Moore v. Nation

103 P. 107, 80 Kan. 672, 1909 Kan. LEXIS 136
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJuly 3, 1909
DocketNo. 16,433
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 103 P. 107 (Moore v. Nation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. Nation, 103 P. 107, 80 Kan. 672, 1909 Kan. LEXIS 136 (kan 1909).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Burch, J.:

The plaintiff'was judge of the district court of Wyandotte county for the four-year term ending in January, 1909. When he entered upon the term his salary was fixed by law at $3000 per annum. Afterward the legislature imposed upon the judge of the district court for that county the duty of preparing and revising lists of qualified jurors and of drawing therefrom the names of persons to serve on juries, and authorized him to appoint a jury clerk to assist him in the performance of such duty. (Laws 1907. ch. 232.) The same act increased the salary of the office to $3500 per annum. The plaintiff performed the additional service required of him for the remainder of his term, but the defendant, the state auditor, refused to audit vouchers for the increase in compensation and to issue warrants on the treasurer in payment therefor. The plaintiff asks for a writ of mandamus to compel him to do so.

[674]*674Section 13 of article 3 of the constitution reads as follows:

“The justices of the supreme court and judges of the district court shall, at stated times, receive for their services such compensation as may be provided by law, which shall not be increased during their respective terms of office; provided, such compensation1 shall not be less than fifteen hundred dollars to each justice or judge, each year, and such justices or judges shall receive no fees or perquisites nor hold any other office of profit or trust under the authority of the state, or the United States, during the term of office for which such justices and judges shall be elected, nor practice law in any of the courts in the state during their continuance in office.”

The plaintiff argues that the statute did not create another office — as that of "jury commissioner — and make him the incumbent, but that it merely imposed upon him as j udge. certain additional duties in aid of the discharge of his j udicial duties; and it is said that this could be done because the new duties have an ultimate j udicial purpose, are incidental to the exercise of judicial power, and are closely connected with and are germane to the judicial function. Excellent authorities are cited for these propositions.

In passing upon a statute conferring upon justices of the appellate division of the supreme court the power to appoint special jury commissioners the New York court of appeals said:

“The constitution of 1846 provided that judges of the court of appeals and j ustices of, the supreme court should not ‘exercise any power of appointment to public office,’ but this provision was omitted in the revision of the judiciary article in 1870, and it does not appear in our present revised constitution. (Const. 1846, art. 6, sec. 8; Rev. Const., art. 6.) The omission of the express prohibition excludes one by implication. But, while a justice of the supreme court is no longer prohibited absolutely from appointing to public office, a limitation is placed upon his powers in this regard by the provision that he ‘shall not hold any other office or public trust.’ (Art. 6, sec. 10.) The power to ap[675]*675point a special jury commissioner is a public trust, because it is intrusted to public officers, to be exercised in behalf of the public, by clothing a private citizen with the powers and duties of public office. Unless, therefore, it has some reasonable connection with a judicial purpose, it is not a part of a judicial office and can not be imposed upon a j ustice of the supreme court. (Matter of Davies, 168 N. Y. 89.) What, however, is more germane to the judicial function than the selection of proper jurors to aid in the administration of justice? The right of the jury to decide all issues of fact presented to the court at which they attend makes their selection a judicial purpose of the highest importance. It is an invaluable aid to the discharge of judicial duties, and hence may be attached by the legislature to the judicial office, as incidental to the exercise of the usual powers of that office. The appointment of a jury commissioner rests on the same principle as that of stenographers, judges’ clerks, and the like. The appointment of such officers is authorized because the discharge of their duties aids the judges in the performance of their judicial functions; and so the appointment of a special jury commissioner to select jurors aids the judges in transacting the usual business of their courts.” (People v. Hall, 169 N. Y. 184, 195.)

In the case of Daily Register Printing Co. v. Mayor,, etc., 59 N. Y. Supr. Ct. 542, the opinion reads:

“There is nothing in the point as to the prohibition of justices of the supreme court from holding other offices or public trusts. The duty imposed upon the presiding justice, of designating' (with others) a law journal in which the calendars of the courts should be published, is nothing more than an additional duty attached to the j udicial office. Having made that designation, certain other incidents follow the act, such as. the requirement with respect to legal notices generally. But the designation of the journal is, primarily, for the-thorough dissemination of the court calendars. This is. important in securing preparation for trial and prompt attendance upon the call of the calendars. It would certainly be a very narrow and strained construction of the constitution to hold that a duty, having such results for its object, was foreign to the judicial office. The illustrations of similar duties imposed upon the presiding justice and his associates by other laws, fur[676]*676nished by Mr. Justice Patterson in his opinion at special term, suffice to show a general legislative intent not to confine the j udicial duty to the bare hearing and decision of cases, but occasionally to impose upon the judges, in the line of their vocation, duties bearing upon the general administration of justice.” (Page 554.)

If the reasoning of these decisions be unsound, the plaintiff can not recover. If the duties of jury commissioner can not be assigned to the judicial office they belong to another office of trust, which the constitution forbade the plaintiff to hold. For present purposes it will be assumed that the duties specified in the statute fall within the scope of the office of judge of the district court.

Having thus bound up the function of selecting and drawing j urors' for the trial ’ of causes with the function of adjudicating such causes, the plaintiff proceeds to sever the ligature so that he.may receive an increase in pay, in the following manner: The function of jury commissioners is not judicial but is administrative in its nature; it does not pertain to the office of district judge as such; the framers of the constitution had in mind compensation for the services of .a judge, as such, when acting in a judicial capacity only; and the constitutional provision quoted has no reference to extra pay for extra services of an .administrative character like those required by the statute. It is said in the plaintiff’s brief:

“One class of services or duties belongs to the office, and a compensation for such class can not be increased during the term. Another class does not belong, but can be attached by the legislature, to the office, for which services compensation can be given during the term, if the purpose and result is to aid in the discharge of the usual judicial duties.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
103 P. 107, 80 Kan. 672, 1909 Kan. LEXIS 136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-nation-kan-1909.