Toledo Disposal Co. v. State

Citations

• 89 Ohio St. (N.S.) 230

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Police power — Prosecution cannot be maintained under one statute — When act done authorized by special statute— Public nuisances — State cannot prosecute garbage disposal company, when.</p> <p>1. In the exercise of the police power, the state and municipal authorities may make all such provisions as are reasonable, necessary and appropriate for the protection of the public health and comfort, and when any such provision has a real and substantial relation to that object and does not interfere with the enjoyment of private rights beyond the necessities of the situation, every intendment is to be made in favor of its lawfulness.</p> <p>2. No criminal prosecution can be sustained in Ohio except for an act done in violation of a statute or ordinance legally passed; and the courts will not construe that to be a crime punishable under one statute which was done under authority especially granted by another statute.</p> <p>3. A public nuisance arises out of the violation of public rights or the doing of unlawful acts; and if the legislature, by a law passed within its legislative power, authorizes an act to be done which, in the absence of the statute, would be a public nuisance, such act ceases to be legally a nuisance so far as the public is concerned.</p> <p>4. The state cannot maintain a criminal prosecution against a defendant for conducting a plant and business located, constructed and operated under an express contract with a municipality, made under legislative authority, where the plant is conducted under municipal control and regulation, with care and skill, and in such manner as to produce the least possible annoyance, and where it is all done for the purpose of conserving the health and safety of the public.</p>