State ex inf. Hadley v. Munn
State ex inf. Hadley v. Munn
Opinion of the Court
This is an original proceeding in this court in the nature of quo warranto on the information
The respondent waived the issuance and service of the writ and filed his return, in which he alleges that at the general election in 1880 the proposition as to whether township organization should be adopted for the government of Nodaway county was duly submitted to the qualified voters of said county, upon a petition of more than one hundred legal voters thereof, and that at said election a majority of all the votes cast at said election were cast in favor of township organization, and that ever since the last Tuesday in March, 1881, the said county had been acting under township organization, and that at the township election held in the said township of Polk on the last Tuesday in March, 1905, the respondent was duly elected township collector of said township, and ever since that date has been discharging the duties of said office; wherefore, respondent prayed to be discharged with his costs. The respondent filed with his return an abstract of the votes cast at the general election in 1880', on the adoption of township organization in Nodaway county, from which
Upon the return of the respondent the Attorney-General moved the court for judgment of ouster, notwithstanding the return.
Prom the foregoing statement it is apparent that the facts in this case are on all-fours with those in State ex rel. Burns v. Gibson, 195. Mo. 251. In that case it was ruled that section 7432, Revised Statutes 1879', or section 8427, Revised Statutes 1889, under which the voters of Linn county adopted township organization, was in conflict with section 8 of article 9' of the Constitution of Missouri, in that the statutes of 1879' provided for the adoption of township organization by the vote of a majority of those voting* at the election on the question of the adoption of township organization, whereas the Constitution required a majority of the legal voters of the county voting at any general election.
As the facts of the two cases are identical, it must be ruled that township organization was not lawfully adopted by the voters of Nodaway county at the general election in 1880, and therefore the respondent is not entitled to the office of township collector of P'olk township in said county, and a writ of ouster is directed to issue removing him from the exercise of the duties of such office.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THE STATE ex inf. HADLEY, Attorney-General v. MUNN
- Status
- Published