City of Alton v. Ætna Insurance

We shall not now inquire whether the legislature could rightfully confer upon the common council of the city of Alton power “to license or tax insurance companies, or their agents, and insurance brokers, for the purpose of procuring apparatus for the extinguishment of fires, and procuring and establishing proper reservoirs for the same purpose,” nor whether that provision of the city charter has been repealed by the adoption of the constitution of 1870 or by subsequent legislation. Conceding the validity of this clause of the charter, we are of opinion it contains no warrant for levying a tax…