Deems v. Mayor of Baltimore

Citations

• 80 Md. 164
• 26 L.R.A. 541
• 30 A. 648
• 1894 Md. LEXIS 120

Syllabus

<p>Inspection of Milk — Police Power — Constitutional Law — Injunction— Ordinances.</p> <p>The Act of 1894, ch. 53, authorized the Mayor and City Council ot Baltimore to regulate the sale of milk and other food products iu that city. Under this statute an ordinance was passed providing for the inspection of milk offered for sale in the city of Baltimore, forbidding the sale of any milk below the standard prescribed by the ordinance, and authorizing the destruction of milk found to be impure according to that standard. Held, that the ordinance was valid.</p> <p>The destruction of milk found to be impure by the Lactometer, under such ordinance, without prior judicial inquiry, is not a taking of property without due process of law.</p> <p>The constitutional guarantees concerning property and liberty are not to be construed as abridging the power of the State to pass such laws as may be necessary to protect the health and peace of society.</p> <p>The above statute authorized the municipality to provide a fine of not, more than one hundred dollars for each violation of the ordinance. Held, that an ordinance imposing a fine of not less than twenty nor more than fifty dollars was a valid exercise of the power.</p> <p>Equity has jurisdiction to restrain by injunction the enforcement of an invalid municipal ordinance, the execution' of which injuriously affects private rights.</p>