In re Ross

8 Haw. 478, 1892 Haw. LEXIS 27
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedApril 13, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 8 Haw. 478 (In re Ross) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Ross, 8 Haw. 478, 1892 Haw. LEXIS 27 (haw 1892).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court, by

Judd, O.J.

A petition in due form to annul the election of Nobles for the Division of Oahu was filed and presented, and all the requisites of the statute regarding notice, etc., complied with. ■ It came on for hearing before Mr. Justice Bickerton, who filed, on the 30th of March, a full statement of his findings of law and -fact, dismissing the petition. From this the petitioners perfected an [479]*479appeal to the Court in Banco. At the hearing before us, the petitioners, through their counsel, Messrs. A. S. Hartwell and C. W. Ashford, stated that they accepted all the findings of fact by the Trial Justice raised by the petition, except that set out in the sixth paragraph, wherein it is alleged that the Minister of the Interior refused and neglected to insert in the printed ballots the Hawaiian equivalent of the name of the candidate Henry' Waterhouse. We therefore affirm the findings of fact not excepted to, and will consider the contested matter later on.

The principal ground advanced by the petitioners upon which the election is sought to be annulled is that the ballots prepared by the Minister of the Interior for use on the occasion were illegal, in that they did not contain any of the words “ Koho ana no ka makahiki 1892,” nor any Hawaiian words specifying the name of the office, or the name of the division for Nobles, or the term of the office, nor, in the cases of the special elections, any words in the Hawaiian language specifying the unexpired terms of the office, nor the words “ Koho Balota Kuikawa,” but that all of said Hawaiian words were omitted therefrom, as appears by a specimen of said ballots appended to and made a part of the petition. More succinctly, the ballot is averred to be illegal because its descriptive parts were not printed in Hawaiian.

The question is an important one, having a wider effect than on the present case. We find nothing in the Constitution or the statute laws requiring that acts passed by the Legislature should be in both Hawaiian and English, though the rules of the Legislature have undoubtedly required that this should be done.

The only statute, that we are aware of, that bears upon this matter is the early one, that where a radical and irreconcilable difference is found to exist between the English and Hawaiian versions of any part of the Civil Code, the English version shall be held binding. Civil Code of 1859, Section 1493. This was enlarged by the Act of 1864, so that now if there is found to exist a radical and irreconcilable difference between the English and Hawaiian versions of any of the laws of the Kingdom, which have been or may hereafter be enacted, the English version [480]*480shall be held binding. This would certainly imply that the statute laws of this Kingdom have been and will continue to be passed and promulgated in two versions, English and Hawaiian. But, though this may be the case, the two versions constitute but one act. There is no dual legislation. As a rule one version is the translation of the other. The effort is always made to have them exactly coincide, and the legal presumption is that they do. We are aware that, though the Hawaiian language is the original language of this people and country, the English language is largely in use. Of necessity the English language must be largely employed to record transactions of the government in its various branches, because the very ideas and principles adopted, by the government come from countries where the English language is in use. Not that it is exclusively employed, or that the use of the Hawaiian language in any instance would not be perfectly regular and legal. The records of our courts show pleadings of all kinds in the Hawaiian language received with as much approval as those in the English. Which language would be used would depend upon the comparative familiarity of the writer with one or the other.

An aboriginal Minister of the Interior, looking only at the Hawaiian version of the Election Law of 1890, might order the descriptive words on the ballots to be printed in the Hawaiian language, he being more familiar with it. No one could say that such a ballot would not comply with the law. Equally legal would be a ballot where the descriptive parts were in the English language exclusively. Such a ballot would strictly comply with the Act as read by the Minister in the English language, there being nothing in the Act directing which language should be used, or that both should be used.

A forcible argument could be made to the Legislature advocating an Act requiring the printing the ballots in both languages, in order that the needed information be furnished to the voters who understand Hawaiian or English. But we do not find that the law on the statute book directs in what language the ballot shall be printed. The employment of either or of both languages would comply with the law.

[481]*481We remark that our Opinion to the Cabinet, on the 19th January last, only went to the extent of saying that the insertion on the printed ballot of the Hawaiian version of the name of any candidate, in addition to his foreign name, is not forbidden by the statute which prohibits tie ballots bearing any “word, motto, device, sign or symbol” other than allowed by the law, viz., the names of the candidates and certain descriptive words, as “ election for the year,” etc., etc. We nowhere intimated that the Hawaiian paraphrase or equivalent of an English or foreign name should be inserted in order to the legality of the ballot.

In regard to the disputed question of fact, respecting Mr. Waterhouse’s name on the ballot, we observe that the interlining of his name, as some Hawaiians would pronounce it, in the petition of voters for his candidacy could hardly be held as a request to the Minister that his name be so printed on the ballot. Also, that if the request was orally made there is no evidence that non-compliance with the request was by design or intentional fraud or discourtesy. Having found that the omission to print descriptive words on the ballots in Hawaiian did not vitiate them, the omission of the Hawaiian version of a candidate’s name is equally harmless.

We therefore affirm the decision appealed from and dismiss the petition.

Decision op Bickerton, J., Appealed From.

The petition sets forth that the petitioners, fifty-one in number, are residents of Oahu; that they voted or were entitled to vote for Nobles of the Kingdom at the general election held on the Island of Oahu on the third day of February, 1892. That the election was held; that proper returns were made, and that certificates of election were made, signed ’and delivered to the persons so declared to be elected. That duplicates of the certificates, together with the tabulated returns, were transmitted by said Marshal to the Minister of the Interior ; that the following named gentlemen were declared elected: J. N. S. Williams, John A. Cummins and Paul Neumann for the term of six years, [482]*482John Ena for the unexpired term of four years, and Arthur P. Peterson for the unexpired term of two years.

That C. B. Maile, John Ross, Henry Waterhouse, John Emmeluth, A. Marques and Samuel M. Kaaukai, candidates for six years, E. B. Thomas for four jTears, and James Gay for two jmars, were formally and legally qualified and registered as such candidates ; that their several names appeared, together with those before named, on the ballots provided by the Minister of the Interior for use.

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

Related

Clarabal v. Dep't of Educ. of State
446 P.3d 986 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2019)
Pub. Access Shoreline v. HAWAII CTY PLANNING COMMISSION
903 P.2d 1246 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1995)
McBRYDE SUGAR COMPANY, LIMITED v. Robinson
517 P.2d 26 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1973)
Lonoaea v. Wailuku Sugar Co.
9 Haw. 651 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1895)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 Haw. 478, 1892 Haw. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ross-haw-1892.