R. J. Cantwell v. St. Petersburg Port Authority and City St. Petersburg

R. J. Cantwell, as complainant, filed his bill of complaint in the circuit court to restrain the City of St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg Port Authority, as defendants, from purchasing the ferry franchise and assets of Bee Line Ferry, Inc., a Florida corporation. The theory of the blll of complaint is that the ferry franchise is a nullity because the Act under which it was granted, Chapter 13884, Acts of 1929, Chapter 347.11 and 347.25, Florida Statutes, 1941, is a special or local law in violation of Section 20, Article III of the Constitution which provides that all laws for the ""establishment of ferries"" must be general.