Gragg v. Dudley

1930 OK 280, 289 P. 254, 143 Okla. 281, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 623
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 3, 1930
Docket21305
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 1930 OK 280 (Gragg v. Dudley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gragg v. Dudley, 1930 OK 280, 289 P. 254, 143 Okla. 281, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 623 (Okla. 1930).

Opinion

CLARK, J.

Plaintiff in error was plaintiff beiow and defendants in error were defendants below. The parties will be referred to as plaintiff and defendants. Plaintiff brought this suit in the district court of Oklahoma county, seeking injunctive relief against members of the State Board of Affairs, State Election B-oard of Oklahoma, and C. S. Storms, and to enjoin' the State Election Board and State Board of Affairs from placing the name of C. S. Storms on the Democratic ticket as candidate before the primary election, seeking the nomination of the Democratic party for the office of Lieutenant Governor.

Said cause was submitted to- the trial court on an agreed statement of facts, wherein it was agreed that Ray Gragg, as plaintiff, was a bona fide resident and taxpayer of Stephens county, Okla.; and that C. E. Dudley, John R. Williams, and Roy Cop-pock are the duly appointed and acting members of the State Board of Affairs, and that John E. Luttrell, N. D. Welty, and Cleon Summers constitute and are acting as the State Election Board of the state of Oklahoma. That the defendant C. S. Storms is and has been for several years a resident and qualified elector of Jefferson county, Okla., and the said C. S. Storms has heretofore declared his intention to be a candidate for nomination and election to the office of Lieutenant Governor in the primary election to be held on the 29th day of July, 1930, and the general election, if he receives the nomination, to be held on the 11th day of November, 1930; and that defendant Storms has filed with the State Election Board his written declaration and application requesting that his name be printed upon the official ballot as a candidate, subject to the Democratic primary, and that such application has been received by the State Election Board, and such boai^d is about to direct the Board of Affairs to print the name of C. S. Storms upon the official ballot as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, to be voted upon at the Democratic primary, and that the Board of Affairs will print or cause to be printed the name of said C. S. Storms on said ballot unless enjoined from so doing.

It is further agreed that O. S. Storms was elected as a member of the State Senate from the Seventeenth senatorial district for a term of four years beginning 15 days after the general election held in November, 1926, and that he was the regularly acting member of the Senate from said district during the entire session of the Twelfth Legislature, at which session the salary of the Governor of the state of Oklahoma was increased by the terms and under the provisions of chapter 273, Session Laws 1929, and that to he eligible to election and to serve as Lieutenant Governor he must possess the same qualifications as required under the law to be elected and to serve as Governor.

Plaintiff asks that the defendants be en *283 joined from placing the name of O. S. Storms on the ballot as candidate for Lieutenant Governor. The defendant G. S. Storms prays that he be adjudged eligible to election and to serve as Lieutenant Governor, and that plaintiff’s application for an injunction be denied.

The court found, as a matter of law, that the defendant O. S. Storms was elected as a member of the State Senate from the Seventeenth senatorial district for a term of four years beginning 15 days after the general election held in November, 1926, and that said O. S. Storms qualified as such member of the State Senate and served as a member of the Twelfth Legislature, at which session the Legislature increased the salary of the Governor of the state of Oklahoma, under the terms and provisions of chapter 273 of Session Laws 1929, but did not increase the salary of the Lieutenant Governor.

The court further finds from the agreed statement of facts, and concludes as a matter of law, that the term which the said G. S. Storms was elected for the said State Senate will expire 15 days after the election to be held on the 11th day of November, 1930.

The court further finds, and concludes as a matter of law, that the term of the Lieutenant Governor begins on the second Monday of January, next after his election, and that a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, appearing on the official ballot in the regular election to be held on the 11th day of November, 1930, will not be elected until the returns of that election are canvassed and the result declared by the Legislature, convening on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January succeeding the general election, as provided in section 5 of article 6 of the Constitution. The court denied plaintiff’s application for an injunction and dismissed plaintiff’s action, to which action of the court plaintiff excepted, and the cause was brought here for review.

Section 23 of article 5 of the Constitution of Oklahoma is in part as follows:

“No member of the Legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any office or commission in the state which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall 'have been increased, during his termi of office, nor shall any member receive any appointment from the Governor, the Governor and Senate, or from the Legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected. * * *’’

The record discloses that defendant Storms was elected at the November election in 1926, to serve a term of four years.

Section 9 of article 5 of the Constitution of Oklahoma provides in part as follows:

“The Senate, except as hereinafter provided, shall consist of not more than 44 members, whose term of office shall be four years: Provided, That one senator elected at the first election from each even-numbered district shall hold office until the 16th day succeeding the regular state election in 1908, and one elected from each odd-numbered district at said first election shall hold office until the 15th day succeeding the day of the regular state election in 1910. * * * ”

This section of the Constitution was construed by this court in the ease of Coyle v. Smith, 28 Okla. 121, 113 Pac. 994; the court in the second paragraph of the syllabus said:

“The legislative body, as convoked and constituted at an extraordinary session, assembled more than 15 days after the date of the regular state election held throughout the state in. November, 1910, the House of Representatives being composed of the members elected at said election, and the Senate in part by the members elected at said election: Held, that said body was legally constituted.”

Following this construction, the term of four years for which C. S. Storms was elected to the Senate from the Seventh senatorial district of the state of Oklahoma will expire on the 15th day succeeding the day of the regular state election throughout the state of Oklahoma in November, 1930.

Having determined that the office of a State Senator who was elected in November, 1926, for a term of four years, will expire in November, 1930, the next question presented in this cause is, When is a Lieutenant Governor elected to office?

Section 26 of article 5 of the Constitution of Oklahoma reads as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
1930 OK 280, 289 P. 254, 143 Okla. 281, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 623, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gragg-v-dudley-okla-1930.