The legislature has power to make a con tract binding on the state; it is a necessary attribute of sovereignty; Piqua Branch of State Bank of Ohio v.' Klioop, 16 How. (U.
S.) 369, 14 L. Ed. 977; and it may by such contract, based on a consideration, exempt the property of an individual or corporation from taxation, either for a specified period or permanently ; Home of the Friendless v. Rouse, 8 Wall. (U. S.) 430, 439, 19 L. Ed. 495 ; see also Gordon v. Appeal Tax Court, 3 How. (U. S.) 133, 11 L. Ed. 529. In these cases there was a line of very vigorous dis senting opinions in one of which Mr. Justice Miller said : "We do not believe that any legislative body sitting under a state con stitution of the usual character has a right to sell, to give, or to bargain away forever the taxing power of the state." Washington University v. Rouse, 8 Wall. (U. S.) 441, 19 L. Ed. 498.
Nor can the police power be bartered away or shackled by any one legislature. It may, for example, create a corporation with pow er to do the business of handling and slaugh tering live stock, but it cannot continue that right so that no future legislature can re peal or modify it, or grant similar privileges to others ; it cannot by contract with an in dividual restrain the power of a subsequent legislature to legislate for the public wel fare and to that end to suppress practices tending to corrupt public morals; Butchers' Union S. H. & L. S. L. Co. v. Slaughter House Co., 111 U. S. 746, 4 Sup. Ct. 652; 28 L. Ed. 585; Moore v. State, 48 Miss. 147, 12 Am. Rep. 367; Metropolitan Board of Excise v. Barrie, 34 N. Y. 657, 663; Boston Beer Co. v. Massachusetts, 97 U. S. 25, 28, 24 L. Ed. 989; Stone v. Mississippi, 101 U. S. 814, 25 L. Ed. 1079.
When its power has not been exceeded and the state is bound by its action, a legis lature has no power to revoke its own grants ; Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cra. (U. S.) 87, 3 L. Ed. 162; Green v. Biddle, 8 Wheat. (U. S.) 1, 5 L. Ed. 547.
The general principle that the legislative power cannot be delegated is thus tersely ex pressed by Chief Justice Gibson : "Under a well-balanced constitution the legislature can no more delegate its proper function than can the judiciary." In re Borough of West
Philadelphia, 5 W. & S. (Pa.) 283. And see Locke, Civ. Govt. § 142.
For a discussion of the important ques tions under this title relating to the delega tion of power, see DELEGATION.
A very important branch of this subject is the question of legislative power to make the enactment of a law depend in one form or another upon the result of a submission to a popular vote. There have been many cases upon the subject and some conflict of opinion, but the right of the legislature to refer to the voters of a district or territory, such as a county or municipality, a question local in its nature would seem to be quite well settled. Such questions are the division of a county or township and the formation of a new one; People v. Reynolds, 5 Gilm. (Ill) 1; see also State v. O'Neill, 24 Wis. 149; In re Opinion of Supreme Court Judges, 55 Mo. 295; the reuniting of two separate ones which were formerly one ; Call v. Chad bourne, 46 Me. 206 ; People v. Nally, 49 Cal. 478; whether a general school law shall be operative in a particular municipality ; State v. Wilcox, 45 Mo. 458 ; as to the location of a county seat; Com. v. Painter, 10 Pa. 214; or its removal; Hamilton v: Carroll, 82 Md. 326, 33 Atl. 648 ; so whether a municipality may make an improvement or incur a debt; Ex parte Selma & Gulf R. Co., 45 Ala. 696, 6 Am. Rep. 722 ; Starin v. Town of Genoa, 23 N. Y. 439 ; Rogers v. Burlington, 3 Wall. (U. S.) 654, 18 L. Ed. 79; State v. Linn County Court, 44 Mo. 504; Johnson v. Stark County, 24 Ill. 75; or have a revision of its charter ; Mayor, etc., of Brunswick v. Finney, 54 Ga. 317; or the regulation of live stock in a subdivision of a county ; Armstrong v. Traylor, 87 Tex. 598, 30 S. W. 440. Such questions as these, it is said, may always with propriety be referred to the voters of a municipality for decision ; Cooley, Const. Lim. [120], where a very large number of cases are collected.