Mayor of Sacramento v. The Steamer New World

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The 7th section of the charter of the City of Sacramento, which was in force when the right of action accrued, gives to the city authorities the right “to erect, repair and regulate wharves and the rates of wharfage. ” It is insisted by the defendant that this language gives no power to collect wharfage, or if it does, such power must be dependent upon the actual construction of wharves.

It appears from the record, that a certain space in front of the city, and along the banks of the river, was dedicated to the public as a street or highway.

*This being so, it follows that no private person [44] had the right to erect wharves or charge wharfage, because no one owned land on the bank of the river, and thus the whole of this right devolved on the corporation. What, then, could be the meaning of the Legislature in giving power to regulate the rates of wharfage, if the proper construction of that power does not include the right to collect it ? It would be without effect or meaning, and that, which to the most ordinary apprehension appears to be the intention, would be defeated.

It is true, as urged in the argument, and according to the best…