Allison v. Borders

The case tests the constitutionality of Chapter 65 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1942. The Act which appears in the Kentucky Revised Statutes as sections 184.010 to 184.300, inclusive, provides for the erection and establishment of public road districts in counties containing cities of the first class. There are many subdivisions, thickly populated areas and unincorporated villages in Jefferson county traversed by numerous roads which are neither state nor county roads, and which are maintained by the voluntary contributions of the residents of these areas. The Act of 1942 provides a method for improving these roads at the cost of the owners of the property abutting thereon. In the title to the Act conditions existing in Jefferson county justifying the establishment of public road districts are set forth at some length. Pursuant to the Act, Belmar public road district was established, directors were appointed, and steps were being taken to construct certain roads in the district when Wayne Allison and Frances Allison, residents of the district and owners of a lot therein, instituted this suit challenging the legality of Chapter 65 of the Acts of 1942, and they asked for a declaration of the rights of the parties. The board of directors of the road district and the county judge of Jefferson county were made defendants. The plaintiffs asserted that the Act violated various sections of the Kentucky Constitution, and particularly section 141, which reads: ""The jurisdiction of the County Court shall be uniform throughout the State, and shall be regulated by general law, and, until changed, shall be the same as now vested in the County Courts of this State by law.""