Attorney-General ex rel. Wilkins v. Connors

27 Fla. 329
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 15, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 27 Fla. 329 (Attorney-General ex rel. Wilkins v. Connors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Attorney-General ex rel. Wilkins v. Connors, 27 Fla. 329 (Fla. 1891).

Opinion

Tayuhí, J.:

This is an appeal from a judgment rendered in favor of the defendant in a quo warranto proceeding.

The information which was filed by the Attorney-General in September, 1889, he suing “for the people of the State/’ alleges that Joseph Wilkins was elected sheriff of Escambia county on the sixth day of November, 1888, and still holds such office, and by virtue of his title thereto is entitled to the office and to the discharge of the duties and enjoyment of the emoluments which, prior to the dissolution of the municipal corporation of Pensacola, attached to the office of City Marshal of that city, which duties and emoluments are vested by the statute under which the provisional municipality of the City of Pensacola was and is organized, in the sheriff of Escambia county; that Connors, the defendant, for the space of three months, in the county of Escambia, and Provisional Municipality of Pensacola, unlawfully held and executed, and still unlawfully holds and executes without any warrant or right whatever, many of the pow-. ers and duties, and enjoys the emoluments which lawfully attach and belong to the said Joseph Wilkins [331]*331by virtue of his election and occupation of the office of sheriff of Escambia county conferred upon him by the provisions of the law under which the said Provisional Municipality of Pensacola'exists.

That the act approved February 12th, 188.), entitled ‘ ‘ An act to amend section nine of an act to dissolve municipal corporations under circumstances therein stated, and to provide provisional government for the the same, approved January 28,188J, and to repeal the eighth section of that act,” provides that it shall he the duty of the Sheriff for the county in which said city shall be situated to perform the duties of Marshal for such Provisional Municipality, and to appoint, subject to approval and removal by the board such number of policemen as may be authorized by the hoard. That notwithstanding such provision the defendant has assumed to be, and exercises the powers and duties of, chief of the police forces of the said provisional municipality ; lias assumed, in disregard of the law and the rights of relator, to exclusively superintend, direct and control all police officers and policemen of the said provisional municipality in the discharge of duties assigned to them, and to be the chief conservator of the public peace of the municipality and superintendent of the- making of complaints of offences against the ordinances thereof, and to perform all those duties which prior to the passage of the law under which the said municipality exists appertained to the office of City Marshal of the city of Pensacola, and which now law[332]*332fully appertain to the office of Sheriff of Escambia county.

The information prays process for Connors to answer the people by what warrant he claims to hold and execute ‘ ‘ the office and powers and duties aforesaid. ’ ’

Connors answered that in May, 1885, he was appointed by relator, then Marshal of the Provisional Municipality of Pensacola, a policeman in and for the municipality, and that' the appointment was thereafter duly approved by the Board of Commissioners of the Municipality, and thereafter he, still being a. policeman, was made by the Board, Captain of Police, and afterwards on January 10th and February 16th, 1889, the board adopted a code of ordinances for said municipality, prescribing the duties of a Chief of Police, and this code is made a part of the answer, and then the respondent, still being a policeman of the municipality, was made Chief of Police, and has exercised the functions of Chief of Police, and none other.

That respondent has not received any emoluments appertaining to relator, whose compensation as Marshal has been paid by the Board under authority of law, and no part of such compensation has ever been paid to or is claimed by this respondent.

This answer was demurred to as bad in substance, in that it fails to set up any facts inconsistent with the rights of the people or said relator as set forth in the information, and the demurrer was overruled and leave given to relator to amend.

[333]*333Afterwards an amended information was filed, which is substantially the same as the other, except that it states specifically that the duties and powers alleged to have been usurped, appertained to the office of City Marshal at the time the relator was elected Sheriff. A demurrer was interposed to it and sustained, and final judgment rendered in favor of respondent. From this final judgment the relator appeals to this court.

By interposing a demurrer to the amended information the respondent Connors thereby admitted the allegations of fact in the amended information to be true. Considered abstractly, we think that the amended information in this case presents such a statement of facts as, when uncontroverted, would entitle the relato]' to the relief prayed. These' facts being admitted by the demurrer to be true, the judgment of the court below should have been in favor of the relator upon the demurrer to the amended information. Upon this view this court might rest its judgment; but there are other questions presented by the record and commented upon by counsel in their arguments and briefs, that we deem it best to discuss, in order to arrive at a more complete (lisi)osition of the cause.

It is contended for the resx>ondent that section one of Cluvpter 3607, entitled “An act to amend section 9, of an act to dissolve munieix>«l corporations,” &c., ax>X>roved February 12th, 188o, which x'wovides, among other things, that “it shall be the duty of the Sheriff for the county in which such city shall be situated to X>erform the duties of Marshal for such x>rovisional [334]*334municipality, and to appoint, subject to tlie approval and removal by the Board, such numbers of policemen asmav be authorized by the Board,” &c., is obnoxious to that clause of Section 15 of Article XYI óf the Constitution of 1885, which provides that “no person shall hold, or perform the functions of more than one office under the government of this State at the same time.” And in this connection it is urged for the respondent that a City Marshal is a State officer in the sense of the constitutional provision invoked, and that to put the performance of the duties appertaingto his office upon the Sheriff of a county, comes within the constitutional inhibition above quoted. With this contention of the respondent’s counsel we cannot agree ; and it seems to us that the plain meaning of the language used in the clause of the Constitution invoked clearly negatives this theory. The language of the Constitution is : “No person shall hold, or perform the functions of, more than one office under the government of this State at the same time.” The inhibition is aimed solely and entirely against offices held under, or whose duties appertain to the government of the State. After careful and exhaustive search we have been unable to find any authority that holds that the government of municipalities forms any part of the government of the State as such, considered in the broad sense of the term “State government.” The government of the State as such is reared upon and provided for in all of its departments by the Constitution, but nowhere in our Constitution are the governments of municipalities or their officials [335]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State ex rel. Tropical Audubon Society, Inc. v. City of Islandia
224 So. 2d 427 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1969)
Willis v. Potts
377 S.W.2d 622 (Texas Supreme Court, 1964)
State ex rel. Ervin v. Mellick
68 So. 2d 824 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1953)
La Tour v. Stone, Sheriff
190 So. 704 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1939)
State Ex Rel. Gibbs v. Couch
190 So. 723 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1939)
City of Orlando v. Evans
182 So. 264 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1938)
Hancock v. Davidson County
104 S.W.2d 824 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1937)
In re Opinion of the Justices
163 So. 410 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1935)
State Ex Rel. Attorney General v. City of Avon Park
149 So. 409 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1933)
State Ex Rel. Landis v. Armstrong
137 So. 140 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1931)
State of Florida Ex Rel. Davis v. City of Stuart
120 So. 335 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1929)
McCullers v. Board of Commissioners
73 S.E. 816 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1911)
Attorney General ex rel. Moreland v. Common Council
37 L.R.A. 211 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1897)
State ex rel. Lamar v. Dillon
32 Fla. 545 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1893)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
27 Fla. 329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/attorney-general-ex-rel-wilkins-v-connors-fla-1891.