State ex rel. Swearingen v. Railroad Commissioners

Citations

• 79 Fla. 526

Syllabus

<p>1. A prohibition will only be granted by the Supreme Court to control the action, of tribunals or persons exercising judicial power who attempt to usurp a jurisdiction belonging to some other forum.</p> <p>2. The statutes regulating the procedure in issuing writs of prohibition contemplate the use of the writ only to restrain the unlawful exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial power.</p> <p>3. The common law writ of prohibition is not a writ of right; but it is an extraordinary judicial writ, that in proper cases may be issued to restrain the unlawful exercise of judicial functions when no other adequate remedy is afforded by law.</p> <p>4. While a writ of prohibition may issue in a proper case to restrain an unauthorized or illegal judicial or quasi-judicial act, such a wrt may not be issued to restrain a legislative or quasi-legislative or a purely administrative or ministerial act not in its nature judicial or qwcm-judicial.</p> <p>5. In fixing rates to be charged by railroad common carriers for transporting persons and property the Railroad Commissioners exercise a guasi-legislative function some times regarded as being administrative, but not judicial in its nature.</p> <p>6. Where it is doubtful whether a statute authorizes a municipality to fix rates for a public utility company, such doubt must be resolved against tbo authority of the city.</p> <p>7. Even if authority is by statute given to a municipality to. fix, rates for a public service corporation operating therein, such authority is subject to legislative control.</p> <p>8. Any contract ordinance passed by the city with statutory authority fixing by agreement street' car fares, as an incident to the granting of franchises to a street railroad company, is subject to legislative control.</p> <p>9. The Charter Act of the City of Pensacola, Chapter 6746 Acts of 1913, does not clearly and plainly give to such city the power to prescribe rates for street car fares to the’ exclusion of State authority, if