MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS - POWER TO LICENSE - DISCRETIONARY POWER IN ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS

The City Council of Philadelphia enacted an ordinance requiring as many officers or firemen as the Director of Public Safety should deem necessary to be present at all athletic contests for profit, and further provided that the officers or firemen so stationed should be compensated at the rate of $5.50 per day by those persons requiring or demanding such service. The plaintiff brought this suit in equity to declare invalid and restrain the enforcement of the ordinance. The lower court held that the ordinance was invalid, but the supreme court reversed this decision and held that this was a valid exercise of the municipal police power to license those businesses requiring special service. The court further pointed out that the classification made by the ordinance was in no manner unconstitutional, and indicated that there was no delegation of legislative power to an administrative official since the pay for each officer was fixed by the ordinance. American Baseball Club of Philadelphia (Philadelphia National League Baseball Club, Intervener) v. City of Philadelphia, (Pa. 1933) 167 Atl. 891