State ex rel. Attorney-General v. Burns (38 Fla. 367, 1896)

Mabry, C. J.:

The title of the act, Chapter 4513, laws of 1895, as we must-consider it, is “An act to provide for the creation of the city of Pensacola, now known as the provisional municipality of Pensacola, and for the government of said city of Pensacola, and to provide for the support and maintenance of said government and improvement of said'city.” In the title of the enrolled bill signed by the Governor, and as published in the acts of the Legislature, the additional words “and to provide for its officers and their terms of office” are found, but we have held in the case of State ex rel. vs. Green, 36 Fla. 154, 18 South. Rep. 334, that, as shown by the journals of. the Legislature, the additional words were not in the title when the act passed the two houses of the legislative branch of the government, and could not be considered as a part of the title of the act. The body of the act contains 155 sections with general provisions, and by the first section the inhabitants of the city of Pensacola are created corporate by the name and style of the city of Pensacola. The second section divides the powers of government into legislative, executive and judicial; the legislative consisting of a Board of Aldermen, the executive of a Mayor with executive boards, and the judicial of a police court. Certain officers and servants of the corporation are provided for, such as comptroller, treasurer, tax collector, assessor, city attorney, and physician, judge of the police court, clerk, and marshal. Provisions in the act clearly show that the newly created city was constructed upon the foundation of an existing municipality. The first section, already referred to, provides that the inhabitants of the city of Pensacola are hereby created corporate, and section 124 enacts that the boundaries of the city shall, until changed as provided by statute, remain as now established by ordinance. There is nothing in the 155 sections of the act, excluding the general provisions, extending the powers of government beyond the scope and already defined limits of, the municipal grants to the existing provisional municipality. The title of the act pointedly directs attention to the existing municipality, its terms, in part, being ‘ ‘an act to provide for the creation of the city of Pensacola, now known as the provisional municipality of Pensacola.” In 1885 the Legislature passed an act, with certain, amendments, for the dissolution of municipal corporations under circumstances therein stated, and to provide provisional governments for the same, and under this act the city of Pensacola became a provisional municipality. There was passed in 1893 an act to fix the number and provide for the election of certain municipal officers of the provisional municipality of Pensacola, and to prescribe their terms of office, and regulate their compensation and duties. By this act certain designated officers for the provisional municipality were elective,, and provision was made for their elecr tion. Such was the legal status of the municipal government of Pensacola when the act of 1895, supra, was passed. Among the general provisions of this act, and the latter part of a paragraph in reference to the oath of office of the city officers and their eligibility to office, the following is found, mz: “The wharves shall be under control of the council consistent with existing-law and vested rights, and there shall be elected by the board first elected under this act, at the first meeting in the month of June, one thousand eight hundred! and ninety-five, or as soon thereafter as is possible, and every four years thereafter, one harbor commissioner. Such commissioner shall perform such duties as the preservation of deep water in the harbor may require, and shall in all matters protect the city’s interest, and require the proper discharge of ballast, ashes, refuse, sinking of timber, binders or other lumber or timber or other refuse in the harbor, either in or outside of the city limits, as may be provided by ordinance, and shall from date of his election perform all duties now performed by, and shall be invested with all the authority now conferred on the public custodian of lost timber and lumber, receiving for his services such fees as are now allowed by law to said custo dian, whose duties from the passage of this act,. and his election, shall be performed by said harbor commissioner. At the same time and for the same term of office (four years) as provided above for the harbor commissioner, a harbor master shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council, who shall perforin all the duties now performed by harbor master as set forth in section 956 of the published edition of the Revised Statutes, and from the date of his appointment shall possess all powers and have charge of ■all dulies, and be subject to all restrictions, and secure :as compensation such fees as are now provided by laty ior harbor master.” Section 956 of the Revised Statutes relate to the duties of harbor masters appointed