MacKenzie v. Gleason

30 Haw. 477, 1928 Haw. LEXIS 24
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedJune 4, 1928
Docket1815
StatusPublished

This text of 30 Haw. 477 (MacKenzie v. Gleason) 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
MacKenzie v. Gleason, 30 Haw. 477, 1928 Haw. LEXIS 24 (haw 1928).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

PERRY, C. J.

(Parsons, J., dissenting.)

This is a statutory submission upon agreed facts. On January 3, 1927, D. L. Desha, then sheriff of the City and County of Honolulu, dismissed from the office of matron of the city and county jail at Honolulu an incumbent who had taken the civil service examination and was qualified under the rules of that service to hold the office and in her stead appointed the present plaintiff who had not taken the examination and was not qualified under the rules of the civil service. On October 3.1, 1927, the present defendant, who had succeeded Desha as the sheriff of the City and County of Honolulu, dismissed the plaintiff from her position as matron at the city and county jail and reinstated the incumbent whom the plaintiff had succeeded. It is *478 claimed by the plaintiff that at the date of her appointment by Sheriff Desha there was no requirement of law that the matrons at the city and county jail in Honolulu should qualify by talcing and passing an examination in conformity with the rules of the civil service, that, therefore, the dismissal of her predecessor and her own appointment were both legal, that by virtue of the provisions of Act 22, Laws 1927, approved on March 25 of that year, she “automatically became a civil service employee” and was “expressly exempted from said civil service examination” and. that thereafter she was not subject to dismissal by the sheriff at his pleasure but could ¡only be removed in accordance with civil service regulations. The defendant sheriff, on the other hand, claims that at the date of the appointment of the plaintiff the civil service regulations applied to the positions of matrons at the city and county jail; that the appointment of the plaintiff and the dismissal of her predecessor; were both illegal and that he was legally justified in dismissing the plaintiff and in reinstating her immediate predecessor in office. The plaintiff asks that a writ ,of mandamus issue, compelling the defendant to reinstate her.

Beginning as early as 1859, the power of appointing jailors was, vested in the sheriff. Section 207 (R. L. 1905, §1577) of the Civil Code of 1859 provided: “Jailors, appointment. The high sheriff of the Territory is responsible for the safe keeping of all prisoners; and therefore lie shall have the nomination and appointment, with the approval of the attorney general, of all jailors and other prison officers, who shall hold office during the pleasure of! said high sheriff. Such jailors, and other officers, shafl be men of sobriety, honesty and industry.”

By the same Code, in section 217 (R. L. 1905, §1589; R. L. 1915, '§ 1467; and R. L. 1925, § 1528), it was pro *479 vided: “Female prisoners. Female prisoners shall be kept entirely separate from the male prisoners and shall be employed in making mats, in sewing, in washing the clothes of the prisoners and in snch other suitable occupations as the high sheriff shall direct.”

Continuing the same policy, Laws 188S, chapter 8, section 9 (R. L. 1905, §1563), provided: “It shall be the duty of the high sheriff, and of the several sheriffs within their respective jurisdictions, to preserve the public peace, to have charge of all jails and prisons, to safely keep all persons committed to their charge, to execute all lawful precepts and mandates directed to them by any judge, court, head of department or other person thereunto authorized; to arrest fugitives from justice, as well as all criminals and violators of the laws; and generally to perform all such .other duties as may be imposed upon them by law, for any of which purposes they may command all necessary assistance.”

Again, in Laws 1905, Act 39 (the County Act), chapter 15, sections 67 and 68 (R. L. 1915, §§ 1745, 1746, and R. L. 1925, §§ 1825, 1826, subsec. 6), it was provided: “Subject to the special provisions of this Act, the county sheriff of each county shall have and exercise all the powers, privileges and authority, and be required to perform all the duties in his own jurisdiction, the same being the county in and for which he shall have been elected, as are now by law provided to be had, exercised and performed by the high sheriff of the Territory or by the sheriffs of the various islands respectively; and shall have such other powers and duties as are by this Act conferred and which may be provided by any law hereinafter enacted by the legislative authority; provided, however, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to vest in the sheriffs of the various counties respectively the care, custody or control of any *480 territorial jail, house of correction or penitentiary, or the care find custody of any prisoners confined therein.” “He shall,: * * * 6. Take charge of and keep the city and county jail and the prisoners therein.”

Still later, by Laws 1909, Act 102, section 1 (R. L. 1915, § 1454, and R. L. 1925, § 1514), provision was made as follows: “Séction 1577 of the Revised Laws is amended to read as¡ follows: ‘Section 1577. Jailors; Appointment. The high pheriff of the Territory is responsible for the safe keeping of all prisoners who may be confined or committed to the Oahu Prison. He shall, with the approval of the attorney general, appoint the necessary jailors and other officers at said prison. All other jailors shall be appointed by the sheriffs of the respective counties, including the City and County of Honolulu. The sheriffs within their respective counties' and the sheriff of the City and County of Honolulu shall be held responsible for the safe keeping of all prisoners who may be confined within the various county or city and county jails respectively.’ ”

This was the state of the law until 1913. It seems clear that until then the high sheriff was vested with the power of appointing jailors to serve at Oahu Prison and that -the power to appoint “all other' jailors” was in the sheriffs of the respective counties, including the City and County of Honolulu. It is conceded by both parties to this submission that a matron at the city and county1 jail is a jailor within the meaning of these statutes. ;

In 1913 the legislature created a civil service commission and provided for the appointment of commissioners and¡ defined their powers and duties (Laws 1913, chap. 51). By section 2 of that Act it was provided that “no pérson shall hold or be appointed to any position, either, in the police department, or in the fire de *481 partment of the City and County of Honolulu, without the approval of the commission in accordance with its rules and regulations” and by section 6 that “whenever any person in the police department or fire department has been appointed under these provisions, he shall hold his position during good behavior, subject to removal only as provided by said rules and regulations.”

In 1919 the legislature amended section 1751, R. L. 1915, so as to read as follows: “Section 1751. Police officers and other assistants.

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Related

Territory of Hawaii ex rel. Moir v. Knell
17 Haw. 135 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1905)
Territory v. Wills
25 Haw. 747 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1921)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
30 Haw. 477, 1928 Haw. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mackenzie-v-gleason-haw-1928.