22 Haw. 520 | Haw. | 1915
OPINION OF THE COURT BY
At the primary election held in the county of Hawaii on the 13th day of March, 1915, under the provisions of section 28, Revised Laws, 1915 (Sec. 3, Act 151, S. L. 1913), Arthur A. Ahina was a candidate on the republican ticket for the office of supervisor for AVest Hawaii, from the second representative district. By law it is provided that there shall be elected three supervisors from said second representative district, known as AATest Hawaii. (Sec. 1512, R. L. 1915.) At said primary
“Sec. 41. Result of election. 1. The person receiving the greatest number of votes at a primary as a candidate of a party for an office shall be the candidate of .the party at the following election, and any nonpartisan candidate receiving at least twenty per cent, of the votes of registered voters cast at such primary shall' also be a candidate at the following election. Provided, however, that any candidate receiving the votes of a majority of the registered voters voting of the district in which he is a candidate shall he thereby duly and legally elected to the office for which he is a candidate at such primary.”
There is no disagreement between the petition and the return as to the material facts and the same are also made to appear by an agreed statement sent up as part of the record upon the reserved question. In said agreed statement of facts it is stipulated, inter alia, “that Julian R. Tates, a candidate for the Home Rule party in the said second representative district, for the office of supervisor in said district, received a majority of all the votes cast at the primary election so held on the 13th day of March, 1915, and by virttoe thereof, under the primary law, was duly elected as a supervisor from the second representative district A Counsel for petitioner in this court, in their brief and oral argument, seek to repudiate that portion of the agreed statement above.quoted and italicized, claiming that the same constitutes, not an agreed statement of fact but an agreement as to the law and is not binding on the court nor upon counsel in the presentation of the case. They then state their principal contention, that the proviso in section 41 was intended to apply only in cases where but a single officer is to be chosen, such as county attorney, county clerk, sheriff or treasurer. In support of this contention it is argued that the language of the proviso, from a grammatical standpoint, covers only cases where a single person is to be.chosen and that if applied to offices where more than one are to be chosen, as for example, to the office of supervisor
It is true that the language of section 41 of the Revised Laws, as it refers to nominations, is “the person receiving the greatest number of votes,” etc., and, as it relates to elections, as distinguished from nominations, is “any candidate receiving the votes of a majority of the registered voters,” etc. By section 14 of the Revised Laws of 1915, it is provided, however, that “Words in the masculine gender signify both the masculine and feminine gender, and those in the singular or plural number signify both the singular and plural number,” etc. The word “candidate,” as appearing in the proviso, is used in-the same sense as the word “person” in the earlier part of the section, and in our opinion both words are to be construed in the plural number in cases like the one at bar, where there is more than one nomination to he made or more than one office to be filled. Petitioner not claiming to be -the person receiving the greatest number of votes at the primary as a republican candidate for the office of supervisor, the very basis of his claim to
We hold that the proviso in section 41 of the Nevised Laws of 1915 was not intended to be confined tor cases where but one person could be elected, but that it applies in cases where, as in
Our answer to the question reserved is therefore in the negative.