State v. Lawrence

Citations

• 105 Miss. 58
• 61 So. 975

Syllabus

<p>1. ConstitutioNai Law. Due process. Automobiles. Regulation fees. Laws 1912, chapter 108. Police power.</p> <p>Under its police power the state has the undoubted right to regulate the use of its highways, included in which is the right to compel the registration and numbering of automobiles before they are permitted to be used on the highway, but the expense thus imposed must be a reasonable, proper and fair exaction, when considered with reference to the object to be attained and surrounding facts.</p> <p>2. 'Same.</p> <p>Laws 1912, chapter 108, providing for the numbering and registration of automobiles, owned and operated in this state, and providing for the payment of a registration fee of from five to twenty-five dollars according to the horse power of the engine, is an unreasonable exercise of governmental power, the actual cost of such numbering and regulation being only one dollar, and the act therefore violates the due process clause of the state and Federal Constitution and is void.</p>