State ex rel. Kilbourne v. Dugas

195 So. 2d 179, 1967 La. App. LEXIS 5774
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 6, 1967
DocketNo. 6898
StatusPublished

This text of 195 So. 2d 179 (State ex rel. Kilbourne v. Dugas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Kilbourne v. Dugas, 195 So. 2d 179, 1967 La. App. LEXIS 5774 (La. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

ELLIS, Judge.

This is an intrusion in office suit, brought by the District Attorney of the 20th Judicial District under the provisions of R.S. 42:76(1). The operative facts of the case are set forth in our opinion rendered when this case was before us on an exception of no cause of action. See State ex Rel. Kilbourne v. Dugas, 180 So.2d 440 (La.App.1965).

Subsequent to the above decision, trial was had on the merits of the case in the lower court, and the suit once again was dismissed. From the latter judgment, relator has prosecuted this appeal.

Although a number of procedural objections were raised by the appeal, all of these were waived by relator in argument before this Court, and only one question remains to be determined: that is, should the inmates of East Louisiana State Hospital be included in the population in determining to how many Police Jurors Ward Three of East Feliciana Parish is entitled. If the population of the Ward is in excess of 7500, it is entitled to three Police Jurors, if between 5000 and 7500, it is entitled to two Police Jurors, and if under 5000, it is entitled to one. R.S. 33:1223.

As pointed out in our former opinion in this case, there are presently three Police Jurors holding office from that ward: Jacob De Lee, Henry Fluker, and Robert P. Dugas. Of these, Mr. Dugas received the fewest number of votes in the March 3, 1964, General Election, and it is he who is alleged to he intruding into and unlawfully holding office.

When this suit was filed, the 1960 United States Census showed there to be 5092 inhabitants residing in Ward Three of East Feliciana Parish. Subsequently, after this case was tried and submitted, there was some correspondence between the trial judge and the Bureau of the Census, as a result of which the 1960 Census was amended to show a population of 9671 in Ward Three. It further appears from a letter of March 18, 1966, directed to the judge from the Bureau of the Census, that there were 6154 persons enumerated who appear to be patients of East Louisiana State Plospital. A Grand Jury report in the record shows the population of the hospital to have been 3380 as of November 30, 1965. Another such report, rendered on December 4, 1963, shows the population of the hospital to have been 3582 at that time. There is no evidence other than the census itself relating to the patient population of the hospital in 1960. If the census figures are accepted, the population of Ward Three as of April 1, 1960, leaving out the patients, would be less than 5000.

Relator’s position in this case is very simply stated. He contends that the inmates of the hospital should not be included in the population of the Third Ward for political purposes. Respondents, on the other hand, contend that the law requires that they be included.

R.S. 33:1223 provides as follows:

“In each parish having a population of less than fifty thousand inhabitants, there shall be appointed in addition to the police juror to which the ward is entitled, an additional police juror for each five thousand inhabitants which the ward contains, said appointment to be based upon the last preceding U. S. census or upon an official census authorized by the governing authority of the parish; also one additional police juror for each additional five thousand inhabitants or part thereof in excess of two thousand five hundred inhabitants. Such additional police jurors shall be appointed by the governor, shall be residents of the ward from which they are appointed and shall serve until the next election in which police jurors are elected, in which election their successors shall be elected.”

Respondents contend that the word inhabitant as used by the above statute, and as [181]*181used in the United States Census, have the same meaning, and that, had the Legislature intended for some other standard to apply it would have specifically so stated.

Relator, on the other hand, contends that inhabitant does not mean the same thing for political purposes as it does for census purposes.

As defined in Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, an inhabitant is “one who dwells or resides permanently in a place, as distinguished from a transient lodger or visitor.”

In Black’s Law Dictionary, an inhabitant is “one who resides actually and permanently in a given place, and has his domicile there.”

Our Supreme Court, in Succession of Givanovich, SO La.Ann. 625, 24 So. 679 (1897) adopted the Webster definition verbatim and added the following remarks :

“The words ‘resident’ and ‘inhabitant’ are not synonymous, the latter implying a more fixed and permanent abode than the former, and frequently imparts many privileges and duties to which a nonresident could not lay claim or be subject. Abb. Law Diet. The word ‘inhabitant’ imports citizenship and municipal obligations.

The standards applied by the Bureau of the Census are set forth in the Final Report of the United States Census for Louisiana, 1960, which is in evidence, and are as follows :

“In accordance with census practice dating back to 1790, each person enumerated in the 1960 Census was counted as an inhabitant of his usual place of residence or usual place of abode, which is generally construed to mean the place where he lives and sleeps most of the time. The place is not necessarily the same as his legal residence, voting residence, or domicile; however, in the vast majority of cases, the use of these different bases of classification would produce substantially the same statistics, although there may be appreciable differences for a few areas.
“In the application of this rule, persons were not always counted as residents of the places in which they happened to be found by the census enumerators. Persons in the larger hotels, motels, and similar places where guests usually pay for quarters were enumerated on the night of March 31, and those whose usual place of residence was elsewhere were allocated to their homes. In addition, information on persons away from their usual place of residence was obtained from other members of their families, landladies, etc. If an entire family was expected to be away during the whole period of the enumeration, information on it was obtained from neighbors. A matching process was used to eliminate duplicate reports for a person who reported for himself while away from his usual residence, and who was also reported at his usual residence by someone else.
“Persons in the Armed Forces quartered on military installations were enumerated as residents of the States, counties, and minor civil divisions in which their installations were located. Members of their families were enumerated where they actually resided. As in 1950, college students were considered residents of the communities in which they were residing while attending college. The crews of the vessels of the U. S. Navy and American Merchant Marine in harbors of the United States were' counted as part of the population of the ports in which their vessels were berthed on April 1, 1960. Inmates of institutions, who ordinarily live there for long periods of time, were counted as inhabitants of the place in which the institution was located; whereas patients in general hospitals, who ordinarily remain for short periods of time, were counted at, or allocated to, their homes. Persons without a usual place of residence were counted where they were enumerated.
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Related

Succession of Givanovich
24 So. 679 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1898)
State ex rel. Kilbourne v. Dugas
180 So. 2d 440 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
195 So. 2d 179, 1967 La. App. LEXIS 5774, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-kilbourne-v-dugas-lactapp-1967.