LaSalle County IL Archives Court.....Ottawa, V La Salle 1850 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarch.org/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarch.org/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 May 24, 2008, 6:58 pm Source: Records Of Cases Illinois Written: 1850 The President and Trustees of the Town of Ottawa, plaintiffs in error, v. the County of La Salle. Error to La Salle. The act of 1839, empowering the president and trustees of incorporated towns to grant licenses, and requiring them to pay all moneys derived from this source into the county treasury, does not repeal special laws previously passed empowering particular corporations to grant licenses, and to retain moneys so obtained, for their own use. These two acts are seemingly repugnant. They should, if possible, be so construed that that the latest one shall not operate as a repeal by implication, of one previously passed. (a) A subsequent law, which is general, does not abrogate a former which is special; nor does a general law operate as a repeal of a special law on the same subject, passed at the same session. (b) In agreement in a case, is a part of the record for all purposes, if for any. The county of La Salle sued the town of Ottawa in assumpsit, to recover for licenses which had been granted for selling liquor, etc. It was agreed that the sum of $312.50 had been received by the town from divers persons for such licenses, the years 1847 and 1848. That this sum had been demanded, and payment thereof refused. That the county of La Salle was organized under the law of 1849, providing for township organization. At May term, 1850, T. L. Dickey, presiding, the cause having been submitted to him, gave judgment for the county. The president and trustees of the town of Ottawa, brought the cause to this court. H. G. Cotton and A. Hoes, for plaintiffs in error. E. S. Leland and W. H. L. Wallace, for the county. Treat, C. J. The act of the twelfth of February, 1831, authorized towns containing a population of not less than one hundred and fifty inhabitants, to become incorporated for municipal purposes. Corporations formed under this law possessed no power to license groceries. The power remained in the county courts. The town of Ottawa was incorporated by a special act passed on the twenty-first of July, 1837. The charter expressly conferred the power to license and regulate groceries within the limits of the corporation. The seventh section of "An act regulating tavern and grocery licenses," approved March 2, 1830, was as follows: "The president and trustees of incorporated towns shall have the exclusive privilege of granting licenses to groceries within their incorporated limits; and all sums of money, which may be received for licenses as aforesaid, shall be paid into the county treasury." Between the passage of this law and May, 1848, the town of Ottawa received the sum of $312.50, for licenses granted to keep groceries within its limits. The county of La Salle brought an action to recover the money thus received; and the Circuit Court, on the foregoing state of facts, rendered a judgment against the town for the amount thereof. That decision is assigned for error. The special act incorporating the town of Ottawa conferred upon it the power to license and regulate groceries within its limits, and the right to retain to its own use the moneys received for licenses. This right continued in the corporation, unless it was taken away by the general law of the second of March, 1839. In our own opinion, that law should not be so construed as to defeat the right. We think the section before quoted was designed to apply to towns incorporated under the law of 1831, and which possessed no power to license groceries, and not to extend to corporations created by special acts, on which the power to license groceries had already been conferred. The object was to confer this power on the former class of corporations, and, at the same time, to retain the money in the county treasury, where it had hitherto been paid. It was simply a transfer of the power to license groceries, from the county courts to the authorities of incorporated towns. The first clause of the section had no application to the town of Ottawa, for it already possessed the same power under a special law. By this construction, there is no inconsistency between the two laws, but the provisions of both may remain in full force. To adopt a different construction, would be to hold that the legislature intended to repeal so much of the charters of cities and towns, as conferred authority to grant licenses to keep groceries. There is nothing on the face of the law of 1839, except the general language of the seventh section, that indicates any design to interfere with the powers previously granted to such corporations. If there is a repeal, it is by implication only. It is a maxim in the construction of statutes, that the law does not favor a repeal by implication. The earliest statute continues in force, unless the two are clearly inconsistent with, and repugnant to, each other, or unless in the latest statute, some express notice is taken of the former, plainly indicating an intention to repeal it. And where two acts are seemingly repugnant, they should, if possible, be so construed, that the latter may not operate as a repeal of the former by implication: Dwarris, 674; Bacon's Ab., tit. Stat., D; Bowen v. Lease, 5 Hill, 221; Bruce v. Schuyler, 4 Gilman, 221; Kinney v. Mallory, 3 Alabama, 626; Planter's Bank v. The State, 6 Smedes & Marshall, 628. So, as a subsequent statute which is general, does not abrogate a former statute which is particular: Dwarris, 674. And a general law does not operate as a repeal of a special law on the same subject, passed at the same session: 4 Pike, 410. These authorities are decisive of the question. There is no necessary repugnancy between the general law and the special act, but they can be easily reconciled, and allowed to stand together. Full effect may be given to both, without impairing the provisions of either. The case was heard in the court below on an agreed statement of facts, and no bill of exceptions was taken to the decision of the court. It is now insisted, that the agreement is not before this court. A question arising in the case was, at the urgent request of the parties, submitted and decided at the last term, and they then treated the agreement as part of the record: See 11 Illinois, 654. It is now too late to raise the objection. The agreement is a part of the record for all purposes, if for any. The judgment is reversed. Judgment reversed. ----------------------- (a) The repugnance between statutes must be so clear and plain that they cannot be reconciled, to justify a resort to the doctrine of repeal by implication: Bruce v. Schuyler, 4 Gil., 221; Board of Supervisors v. Campbell, 42 Ill., 490; Hume v. Gossett, 43 Ill., 297; City of Chicago v. Maher, 38 Ill., 274; The People v. Barr, 44 Ill., 198. (b) Sping v. Collector of Olney, 78 Ill., 101; Covington v. East St. Louis, Id., 548; Litchfield Coal Co. v. Taylor, 81 Ill., 590; Allen v. The People, 84 Ill., 502; Town of Pana v. Lippencott, 2 Bradw., 466. Additional Comments: Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois from November Term, 1850, to June Term, 1851, both inclusive by E. Peck, Counsellor at Law. Volume XII. Reprinted from the Original Edition, with Annotations by William Gordon McMillan of the Chicago Bar. Callaghan & Company, Chicago, Ill. 1881. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/lasalle/court/ottawa144gwl.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 7.9 Kb