Elliott v. Council of Newark

Citations

• 8 Del. Ch. 64

Syllabus

<p>Where a town charter provided that the Council should “meet at least once in every month at such time or times or place as it shall appoint,” and that “special meetings may be called by the president of the Council upon his own motion or shall be called at the request of three members;” and contained no provision relating to the passage of ordinances, except that “no ordinance shall be passed without the concurrence of a majority of the members of the Council unless it shall have had at least two readings at a previous stated meeting or meetings;” held that an ordinance may be adopted at a special meeting, having been -read twice at the last previous stated meeting, when from the call for the special meeting it may be fairly understood that the passage of the ordinance was one of the purposes or objects for which the special meeting was called.</p> <p>A provision in a town charter that the secretary “shall have in his charge the, ordinances, which shall be recorded in a book or books provided by the Council for that purpose and called ‘ Ordinances’ ” is directory merely, and a delay, on the part of the secretary for four years in recording the ordinance in no way affected its validity.</p> <p>Where a town charter provided that the Associate Judge resident in the county should have jurisdiction in cases of appeals from the allowance of damages by the Council for widening streets, a general .statute authorizing the Chief Justice or any Associate Justice to act in the place of the Associate Justice resident in the County during his absence or disability; held, that a general provision of this nature cannot be considered an amendment to the charter of a municipality. It belongs to that class of' cases which regulate the forms of administering justice by the courts. It is intended solely to facilitate the dispatch of business by the courts and is an incident of sovereignty presumed to be reserved in the enactment of all charters.</p> <p>Where a town charter authorized