Curtis v. MacTier

³⁸⁸ Pearce, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The bill in this case was filed by the appellee, a resident of the village of Chevy Chase, in Montgomery county, Maryland, and -the owner of real and personal property in said village, subject to assessment and taxation for municipal purposes, against the appellants, claiming to act as members of the Board of Trustees of the said village of Chevy Chase; the bill alleges that the act of incorporation of said village is unconstitutional and void, and the prayer of the bill is that it be so declared by the Court, and that the appellants be enjoined from acting or attempting to act as members of said Board of Trustees, and from assessing, levying and collecting or attempting to assess, levy and collect taxes upon the assessable property of the appellee in said village, or upon such property of other owners thereof in said village. The defendants answered the bill, and the case was submitted on bill, exhibits and answer. The act of incorporation which is assailed is Chapter 382 of 1910, and its title is, “AnAut to incorporate the Village of Chevy Chase, in Montgomery County, Maryland.” The first section of that act provides that what is there called a “plan of municipal control” should be submitted to the vote of the residents of said village of Chevy Chase, possessing the qualifications prescribed for voters by the laws of Maryland, “in accordance with the referendum” thereinafter prescribed, and that if said plan should receive a majority of the votes cast at the election therein provided for, it should become operative upon such adoption and' entry thereof upon the land records of Montgomery county.

The plan is an elaborate scheme of government containing thirteen sections. Section a declares the inhabitants of the village of Chevy Chase to be a body corporate by the name of “The Village of Chevy Chase”, with the usual corporate powers and privileges. Section b provides for the annual election by the qualified voters of said village, on the first Monday in May, 1910, and annually thereafter on the same day, of five persons from ³⁸⁹ said body of voters, one of whom shall be elected as president, to constitute a board of trustees for said village for the term of one year. This section also makes definite provision for methods of procedure by the Board of Trustees, and for the election by them of subordinate officers and for their compensation.

Section c defines the duties of the president of the Board of Trustees, and confers upon him power and authority to try- and determine all violations of the village ordinances, in the same manner as if he were a justice of the peace. Section d provides that the Board of Trustees may enact ordinances for the good government of the village, for the preservation of peace and order, for the opening, closing, changing, grading and improving of streets, sidewalks and alleys; for process of condemnation where necessary; for street lighting and fire protection; for the establishment of building lines and regulations; for protecting the purity of the water supply of the village, and generally for any purpose necessary to the proper government of a residential suburb of a large city, including the raising of revenue for current expenses, subject to limitations thereinafter contained in said plan of municipal control. Sections e, e and g relate to the details connected with the maintenance and improvements of the streets and sidewalks, and the use of the streets by electric railways and other vehicles, and by public service corporations. • Section h relates to the acquisition of property for municipal purposes and the construction of works for those purposes. Section i confers authority upon the board of trustees to contract with the Chevy Chase Club for certain annual payments by said club to said board for municipal purposes, in consideration of the use by said club of the streets and roads of said village; also to enter into a similar contract with the Chevy Chase Land Company in lieu of taxes upon certain of its property in said village. ³⁹⁰ Section j provides for a triennial assessment of all real and personal property in said village, except that part of the area of said village which lies north and east of the Broad Branch road and the Brookville road, and that a tax not exceeding fifty cents in the hundred dollars should be levied annually upon said property so assessed, to be collected as therein prescribed.

Section k will be transcribed in full, and is as follows: Section k. That the County Commissioners of Montgomery county at the time of the annual tax levy for this year, and each succeeding year thereafter, are authorized, directed and required to make a special levy for such amount as may be mentioned in the petition hereinafter referred to on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the whole of the assessable real and personal property of the part of the village of Chevy Chase, in Montgomery county, which lies each of the Broad Branch and Brookeville roads, as herein-before described, to be collected as other taxes in said county are collected, and to be paid over by the said County Commissioners to the treasurer of the Chevy Chase Improvement Association upon his giving bond for the faithful performance of his duties, to be approved by the Judge of the Circuit Court of said- Montgomery county, in such penalty as such judge shall fix, to be used by said association exclusively for the betterment of the streets, roads, sidewalks, parkways, drainage, sanitation and other improvements in said part of the village of Chevy Chase, and for the furnishing of police protection and public services, including the removal of ashes, garbage and other refuse for the benefit of the residents thereof; provided, fifteen (15) or more persons residing in said part of the said village, and owning-such taxable property therein, shall, prior to each annual levy, petition said County Commissionex-s, asking such special levy to be xnade, and in said petition stating- the amount, desired to be specially levied; provided, the same shall not exceed the sum of forty (40) cents on each oxxe hundred dollars ($100) of assessable property as aforesaid; provided, ³⁹¹ further, that the hoard of trustees of the village of Chevy Chase shall be under no obligation to spend any of the money under their control for public purposes for the creation of betterment of roads, streets, sidewalks, parkways, drainage, sanitation, or other improvements in said part of the village of Chevy Chase, or for the furnishing of police protection and prrblie services; all the provisions, however, of section 5 shall he in force as to all property lying east of said Broad Branch and Brookeville roads, except that the repairs to macadamized streets and sidewalks crossing and gutters shall not.be charged against the general fund of the. village, but shall be qraid out of the moneys coming to the hands of the treasurer of the said Chevy Chase Improvement Association; provided, further, that there shall be paid annually by the County Commissioners of Montgomery county to the treasurer of the said Chevy Chase Improvement Association, on or before the first day of January, 1911, and on or before the first day of January in each and every year thereafter, the full amount of road tax levied or imposed upon the assessable real estate within the limits of Chevy Chase lying east of the Broad Branch and Brooke-ville roads, as hereinbefore set forth. Section l provides that the County Commissioners for the county, justices of the peace, sheriffs, constables, and all the county and State officers shall exercise their respective functions in said village except as qualified by the other sections of the act, and that the County Commissioners of Montgomery county shall pay annually to the village of Chevy 'Chase the full amount of road taxes levied or imposed upon the assessable property within the corporate limits of said village exceqrt so much as is required by section ic to be paid to the treasurer of the Chevy Chase Improvement Association. Section m provides for extending the limits of the village so as to bring within them certain designated adjacent lands, upon application of a majority in area of the owner's of said lands. ³⁹² Section 2 of the act provided that for the purpose of determining whether said plan of municipal control should be adopted, an election as provided in section 1 of said act should be held on the last Monday in May, 1910, between the hours of six and nine o’clock P. M. under the control of the election supervisors of Montgomery county, and that said supervisors should report the result thereof to the clerk of the Circuit Court for Montgomery county, who should enter the same upon the record of his office, and that thereupon, the plan, if so adopted by a majority of said voters, should become operative and in force.

The required election was held as provided, and the plan of municipal control was adopted, sixty votes being cast for, and fifty-eight against its adoption, and the result of said election -was duly reported to the clerk of the Circuit Court for Montgomery county, and was by him duly entered on the record thereof. The bill refers to another act of the General Assembly of Maryland approved on the same day, April 8th, 1910, being Eo-. 383, and entitled “An Act providing for special levy in Chevy Chase, Md.”, but in the view taken by the Circuit Court, it became unnecessary that it should consider that act, and as we concur in the view of the Circuit Court we shall not allude further to that act. The appellee in her bill urged numerous objections to the validity of the municipal plan act, but of these the two principal were: (1) That it embraces a subject distinct from that described in its title, and (2) that it exempts entirely from municipal taxation assessable property in one of the territorial divisions of said village, in violation of Article 15 of the Bill of Eights, which requires that every person shall “contribute his proportion of public taxes for the support of the government according to his actual worth in real and personal property.” The defendants filed- a lengthy answer replying to each paragraph of' the bill, but no questions of fact are raised thereby, and the answer really has the effect of a demurrer. ³⁹³ Taking up first the title of the Act, it is embraced in just thirteen words, “An Act to incorporate the village of Chevy Chase, in Montgomery county, Maryland.” It has long been settled that the title of an Act need not give an abstract of its contents, and that if all the sections of the law, however numerous, refer to, and are germane to, the same subject which is described in the title, it will be considered as embracing but a single subject, and as satisfying the requirements of the Constitution in this respect. The title of this Act therefore is ample to include all the pro-A-isions that relate to the organization of the corporate body, and to the administration of its affairs according to the ordinary course of conduct in municipal corporations.

But section k, which we have fully transcribed herein contains provisions which, so far as we are informed, have never been embraced in any municipal charter in this State, and which are not only not germane to the object and purposes of an ordinary municipal charter, but are alien and repugnant to the principles which have heretofore governed the administration of municipalities in this State. These provisions are so clearly stated and so forcibly condemned as incongruous and violative of section 29 of Article 3 of the Constitution of Maryland, in the opinion of the Circuit Court, that we adopt their language here. The Court said: “Under that title there are enactments in section m, providing for special levies by the County Commissioners of Montgomery county, upon application of a certain number of residents of a defined area in the village, the payment of the proceeds to an association independent of the municipal trustees, and the further payment to the association of the road tax realized by the county from the area in question. It is perfectly