County Commissioners v. Commissioners of Laurel

Irving, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal presents the question, whether a mandamus granted by the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, upon the application of the Commissioners of Laurel against the County Commissioners of Prince George’s County, was correctly granted. The nineteenth section of the act of 1870, ch. 260, incorporating the Town of Laurel, is as follows: “Section 19, and be it enacted, that so much of the labor or money, by the present, or any future road law levied or taxed upon the owners of property or residents within the corporate limits of said corporation, shall be turned over to said Commissioners, and belong to and become a part of the income of the said corporation to be by them appropriated for the improvement of roads within the limits of said corporation.” The County Commissioners having, on demand, declined to comply with the provisions of said law, the Commissioners of Laurel filed their application to the Circuit Court for a mandamus to coerce their compliance. The petition alleges their incorporation by Act of 1870, ch. 260, and sets out the said nineteenth section of their act of incorporation.

It also alleges a levy of a “ tax for roads and bridges ” by the County Commissioners on the taxables of the county, including the inhabitants of said Town of Laurel, for the years 1877 and 1878, and that although requested they have not paid over the whole of the tax “for roads and bridges” levied within said corporation for the year 1877, to said Town Commissioners, nor any part of that levied for 1878. and positively refuse to pay over; and it prays a mandamus to coerce the said County Commissioners to pay over said “tax for roads and bridges” levied within said corporate limits of said town. The ⁴⁶⁰ County Commissioners replied by an answer unsworn to, in the nature of a demurrer, and which having been treated, throughout the case, as a demurrer, we shall so regard it for the purposes of this decision. Sufficient cause against the application, in the judgment of the Court below, not having been shown, the Court ordered mandamus to issue, and the County Commissioners have appealed to this Court. The causes assigned in the Court below, and in this Court against the mandamus are as follows: 1.

Because the nineteenth section of the Act of 1870, ch. 260, has been repealed by sections 2 and 7 of the Act of 1874 ch. 205. 2. Because the title of the Act of 1870, ch. 260, does not fulfill the requirements of the 29th sec. of Art. 3 of the Constitution, which provides “that, every law enacted by the General Assembly shall embrace but one subject, and that shall be described in the title.” 3. Because the nineteenth 'section of said Act of 1870, violates the Constitution, being a special law within the meaning of sec. 33 of Art. 3. 4. Because the said nineteenth section violates Art. 15 of the Bill of Rights, which provides that every person in the State or holding property therein, ought to contribute his proportion of public taxes for the support of the government, according to his actual worth in real or personal property.

We do not think any of the constitutional objections sustained in fact or by authority. The title of the Act which is “ an Act to incorporate the Town of Laurel in Prince George’s County,” would naturally enough lead the mind to expect some provision for raising the ways and means to keep up the streets and roads of the town, and however unusual that provision may be, it was germane to the subject, and under the frequent rulings of this Court, and especially the case of Meekins vs. The ⁴⁶¹ County Commissioners of Dorchester County, 50 Md., 28 , must be held free from objection on the score of infirm or insufficient title. The objection, that it is a special law, within the meaning of sec. 33, Art. 3 of the Constitution, is untenable, because this Court has frequently decided such laws to be Public Local Laws and not special laws. It has never been decided by this Court that the fifteenth Article of the Bill of Rights, was applicable to any taxation except that for the support of the State Government, but if it was to be held as applicable to municipal governments, it is hard to see how inequality of taxation would result from the operation of the 19th section of said Act of incorporation.

It only provides that such taxes as are levied on the inhabitants or property in the Town of Laurel for road, purposes, shall be expended on particular roads. It by no means establishes unequal taxation, but bestows the taxes collected in a particular locality on the roads of that locality. For aught that we know, it may have been a large proportion of the road tax collected in the county, and it may have left scanty means for keeping up other roads; perchance it may have resulted in a very burdensome tax on all; but it is not obnoxious to the criticism made on it by the answer. It is possible that while the Act 'of 1870, ch. 315, existed, it may have resulted in a special tax in special districts, to supply the roads of that district, but then the objection, if maintainable at all, would have been to the Act of 1870, ch. 315, and not to 19 th section of the corporation charter of Laurel.

Having thus disposed of the untenable objections, we come to consider the first objection, to wit, that the Act of 1874, ch. 205, repeals the 19th section of the Act of incorporation, which, on full consideration, we think fatal to the application for mandamus. The Code, Art. 28, sec. 1, gives County Commissioners “control over the property owned by the county, and over county roads and bridges.” And so far as Prince George’s County was concerned, the ⁴⁶² Act of 1867, ch. 290, designated the duties of the County Commissioners with reference to roads and bridges, and regulated the mode of commanding labor on the roads. This Act of 1867, was quite general in its character, and included so many counties in its operation as to have been codified under the Public General Laws, title “County Commissioners.” Such being the law on April 4th, 1870, two new laws for Prince George's County, purely local in character, spring simultaneously into existence: the Act incorporating Laurel, and a special road law, being respectively chaps. 260 and 315 of the Acts of 1870. Being local laws to the