Burton v. City of Toccoa
Supreme Court of Georgia
Petition for injunction. Before Judge J. B. Jones. Stephens superior court. July 2, 1923. The mayor and council of the City of Toccoa passed an ordinance on May 3, 1922, imposing a license tax of $100 a year for each moving-picture show doing business within that city. The plaintiffs in error conducted such a business in the city during the year 1922, and failed to pay the license tax.
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Petition for injunction. Before Judge J. B. Jones. Stephens superior court. July 2, 1923. The mayor and council of the City of Toccoa passed an ordinance on May 3, 1922, imposing a license tax of $100 a year for each moving-picture show doing business within that city. The plaintiffs in error conducted such a business in the city during the year 1922, and failed to pay the license tax. The penalty for the failure to pay such license tax under the ordinance was a fine, or service in the chain-gang in the city or confinement in the city jail. Upon being requested by the marshal of the City of…
1Opinion of the CourtHill, J.
The general rule is that a court of equity will not enjoin a criminal or threatened criminal prosecution. Prosecutions for violations of municipal ordinances, which are punishable by fine or imprisonment, are quasi criminal in their nature and come within the general rule. Steinberg v. Savannah, 149 Ga. 69 (99 S. E. 36); and cases cited; Campbell v. Jefferson, 149 Ga. 70 (99 S. E. 124); Volunteers of America v. Atlanta, 152 Ga. 461 (110 S. E. 282); Jones v. Carlton, 146 Ga. 1 (90 S. E. 278). The present ease, which seeks to enjoin the enforcement of a penal municipal ordinance, falls within…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Baldwin v. City of AtlantaSupreme Court of Georgia · 1917
- Jones v. CarltonSupreme Court of Georgia · 1916
- Volunteers of America v. City of AtlantaSupreme Court of Georgia · 1922
- Steinberg v. Mayor of SavannahSupreme Court of Georgia · 1919
- Campbell v. City of JeffersonSupreme Court of Georgia · 1919
3Cited by5 opinions
- City of Moultrie v. Colquitt County Rural Electric Co.Supreme Court of Georgia · 1955
- Corley v. City of AtlantaSupreme Court of Georgia · 1935
- City of Atlanta v. KirkSupreme Court of Georgia · 1932
- City of Moultrie v. Colquitt County Rural Electric Co.Supreme Court of Georgia · 1955
- Porter v. City of OberlinOhio Supreme Court · 1965