Hesse v. Rath

Albert O. Hesse, Appellant, v. Fred J. Rath, as Mayor of the City of Utica, Et Al., Respondents

Hesse v. Rath, 164 N.E. 342 (N.Y. 1928)

Court: New York Court of Appeals · State Highest Courts
Decided: December 7, 1928
Judges: Cardozo
Citations: 164 N.E. 342249 N.Y. 4361928 N.Y. LEXIS 827

Opinion of the Court — Cardozo

Cardozo, Ch. J.

A statute (L. 1928, ch. 647, amending General Municipal Law, Consol. Laws, ch. 24) authorizes the cities of this State to establish, construct, equip, maintain and operate airports or landing fields for aeroplanes and other aircraft. The local legislative body may regulate the use and establish fees or charges.

The city of Utica, acting under this statute, has contracted to buy 295 acres of land to be used as an airport, and has authorized its officers to issue its corporate bonds in the sum of $120,000 to pay the purchase price.

*438 The Constitution of New York (Article VIII, § 10) provides that no city shall be allowed to incur any indebtedness except for city purposes.

Plaintiff argues that the acquisition of an airport or landing field is not a city purpose, even if a public one, and that the bonds, if issued, will be void.

We think the purpose to be served is both public and municipal.

A city acts for city purposes when it builds a dock or a bridge or a street or a subway (Sun P. & P.

Assn. v. Mayor, 152 N. Y. 257 ). Its purpose is not different when it builds an airport (City of Wichita v. Clapp, 125 Kans. 100 ). Aviation is today an established method of transportation. The future, even the near future, will make it still more general. The city that is without the foresight to build the ports for the new traffic may soon be left behind in the race of competition. Chalcedon was called the city of the blind, because its founders rejected the nobler site of Byzantium lying at their feet. The need for vision of the future in the governance of cities has not lessened with the years. The dweller within the gates, even more than the stranger from afar, will pay the price of blindness.

The judgment should be affirmed, with costs.

Pound, Crane, Andrews, Lehman, Kellogg and O’Brien, JJ., concur.

Judgment affirmed.

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Cited by 36 cases

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Relies on it most ⓘ

Turner v. City of Reidsville29 S.E.2d 211 (N.C. 1944)
Greensboro-High Point Airport Authority v. Johnson36 S.E.2d 803 (N.C. 1946)
Warren Township School District No. 7 v. City of Detroit14 N.W.2d 134 (Mich. 1944)
People ex rel. Curren v. Wood62 N.E.2d 809 (Ill. 1945)
Stewart Park & Reserve Coalition, Inc. v. Slater352 F.3d 545 (2d Cir. 2003)
Krenwinkle v. City of Los Angeles51 P.2d 1098 (Cal. 1935)

Most recent

Stewart Park & Reserve Coalition, Inc. v. Slater352 F.3d 545 (2d Cir. 2003)
In re the County of Monroe530 N.E.2d 202 (N.Y. 1988)
Fallica v. Town of Brookhaven69 A.D.2d 579 (1979) · Dissent
Seward County Board of Commissioners v. City of Seward242 N.W.2d 849 (Neb. 1976)
Golden v. Planning Board of Ramapo285 N.E.2d 291 (N.Y. 1972)
Lake George Steamboat Co. v. Blais281 N.E.2d 147 (N.Y. 1972)

Citing references are not a citator: they show that a later opinion cites this case, not whether it followed, distinguished, or overruled it. Check negative history before relying on this case.

Authorities cited 2

Depth	Case	Cited by
	Sun Printing & Publ'g Ass'n v. Mayor of N.Y., 46 N.E. 499 (N.Y. 1897)	131
	City of Wichita v. Clapp, 263 P. 12 (Kan. 1928)	34

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