State ex rel. Tice v. County Court
State ex rel. Tice v. County Court
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The petitioner claims that in pursuance of law he was at the general election held in the month of November, 1864, duly elected by the qualified voters of St. Louis county to the office of school commissioner of said county ; that said election, so far as this particular office is concerned, was authorized by an act of the Legislature of this State, approved March 3, 1857j that said act is local and especially applicable to the county of St. Louis, and that by the provisions thereof his term of office was to continue for a period of four years, and until his successor should be duly elected and qualified.
It is farther stated that the petitioner having in all respects complied with the laws of the State regulating the office of the county school commissioner, entered upon the duties of his said office, and has continued to perform the same to the present time ; that the compensation to said officer had, in pursuance of law, been fixed by the said court at the sum of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, payable in quarterly instalments ; that on the 15th day of March, 1867, one quarter’s instalment, amounting to the sum of three hundred and seventy-five dollars, was due the petitioner, and that the same had been demanded of the respondents, and by them refused: wherefore a mandamus is prayed for.
The return of the respondents to the alternative writ admits the truth of all the facts alleged in the petition, except as to the fact of the existence of such an office as county school commissioner for St. Louis county since the first of January, 1867. It is averred that the law of 1857, creating this office, and the act of March 3d, 1857, providing for the manner of filling the same, have both been repealed by the
The question involved in this proceeding is presented upon the demurrer to the answer of respondents, and the facts therein stated are therefore to be taken as true. The only inquiry is whether such an office as county school commissioner of St. Louis county has been in existence, in contemplation of law, since the county superintendent of Public Schools for said county entered upon the discharge of his official duties under the act of 1865 in relation to the “ reorganization, supervision and maintenance of common schools”—ch. 46, G. S. p. 255.
The office of county school commissioner was created by the provisions of the act of 1858, continued in Art. III., ch. 143, R. C. 1855, of an act entitled “ An act to provide for the organization, support and government of common schools in the State-of Missouri.” This was a general law, and applicable to every county in the State. By its terms the commissioner was in every instance to be appointed by the County Court of the proper county, and his term of office fixed at the period of two years, and until his successor should be appointed and qualified. By the act of 1857, Laws of Mo. 1857, p. 407, the general statute was so far altered in its application to the county of St. Louis, and some others in the State, as to make the office elective, and to change its tenure to a period of four years. The act of 1859, Sess. Acts 1858-9, p. 68, was intended simply to supply an omission in the act of 1857 by providing for the manner of filling vacancies. The Missouri State Convention of 1861 and 1862 (as it is called), by an ordinance adopted October 16, 1861, entitled, “ An ordinance providing for abolishing certain offi
For the purpose of determining whether the act of 1853, as continued in the revision of 1855, is repealed by ch. 46 of the general statutes, it will not be necessary to examine the provisions of the two acts in detail. The title itself of the act of 1865 indicates that an entire and radical change of the whole machinery of the school law was intended, and that too without any exception as to its application to any county in the State. It cannot in any true sense be said to be the act of 1853 and 1855 continued in the revision of 1865. It substitutes an entirely new system for the organ
It may be said briefly that the case of State ex rel. Vastine v. McDonald, 88 Mo. 529, was essentially different from the one at bar. In that case the law creating the office of public administrator had not been repealed by the revision of 1865, but was still continued in force by it.
There was nothing in the act of 1865 so repugnant to the provisions of the former legislation in reference to the selection of that officer to indicate that any change had been intended by the Legislature, and hence the act of 1857 was declared to be still in force.
Peremptory mandamus refused.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State ex rel. John H. Tice, styling himself School Commissioner of St. Louis County v. The County Court of St. Louis County, and William H. Heath, Auditor of said County
- Status
- Published