175 P. 887 | Mont. | 1918
Opinion —
The one question presented is whether the petition for the removal of the eounty seat of Sanders county is sufficient to
Section 2851, Revised Codes, provides for a petition as the
"What function do the poll-books and assessment-roll perform in the determination of the sufficiency of a petition for county seat removal ? The question is answered by section 2852 itself. For the purpose of testing the sufficiency of the petition, the commissioners shall compare the petition with the poll-books constituting the returns of the last election held in the county, for the purpose of determining whether the petition bears the names of a majority of the voters listed therein, and they shall likewise compare the petition with the assessment-roll, to ascertain whether the petition bears the names of a majority of the ad valorem taxpayers listed on that roll. The language is significant. The sufficiency of the petition is to be tested by comparing it with the poll-books and assessment-roll. “Testing” means the act of proving. Test: To put to proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of, by experiment or by some principle or standard. (Webster’s International Dictionary.) “Test” as a noun means: An examination made for the purpose of proving or disproving some matter in doubt; a criterion or standard of judgment. As a verb it means: To subject •to conditions that disclose the true character of a thing. ■(Standard Dictionary.)j
> In the absence of constitutional restrictions the legislature was free to prescribe any test it might choose (State ex rel. Eagye v. Bowden, 51 Mont. 357, 152 Pac. 761), and it chose to select the poll-books as the standard by which the board should determine the number of voters, and the assessment-roll as the criterion by which the number of ad valorem taxpayers should be ascertained. In other words, for the purpose of this preliminary step only, the statute designates as a voter one whose name is on the poll-books, and an ad valorem taxpayer one whose name is on the assessment-roll, and who is assessed for property.
As if to leave no doubt that the poll-books and assessment-roll constitute the sole criterion for testing the sufficiency of the petition, the statute, after directing that the petition shall be compared with each, provides that, if then [after the comparison is made] the petition shows that it has not been signed by a majority of the legal voters who are ad valorem taxpayers, it shall be insufficient, and the question of removal shall not be submitted. The evident purpose of section 2852 is to provide a simple and certain method by which the board shall determine the sufficiency of the petition — a method freed from all the uncertainties of an investigation founded upon human testimony. A reference to these public records, made and kept under the sanction of official oath, was deemed sufficient for the purposes of this preliminary proceeding.
The board of county commissioners is a specially constituted
No question is raised as to the right of the commissioners to determine the genuineness of the signatures to the petition, or the identity of the persons whose names appear thereon, with the persons whose names appear on the poll-books or on the assessment-roll.
Section 2041, Revised Codes (the local option statute), provides: “The county commissioners must determine on the sufficiency of the petition presented, by the last assessment-roll of the county.” This was held to constitute the assessment-roll the exclusive standard by which to determine whether the petition was signed by the requisite number of taxpayers. Concerning it this court said: “The board is not authorized to consult any other sources of information or to receive evidence which does not appear upon the roll.” (State ex rel. Eagye v. Bowden, above, affirmed in State ex rel. Fadness v. Eie, above.)
The language employed by this court in State ex rel. Stringfellow v. Board, 42 Mont. 62, 78, 111 Pac. 144, 149, is to be understood in view of the record made in that case. It was there said: “The essential requisite of a petition for the removal of a county seat is that it shall be signed by a majority of the legal voters of the county who' are ad valorem taxpayers thereof.” With the limitation placed upon the definition of “voters” and “taxpayers” above, we reaffirm this statement as a correct exposition of the law.
The New Counties Act (Laws 1913, Chap. 133) considered in State ex rel. Lang v. Furnish, above, differs so materially from section 2852 that the construction placed upon the former cannot apply to the latter.
Affirmed.