Harmon v. City of Chicago

Citations

• 140 Ill. 374
• 29 N.E. 732

Syllabus

<p>1. Licensing boats and vessebs— State and Federal jurisdiction. An ordinance of a city, passed under legislative authority, provided that no person should keep, use or let for hire any tug, etc., for towing vessels or craft in the Chicago river, its branches, or the slips connect■ing therewith, or in or about the harbor of the city, without first obtaining a license, for which a fee of $25 was exacted, and a penalty was imposed for violating any of the provisions of the ordinance : Held, that such ordinance could not be sustained as an exercise of the police power of the State.</p> <p>2. Same—requiring license fee in Chicago harbor—purpose of license —ordinance construed. Where a city ordinance provides for the exaction of money for a license to the owners of tug boats to tow vessels from the lake into a river flowing through the city, but fails to state for what purpose the exaction is made, and it -is void if a tax for the purpose of raising revenue, but valid if it is merely to obtain a compensation or equivalent for money expended in improving the navigation of the river, it will receive, if possible, such a construction as will sustain rather than defeat the ordinance.</p> <p>3. Same—municipal corporations—power to improve harbor. Municipal corporations may be empowered by the legislature to pass ordinances for the preservation and regulation of vessels and wharves, to deepen and improve rivers, or' to remove and prevent obstructions therein. Such power has been conferred upon the city of Chicago.</p> <p>4. Same—power to exact compensation for use of improved harbor. The city of Chicago having improved the navigation of the Chicago river and harbor by dredging and deepening the channel of the river and its bran ches, at its own expense, may, without subjecting itself to the charge of improperly interfering with inter-State or foreign commerce, exact of vessels using the river in its improved condition, a reasonable compensation for the improved commercial fa