it is wholly a state power, and only to be exercised by its legislature; but, as respects...