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153 Mich. 674

Sweet v. Smith

Michigan Supreme Court

Decided July 13, 1908

Michigan Supreme Court · decided 1908-07-13

Mandamus by John Sweet and others to compel Fred W. Smith, police commissioner, and John Downey, superintendent of police, to enforce certain laws. There was an order denying an order to show cause, and relators apply for a writ of certiorari.

Relies on Miller v. Grandy · Smith v. Mayor of Saginaw · People ex rel. Russell v. Inspectors & Agent of the State Prison

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Application denied · Decided 1908-07-13

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently October 1927

4 state decisions

20190819101920decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Per Curiam.

¶1We are asked to review an order of the circuit court for the county of Wayne denying a mandamus, prayed for by relator and others, compelling the respondent “to execute and enforce all the laws pertaining to the preservation of the Sabbath, or the first day of the week, at the baseball park of the Detroit Club.” The purpose of the proceeding was to prohibit Sunday baseball playing in the city of Detroit. It does not appear that the grievance of the petitioners is any other than that sustained by other citizens of the city of Detroit. Neither does it appear that the attorney general of the State has refused to take action in the matter. Under these circumstances, petitioners have no right to relief. The griev*675anee complained of is purely a public grievance, and redress should have been sought by the people’s public agents, and not by private intervention. See People, ex rel. Russell, v. Inspector and Agent of State Prison, 4 Mich. 187; Miller v. Grandy, 13 Mich. 540; People, ex rel. Delbridge, v. Green, 29 Mich. 121; People, ex rel. McBride, v. Board of Sup’rs of Kent Co., 38 Mich. 422; Steffes v. Moran, 68 Mich. 291; Smith v. City of Saginaw, 81 Mich. 123.

¶2The decision of the circuit court was clearly correct, and we decline to review it in this court.

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