4 W. Va. 300 | W. Va. | 1870
Minturn filed a petition in the circuit court of Mason county, and asked for a writ of mandamus to the Board of Supervisors of the said county, to allow him to qualify and give bond as the treasurer of the said county. A rule was awarded and made absolute, according to the prayer of the petition.
It is claimed here that the proceedings are irregular, for several reasons. It is first insisted that the petition is itself irregular, because it is not verified by oath or affidavit. 'When the defendants first appeared in the court below, they moved the court to dismiss the rule issued, because the court had no jurisdiction on mandamus to review the proceedings of the Board of Supervisors. It seems to me this must be regarded as waiving the want of affidavit to the petition.
After the motion which was made to dismiss was over
This writ is a proper remedy to compel all inferior tribunals to perform the duties required of them by law. When there is left to the inferior tribunal no discretion, but to perform the duty in a particular way, by doing a certain specific act, then the inferior tribunal acts ministerially, and may be compelled by mandamus, not only to perform its duties, but to perform them by doing the certain specific act.
The case of Rex vs. Justices of Derbyshire, 1 Wm. Blackstone, 606; Dawson vs. Thurston, 2 Hen. & Mun., 132; Manns vs. Givens, 7 Leigh, 687; Delany vs. Goddin, 12 Gratt, 273; Conn vs. Hampden, 2 Pick., 414; Goshorn vs. B. S. of Ohio county, 1 W. Va. Rep., 308; Strong, petitioner, &c., 20 Pick., 484; Carpenter vs. County of Bristol, 21 Pick., 258, sustain this view of the case.
The demurrer should have been sustained. In the view I take of the case, the questions in the record subsequent to the time when the demurrer should have been sustained, do not properly arise in the case, and are not, therefore, considered.
The judgment complained of will have to be reversed, with cost to the plaintiff in error, and the demurrer sustained.
Judgment reversed.