Whitbeck v. Funk

Plaintiff contends that Ordinance No. 61566 is a franchise ordinance and, therefore, comes within the provisions of section 173 of the charter, quoted above, and is subject to the referendum.

A franchise is a special privilege granted by the government to a person or corporation, which privilege does not belong to the citizens of a country generally, of common right: 26 C. J. 1008, § 1. A franchise confers the right to exercise powers or to do and perform acts which, without such grant, the person to whom it is granted could not do or perform: Oregon v. Portland General Electric Co., 52 Or.…