McWilliams v. Smith

82 S.E. 569, 142 Ga. 209, 1914 Ga. LEXIS 655
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided July 27, 1914·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

Hill, J.

The legislature during the session of 1912 passed an act proposing an amendment to the constitution of the State, which was approved by the Governor on July 30th, 1912, and the proposed amendment was subsequently ratified by the people. The amendment was as follows: “There shall be in each militia district one [211] justice of the peace, whose official term, except when elected to fill an unexpired term, shall be four years; provided, however, that the General Assembly may, in its discretion, abolish justice courts and the office of justices of the peace and of notary public ex-officio justices of the peace in any city of this State having a population of over twenty thousand, except the City of'Savannah, and establish in lieu thereof such court or courts or system of courts 'as the General Assembly may, in its discretion, deem necessary, conferring upon such new court, or courts, or system of courts, when so established, the jurisdiction as to subject-matter now exercised by justice courts and by justices of the peace and notaries public ex-officio justices of the peace, together with such additional jurisdiction,either as to amount or subject-matter, as may be provided by law, whereof some other court has not exclusive jurisdiction under this constitution; together also with such provision as to rules and procedure in such courts and as to new trials and the correction of errors in and by said courts, and with such further provision for the correction of errors by the Superior Court or Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court, as the General Assembly may from time, to time, in its discretion, provide or authorize. Any court so established shall not be subject to the rules of uniformity laid down in paragraph 1 of section 9 of article 6 of the constitution of Georgia.” After the adoption of the amendment an act of the legislature, approved August 20th, 1913, was passed, creating the municipal court of Atlanta. The first section of the act was as follows: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that, effective January first, 1914, all justices’ courts and the office of justice of the peace and of notary public ex-officio justice of the peace, in the City of Atlanta, Georgia, be and the same are hereby abolished, and in lieu thereof the municipal court of Atlanta is hereby created and established, with the civil and criminal jurisdiction hereinafter provided. The territorial jurisdiction of said court shall be coextensive with the corporate limits of the City of Atlanta as the same now are, or may hereafter be, defined by law; but there shall be separate sections of said court: one section for that part of the City of Atlanta within the County of Fulton, and one section for that part of said city within the County of DeKalb.”

The municipal court of Atlanta was organized January, 1914, [212] On the 7th day of January, 1914, D. H. McWilliams filed his petition for injunction against the commissioners of roads and revenues, and H. L. Culberson, treasurer, of Fulton county, and alleged: that he was a citizen and taxpayer of Fulton county, residing at East Point, outside the limits of the City of Atlanta; that the commissioners of roads and revenues have charge of the financial affairs of Fulton county, and disburse and pay out the county funds, and audit the claims against the county; that H. L. Culberson is the county treasurer, and it is his duty to pay the warrants drawn by the commissioners; that the salary lists and expenses of the municipal court of Atlanta entail and charge a large obligation to be paid out of taxes collected from the property of the entire County of Fulton, although at least three fourths of the area of the county is without the limits of the City of Atlanta; that the levy of taxes upon the entire County of Fulton, providing for the maintenance of a local court for a portion of the county, is inequitable and unjust, and denies to plaintiff and those citizens outside of the limits of the City of Atlanta and in Fulton County the equal protection of the laws, and is without due process of law. The petition attacks the act creating the court, and the amendment to the constitution, as being in violation of many provisions of the State constitution, which will be later considered. The prayers were to restrain the chairman of the board of commissioners of roads and revenues from approving any warrant upon the treasurer of the county for claims for the salaries of the officers of the municipal court, and'that H. L. Culberson, treasurer of the county, be enjoined and restrained from paying any warrant so drawn for the salaries out of the funds of Fulton County. The court refused the injunction, and the plaintiff excepted.

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McWilliams v. Smith, 82 S.E. 569, 142 Ga. 209, 1914 Ga. LEXIS 655 (Ga. 1914).

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