Page:City of Little Rock v. Reinman-Wolfort Automobile Livery Co.pdf/9

182 the power to limit them to certain localities and provide for their cleanliness so that they may not become injurious to health." 3 McQuillan Municipal  Corporations, § 910.

In Ex parte Lacy, 49 Am. St. Rep. 93, the court, construing an ordinance in which the city attempted to regulate the business of beating carpets by steam power, said: "Conceding the business covered by the provisions of this ordinance not to constitute a nuisance per se, and to stand upon different grounds from powder factories, street obstructions, and the like, still, the case is made no better for petitioner. This is not a question of nuisance per se, and the power to regulate is in no way dependent upon such conditions. Indeed, as to nuisances per se, the general laws of the State are ample to deal with them. But the business here involved may properly be classed with livery stables, laundries, soap and glue factories, etc., a class of business undertakings, in the conduct of which police and sanitary, regulations are made to a greater or less degree by every city in the country. And in this class of cases it is no defense to the validity of regulation ordinances to say: 'I am committing no nuisance, and I insist upon being heard before a court or jury upon that question of fact.' In this class of cases a defendant has no such right. To the extent that it was material in creating a valid ordinance, we must assume that such question was decided by the municipal authorities and decided against petitioner and all others similarly situated."

The livery stable has long been a business well-nigh universally recognized and regarded as belonging to a class subject to police regulation for the protection of the public health and the promotion of the general welfare and appellees necessarily knew in engaging in such business that it was subject to reasonable regulation by the State and by the city under authority froin the State.

The ordinance in question does not attempt to prohibit the carrying on of the business, but only to restrict