City of Fort Scott v. Slater
City of Fort Scott v. Slater
Opinion of the Court
This was an action by R. Slater to recover from the city of Fort Scott the sum of $1850, alleged to be due to him as salary during his incumbency of the office of police judge. He was the police judge, and had been receiving $50 per month as salary until the passage of the act creating a city court in Fort Scott. (Laws 1899, ch. 127.) This act conferred on the new city court jurisdiction to hear and determine all offenses against the ordinances of the city, and it is claimed by the city that it operated to abolish the office of police judge, and hence the mayor and council refused to appropriate any salary for him. Slater, assuming to be the police judge of the city, held possession of the books and papers belonging to the office, and also held himself in readiness to perform the duties of the place for a number of months, when he accepted other employment which caused him to be absent from the city the greater part of the time. In March, 1901, the legislature repealed the act creating the city court and Slater resumed the performance of the duties of police judge, and was so recognized by the city until his successor was regularly chosen. The trial court held that the office was not abolished by tíie act creating the city court and gave judgment against the city for the amount of the salary up to the time that Slater accepted other employment, viz., $316.
The first question is, Did chapter 127 of the Laws of 1899 abolish the office of police judge? No reference whatever is made in the act to that officer, nor to the acts defining his power and duties. A police judge is an officer of a city of the first class whose powers and duties are provided by a general statute applicable
It was specifically held in In re Hagan, 65 Kan. 857, 68 Pac. 1104, that the act creating the city court of Fort Scott did not repeal the general law providing for a police judge in cities of the first class, nor abolish that office; that during the existence of the act creating the city court the general statute was operative in. the city of Fort Scott, except as to the jurisdiction which had been taken from the police judge and conferred on the city court, and that when that act was repealed full jurisdiction was restored to the police judge the same as it existed in other cities.
The right to the emoluments of an office is an incident, and follows the title to the office ; and as Slater
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.