USA > Utah > History of Utah > Part 39
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SEC. 21. To license, tax and regulate theatrical and other exhibitions, shows and amusements.
SEC. 22. To tax, restrain, prohibit, and suppress tippling houses, dram shops, gaming houses, bawdy, and other disorderly houses.
SEC. 23. To provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires ; to regulate the fixing of chimneys, and the flues thereof, and stove pipes, and to organize and establislı fire companies.
SEC. 24. To regulate the storage of gunpowder, tar, pitch, rosin, and other com- bustible materials.
SEC. 25. To regulate and order parapet walls, and other partition fences.
SEC. 26. To establish standard weights and measures, and regulate the weights and measures to be used in the city, in all other cases not provided for by law.
SEC. 27. To provide for the inspection and measuring of lumber, and other building materials, and for the measurement of all kinds of mechanical work.
SEC. 28. To provide for the inspection and weighing of hay, lime, and stone coal ; and measuring of charcoal, firewood, and other fuel, to be sold or used within the city.
SEC. 29. To provide for and regulate the inspection of tobacco, and of beef, pork, flour, meal ; also beer, and whisky, brandy, and all other spirituous or fermented liquors.
SEC. 30. To regulate the weight, quality, and price of bread sold and used in the city.
SEC. 31. To provide for taking the enumeration of the inhabitants of the city.
SEC. 32. To fix the compensation of all city officers, and regulate the fees of jurors, witnesses, and others, for services rendered under this or any city ordinances.
SEC. 33. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the city by ordinance, to license, regulate, suppress, or restrain billiard tables, and from one to twenty pin alleys, and every other description of gaming or gambling.
SEC. 34. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the city, by ordinance, to license, regulate, or restrain the keeping of ferries, and toll bridges; to regulate the police of the city; to impose fines, forfeitures and penalties, for the breach of any ordinance, and provide for the recovery of such fines and forfeitures, and the enforcement of such penalties, and to pass such ordinances as may be necessary and proper for carrying into effect and execution, the powers specified in this ordinance, provided such ordinances are not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State.
SEC. 35. All ordinances passed by the City Council, shall, within one month after they shall have been passed, be published in some newspaper, printed in said city, or certified copies thereof, be posted up in three of the most public places in the city.
SEC. 36. All ordinances of the city may be proven by the seal of the corporation ; and when printed or published in book or pamphlet form, purporting to be printed or published by the authority of the corporation, the same shall be received in evidence in all courts, or places, without further proof.
SEC. 37. The Mayor and Aldermen shall be conservators of the peace within the limits of the city, and shall have all the powers of justices of the peace therein, both in civil and criminal cases, arising under the laws of the State. They shall, as justices of the peace, within the limits of said city, perform the same duties, be governed by the
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same laws, give the same bonds and securities, as other justices of the peace, and be com- missioned as justices of the peace, in and for said city by the Governor.
SEC. 38. The Mayor and Aldermen shall have exclusive jurisdiction in 'all cases, arising under the ordinances of the corporation, and shall issue such process as may be necessary to carry said ordinances, into execution and effect. Appeals may be had from any decision or judgment of said Mayor or Aldermen, arising under the ordinances of said city, to the Municipal Court under such regulations, as may be prescribed by ordinance ; which court shall be composed of the Mayor as chief justice, and the Aldermen as associate justices ; and from the final judgment of the Municipal Court to the Probate Court of Great Salt Lake County, in the same manner as appeals are taken from justices of the peace ; provided the parties litigant shall have a right to a trial by jury of twelve men, in all cases before the Municipal Court. The Municipal Court shall have power to grant writs of Habeas Corpus, and try the same, in all cases arising under the ordinances of the City Council.
SEC. 39. The Municipal Court may sit on the first Monday of every month, and the City Council, at such times and places as may be prescribed by city ordinance, special meetings of which may at any time be called by the Mayor or any two Aldermen.
SEC. 40. All process issued by the Mayor, Aldermen, or Municipal Court, shall be directed to the Marshal, and in the execution thereof, he shall be governed by the same laws, as are or may be prescribed for the direction and compensation of constables in similar cases. The Marshal shall also perform such other duties as may be required of him under the ordinances of said city, and shall be the principal ministerial officer.
SEC. 41. It shall be the duty of the Recorder to make and keep accurate records of all ordinances made by the City Council, and of all their proceedings in their corporate capacity, which record shall at all times be open to the inspection of the electors of said city, and shall perform all other duties as may be required of him by the ordinances of the City Council, and shall serve as clerk of the Municipal Court.
SEC. 42. When it shall be necessary to take private property for opening, widening, or altering any public street, lane, avenue, or alley, the corporation shall make a just compensation therefor, to the person whose property is so taken ; and if the amount of such compensation cannot be agreed upon, the Mayor shall cause the same to be ascer- tained by a jury of six disinterested men, who shall be inhabitants of the city.
SEC. 43. All jurors empanelled to enquire into the amount of benefits or damages, that shall happen to the owners of property so proposed to be taken, shall first be sworn to that effect, and shall return to the Mayor their inquest in writing, signed by each juror.
SEC. 44. In case the Mayor shall, at any time, be guilty of a palpable omission of duty, or shall wilfully and corruptly be guilty of oppression, mal conduct, or partiality, in the discharge of the duties of his office, he shall be liable to indictment in the Probate Court of Great Salt Lake County, and on conviction, he shall be liable to fine and im- prisonment ; and the court shall have power on the recommend of the jury, to add to the judgment of the court, that he be removed from office.
SEC. 45. The City Council shall have power to provide for the punishment of offenders and vagrants, by imprisonment in the county or city jail, or by compelling them to labor upon the streets, or other public works, until the same shall be fully paid ; in all
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cases where such offenders or vagrants shall fail or refuse to pay the fine and forfeitures which may be recovered against them.
SEC. 46. The inhabitants of Great Salt Lake City shall, from and after the next ensuing two years, from the first Monday of April next, be exempt from working on any road or roads, beyond the limits of said city. But all taxes devoted to road purposes, shall, from and after said term of two years, be collected and expended by, and under the direction of, the supervisor of streets, within the limits of said city.
SEC. 47. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Councilors of said city shall, in the first instance, be appointed by the Governor and Legislature of said State of Deseret; and shall hold their office until superseded by the first election.
Approved Jan. 9th, 1851.
Meantime, though the people of Deseret were yet unaware of it, Congress had finally acted upon their petition for a civil government, forwarded to Washington more than a year before. It had denied their prayer for statehood, but had passed an act to organize out of a portion of the provisional State of Deseret the Territory of Utah.
29-VOL. 1.
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HISTORY OF UTAH.
CHAPTER XXIII. 1850-1852.
UTAH TERRITORY CREATED-BRIGHAM YOUNG GOVERNOR-HOW THE NEWS REACHED DESERET- DISSOLUTION OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT-ITS ACTS RECAPITULATED-THE FIRST UTAH CENSUS-THE FIRST TERRITORIAL ELECTION-JOHN M. BERNHISEL DELEGATE TO CON- GRESS- ARRIVAL OF THE FEDERAL OFFICIALS-BRANDEBURY, BROCCHUS AND HARRIS-A DISCONTENTED TRIO-JUDGE BROCCHUS INSULTS THE MORMON PEOPLE AT THEIR CONFER- ENCE-BRIGHAM YOUNG'S REPLY-THE THREE OFFICIALS LEAVE THE TERRITORY-GOV- ERNOR YOUNG'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT FILLMORE-REPORT OF THE "RUNAWAY " JUDGES AND SECRETARY-A CASE OF MORAL AND OFFICIAL HARI-KARI -- THE GRANT LETTERS- UTAH'S FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY- INITIAL ACTS-THE FIRST MURDER TRIAL IN UTAH-FILLMORE, MILLARD COUNTY, THE CHOSEN CAPITAL OF THE TERRITORY-BOX ELDER AND JUAB COUNTIES SETTLED-THE SAN BERNARDINO COLONY-A TERRITORIAL LIBRARY- PROBATE JUDGES AND THEIR JURISDICTION.
HE act of Congress creating the Territory of Utah was signed by the President of the United States-Millard Fillmore-on the 9th of September, 1850. The news of it, however, owing to the great distance and the almost utter absence of mail facilities between the frontier and the Great Basin, did not reach Deseret until January, 1851 .*
Before proceeding further, let us return to Delegate Babbitt and his political errand to the nation's capital, upon which he set out in the latter part of 1849. Arriving at Washington, Colonel Babbitt sought the earliest opportunity to present to Congress the public documents of which he was the bearer, as well as his own credentials as delegate from the Provisional State of Deseret.
The memorial and the constitution with which he had been entrusted were presented to the United States Senate by Hon.
* A rumor of the fact had preceded this as early as November, 1850, but had not been deemed authentic.
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Stephen A. Douglas on the 27th of December, and a month later were referred to the Committee on Territories. About the same time an anti-Mormon or anti-Deseret memorial was presented to the same body by Senator Joseph R. Underwood, of Kentucky. This mem- orial, which was signed by William Smith, Isaac Sheen and twelve others, represented that the persons named were the legitimate presi- dents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It also asserted that fifteen hundred Mormons, prior to the exodus fron Nauvoo, had sworn a secret oath of eternal hostility to the United States government, and to avenge the blood of Joseph Smith upon this nation. William Smith was the Prophet's brother, who, as seen, had been severed from the Mormon Church at Nauvoo. The sending of such a document to Congress at this particular time may reasona- bly be regarded as an act of retaliation against the Church which had excommunicated him.
To what extent Congress was influenced by the Smith-Sheen memorial does not appear. It probably was not the sole nor even the main reason why the House of Representatives declined, as it did, to admit Delegate Babbitt to a seat in that body. The Committee on Elections, in its report upon his petition asking to be admitted, said :
"The admission of Mr. Babbitt would be a quasi recognition of the legal existence of the State of Deseret; and no act should be done by this house, which, even by implication, may give force and vitality to a political organization extra constitutional, and independent of tlie laws of the United States." The committee therefore recommended the adoption of a resolution stating that it was inexpedient to admit Mr. Babbitt to a seat in the House as a delegate from "the alleged State of Deseret." By a majority vote the resolution was passed and Colonel Babbitt was accordingly denied admission.
The Senate, however, after a delay of nearly nine months, on September 7th, 1850, passed a bill providing for the organization of the Territory of Utah. Two days later the bill passed the Ilouse and was approved by the President. It read as follows:
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AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT FOR UTAH.
SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, to wit: bounded on the west by the State of California, on the north by the Territory of Oregon, and on the east by the sum- mit of the Rocky Mountains, and on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel of north lati- tude, be, and the same is hereby created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Utah ; and, when admitted as a State, the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as their Constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission: Provided, That nothing in this act con- tained shall be construed to inhibit the Government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion of said Territory to any other State or Territory of the United States.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted : That the Executive power and authority in and over said Territory of Utah shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. The governor shall reside within the said Terri- tory, shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Militia thereof, shall perform the duties and receive the emoluments of Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and shall approve all laws passed by the Legislative Assembly before they shall take effect ; he may grant pardons for offences against the laws of said Territory, and reprieves for offences against the laws of the United States until the decision of the President can be made known thereon ; he shall commission all officers who shall be appointed to office under the laws of the said Territory, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted : That there shall be a Secretary of said Territory, who shall reside therein, and hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States ; he shall record and preserve all the laws and proceedings of the Legislative Assembly hereinafter constituted, and all the acts and proceedings of the governor in his executive department; he shall transmit one copy of the laws and one copy of the executive proceedings, on or before the first day of December in each year, to the President of the United States, and at the same time two copies of the laws to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, for the use of Congress. And in case of the death, removal, resignation, or other necessary absence of the governor from the Territory, the secretary shall have, and he is hereby authorized and required to execute and perform all the powers and duties of the governor during such vacancy or necessary absence, or until another governor shall be duly appointed to fill such vacancy.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted : That the legislative power and authority of said Territory shall be vested in the governor and a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly shall consist of a Council and House of Representatives. The Council shall consist of thirteen members, having the qualifications of voters as hereinafter prescribed, whose term of service shall continue two years. The House of Representatives shall con- sist of twenty-six members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for members of the Council, and whose term of service shall continue one year. An apportionment
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shall be made, as nearly equal as practicable, among the several counties or districts, for the election of the Council and House of Representatives, giving to each section of the Territory representation in the ratio of its population, Indians excepted, as nearly as may be. And the members of the Council and of the House of Representatives shall reside in and be inhabitants of the district for which they may be elected respectively. Previous to the first election, the governor shall cause a census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the several counties and districts of the Territory to be taken, and the first election shall be held at such time and place, and be conducted in such manner, as the governor shall appoint and direct ; and he shall, at the same time, declare the number of members of the Council and House of Representatives to which each of the counties or districts shall be entitled under this act. The number of persons authorized to be elected having the highest number of votes in each said Council districts, for members of the Council, shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected to the Council ; and the person or persons authorized to be elected having the highest number of votes for the House of Representa- tives, equal to the number to which each county or district shall be entitled, shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected members of the House of Representatives : Provided, that in case of a tie between two or more persons voted for, the governor shall order a new election to supply the vacancy made by such a tie. And the persons thus elected to the Legislative Assembly shall meet at such place and on such day as the gov- ernor shall appoint ; but thereafter, the time, place and manner of holding and conducting all elections by the people, and the apportioning the representation in the several counties or districts to the Council and House of Representatives, according to the population, shall be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the commencement of the regular sessions of the Legislative Assembly : Provided, that no one session shall exceed the ternt of forty days.
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted : That every free white male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of said Territory at the time of the passage of this act, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said Territory ; but the qualifications of voters and of holding office at all subsequent elections shall be such as shall be prescribed by the Legislative Assembly: Provided, that the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citi- zens of the United States, including those recognized as citizens by the treaty with the Republic of Mexico, concluded February second, eighteen hundred and forty-eight.
SEC. 6. And be it further enacted : That the legislative power of said Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation, consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act ; but no law shall be passed interfering with the pri- mary disposal of the soil ; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States; nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents. All the laws passed by the Legislative Assembly and governor shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States, and if disapproved shall be null and of no effect.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted : That all township, district, and county officers, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be appointed or elected, as the case may be, in such manner as shall be provided by the governor and Legislative Assembly of the Terri-
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tory of Utah. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and . consent of the Legislative Council, appoint all officers not herein otherwise provided for ; and in the first instance the governor alone may appoint all said officers, who shall hold their offices until the end of the first session of the Legislative Assembly, and shall lay off the neces- sary districts for members of the Council and House of Representatives, and all other offices.
SEC. 8. And be it further enacted ; That no member of the Legislative Assembly shall hold or be appointed to any office which shall have been created, or the salary or emoluments of which shall have been increased while he was a member, during the term for which he was elected, and for one year after the expiration of such term ; and no person holding a commission or appointment under the United States, except postmasters, shall be a member of the Legislative Assembly, or shall hold any office under the govern- ment of said Territory.
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted : That the judicial power of said Territory shall be vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and in Justices of the Peace. The supreme court shall consist of a Chief Judge and two Associate Justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, and who shall hold a term at the seat of govern- ment of said Territory annually, and they shall hold their offices during the period of four years. The said Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a district court shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the supreme court, at such time and place as may be prescribed by law ; and the judges shall, after their appoint- ments, respectively reside in the districts which shall be assigned them. The jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that of the pro- bate courts, and of justices of the peace, shall be as limited by law : Provided, that jus- tices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy when the titles or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed one hundred dollars ; and the said supreme and district courts respectively shall possess chancery as well as common law jurisdiction. Each district court, or the judge thereof, shall appoint its clerk, who shall also be the registrar in chancery, and shall keep his office at the place where the court may be held. Writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said district courts to the supreme court, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law ; but in no case removed to the supreme court shall trial by jury be allowed in said court. The supreme court, or the justices thereof, shall appoint its own clerk, and every clerk shall hold his office at the pleasure of the court for which he shall have been appointed. Writs of error and appeals from the final decision of said supreme court shall be allowed, and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the circuit courts of the United States, where the value of the property or the . amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, or other competent witness, shall exceed one thousand dollars, except only, that in all cases involving title to slaves, the said writs of error or appeals shall be allowed and decided by the said supreme court, without regard to the value of the matter, property, or title in controversy ; and except, also, that a writ of error or appeal, shall also be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, from the decisions of the said supreme court created
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by this act, or of any judge thereof, upon any writ of habeas corpus involving the question of personal freedom ; and each of the said district courts shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction in all cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States as is vested in the circuit and district courts of the United States ; and the said supreme and district courts of the said Territory, and the respective judges thereof, shall and may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are granted by the judges of the United States in the District of Columbia ; and the first six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the said Constitution and laws ; and writs of error and appeal, in all such cases, shall be made to the supreme court of said Territory, the same as in other cases. The said clerk shall receive in all such cases the same fees which the clerks of the district courts of Oregon Territory now receive for similar services.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted : That there shall be appointed an Attorney for said Territory, who shall continue in office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, and who shall receive the same fees and salary as the attorney of the United States for the present Territory of Oregon. There shall also be a Marshal for the Terri- tory appointed, who shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the Pres- ident, and who shall execute all processes issuing from the said courts when exercising their jurisdiction as circuit and district courts of the United States ; he shall perform the duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees as the marshal of the district court of the United States for the present Territory of Oregon, and shall, in addition, be paid two hundred dollars annually as a compensation for extra services.
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