State ex rel. Lewis v. Eggleston

34 Kan. 714
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 15, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 34 Kan. 714 (State ex rel. Lewis v. Eggleston) 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
State ex rel. Lewis v. Eggleston, 34 Kan. 714 (kan 1886).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Horton, C. J.:

The question for our determination is, whether the temporary injunction granted by the probate judge of Pratt county, on September 7, 1885, enjoining the county commissioners of that county from canvassing the vote polled on October 1, 1885, upon the proposition for the relocation of the county seat of that county, shall be continued in full force until the action can be tried and determined. The order calling the election was made September 1, 1885. The statute requires thirty days’ notice'of the election. (Comp. Laws of 1879, ch. 26, § 6.) It is claimed that, although notices of the election were posted September 1st, no legal notice of the election could'have been given, as there was not sufficient time so to do. It is settled in this state that where any particular number of days, not expressed by dear days, is prescribed, the rule in regard to the computation of time is, not to exclude both the day on which the notice is served and the day on which the act is to be performed, but to exclude the one and include the other. (Civil Code, §722.) Following this rule, thirty days’ notice was given. This was sufficient. (English v. Williamson, ante, p. 212.)

[720]*720It is next claimed that no sufficient petition was presented to the board of county commissioners under the provisions of §1, ch. 91, Laws of 1883, which, among other things, provides :

“In all cases where the county seat of any county in this state has been or shall hereafter be located by a vote of the electors of such county, . . . the board of county commissioners, upon the petition of three-fifths of the legal electors of such county, shall order an election for the relocation of the county seat.”

[721]*7211. Removal of iueugibieapetitionetostee" puiged. [720]*720The last assessment rolls of the several township and city assessors of Pratt county contain the names of from 1,600 to 1,900 legal electors. The petition presented purported to contain 1,581 names. If the names of the persons who requested the commissioners to withdraw their names from the petition, and the names of the ineligible petitioners, had been stricken off the petition before it was finally acted upon, or if the names of such persons had been disregarded, the petition would not have contained the names of sufficient petitioners; that is, there would not have been upon the petition three-fifths of the legal electors of the county whose names appeared upon the last assessment rolls of that county. If the district judge did not vacate the injunction upon the ground that the probate judge had no authority in this class of cases to issue an injunction, it is probable that he vacated the injunction upon the theory that the county board had no power to strike from the petition the name of anyone who had signed the same, although requested so to do by the signer. The purpose of the petition prescribed by the statute is to enable the county board to determine what the will of the people is in that regard, and whether the number of legal electors required by the statute are, at the time of final action thereon, in favor of calling the election. Of course ineligible petitioners ought not to be counted, and we think the county board, at any time before taking final action upon such petition, upon the request of. any person who has signed the same, may determine not to regard such person as a petitioner, and may have his name stricken off the petition; or, if not stricken off, may regard [721]*721him as not having signed the same. The legislature intended that no election should be ordered for a relocation of a county-seat, in cases like the present, unless a number of the legal electors of the county, equal to three-fifths of the number of legal electors who were assessable and had been assessed at the last assessment, should petition for such an election. If any such elector has, by false representations or through a misapprehension of the facts, been induced to sign such petition, he ought to be permitted to have his name stricken from the petition, if his application therefor is made to the county board prior to final action upon the petition. The commissioners of Pratt cbunty evidently mistook their duty in this respect, and it is only just to them and the peoJ P^e °* ^eir county that they have an opportunity to reexamine the petition and erase therefrom the names of all the signers -who made such a request, and to otherwise purge the petition of ineligible petitioners. We do not assent to the view that the finding of the board is so conclusive as to be beyoud attack by this proceeding, which was commenced prior to the holding of the election. (Comm’rs of Leavenworth Co. v. Brewer, 9 Kas. 318; Gillett v. Comm’rs of Lyon Co., 18 id. 410; Comm’rs of Wabaunsee Co. v. Muhlenbacker, 18 id. 129; Oliphant v. Comm’rs of Atchison Co., 18 id. 386; Welsford v. Weidlein, 23 id. 601; Benton v. Nason, 26 id. 662; Fox v. Mateo Co., 49 Cal. 563.)

We have examined the decisions cited, holding that the determination of the county board in such cases is conclusive until reversed or set aside upon appeal or by writ of error, and also the decision that the county board cannot comply with the request of the signers of petitions or remonstrances asking their names to be stricken off. The former decisions are contrary to the adjudications of this court, and the reasoning of the latter decision is not satisfactory. It is true that county-seat contests are attended with great bitterness, and charges and countercharges of unfair practices and fraud are more or less bandied about; but we cannot perceive that the peace of the community can be promoted by the granting of an election [722]*722for the relocation of the county seat upon an insufficient petition, or that there will be any increase in the bitterness among the people if the signers of petitions are permitted to have their names stricken off, where their signatures have been procured by fraud, or through a misapprehension of facts.

It is further claimed that the injunction granted September 7th has and can have no operation, because the state can give no bond, and if she could give bond, she would not be suable on it; also, because it is alleged that the probate judge did not fix the amount of the undertaking. To support the first proposition, the case of Commonwealth v. Franklin Canal Co., 21 Pa. St. 117, is cited as decisive. The Pennsylvania statute provides that&emdash;

“No injunction shall be issued by any court or judge until the party applying for the same shall have given bond with sufficient sureties.”

The statute of this state reads:

“No injunction . . . shall operate until the party obtaining the same shall give an undertaking, executed by one or more sufficient securities.”

3. Injunction; bond2 when suflicient.

4. Valid bond.

[723]*7235. Bonaamount fixed, [722]*722Under the Pennsylvania statute, the party applying for the injunction must give or execute the bond; under the Kansas statute, the party obtaining the jurisdiction may give or furnish the bond with one or more sufficient securities; but need not execute it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
34 Kan. 714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-lewis-v-eggleston-kan-1886.