Dravo-Doyle Co. v. Village of Orrville

Citations

• 93 Ohio St. (N.S.) 236

Syllabus

<p>Municipal corporations — Ownership of public utilities — Section 4, Article XVIII, Constitution, 1912 — Purchase of existing plant — Section 3990, General Code, unconstitutional ■ — Franchise or contract rights unaffected, — By constitutional or statutory amendment, when.</p> <p>1. Section 4, Article XVIII of the Constitution, confers plenary power on “any municipality” to acquire, construct, own, lease and operate any public utility the product or service of which is or is to be supplied to the municipality or its inhabitants, and to contract with others for any such product or service.</p> <p>2. Section 3990,-General Code, which authorizes the council-of a municipality, when it is deemed expedient and for the public good, to erect gas works or electric works at the expense of the corporation, or to purchase any gas or electric works already erected therein, with the proviso that in villages where gas works or electrical works have already been erected by any person, company of persons, or corporation, to whom a franchise to erect and operate gas works or electric works has been granted, and such franchise has not yet expired, the council shall, with the consent of the owner or owners, purchase such gas works or electric works already erected therein, is unconstitutional and void so far as the proviso is concerned, because it is an unauthorized limitation of the powers granted in Section 4, Article XVIII of the Constitution, and inconsistent therewith.</p> <p>3. Such franchise or contract rights acquired prior to the adoption of Section 4, Article XVIII of the Constitution, and while the proviso in Section 3990, General Code, was in force, were not abrogated or affected by the subsequent adoption of the constitutional provision referred to, and contracts made subsequent to the adoption of the constitutional provision are controlled thereby and are enforceable.</p>