State ex rel. Walker v. Superior Court

Citations

• 87 Wash. 582

Syllabus

<p>Franchises — Power to Grant — Municipal Corporations. The power to grant franchises being a sovereign power residing primarily in the state legislature, it can be exercised by cities or subordinate agencies only when the right has been expressly conferred upon them.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations—Streets—Franchise for Telephones— Power to Grant—Referendum—Necessity—Statutes. An ordinance granting a telephone franchise in a city of the first class is subject to the referendum provision of the city charter requiring all franchise ordinances to be submitted to referendum, notwithstanding Rem. & Bal. Code, § 9314, relating to telephone companies, which provides that the streets of the city cannot be used by a telephone company without the consent of the “city council;” in view of Id., § 7507, subd. 7, giving a first-class city, as a corporate entity as distinguished from its “legislative authority,” power to regulate and control the use of streets and authorize or prohibit the use of electricity in or upon the same, and to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which the same may be used; the city charter having been adopted pursuant to 3 Rem. & Bal. Code, § 7493-1, providing that the manner and mode in which cities of the first class shall exercise their powers shall be as provided in their charters, which may provide for direct legislation by the initiative and referendum.</p>