Board of Harbor Commissioners v. Excelsior Redwood Co.

Citations

• 88 Cal. 491
• 26 P. 375
• 1891 Cal. LEXIS 721

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional Law — Delegation of Legislative Power — Imposition of Penalty — Executive Body.—The imposition of a penalty is a legislative function, and the legislature cannot delegate the power to impose it to an executive body.</p> <p>Id.—Rules and Regulations — Executive Administration — Maximum of Penalty.—The legislature may authorize an executive body to make rules and regulations as acts of executive administration, but it cannot authorize it to declare what shall be a misdemeanor or to impose a penalty; and the fact that the legislature fixes a maximum of penalty, which it authorizes the body to impose, is of no avail.</p> <p>Id. — Penalty Imfosed by Harbor Commissioners — Political Code — Unconstitutional Provision. — Subdivision 6 of section 2569 of the Political Code, providing that the board of harbor commissioners of the port of Eureka may impose penalties not exceeding five hundred dollars for violation of the rules and regulations made by them for the protection of navigation in Humboldt Bay, is an attempt by the legislature to delegate legislative power, and therefore unconstitutional, and the commissioners have no power thereunder to impose a penalty.</p>