103 Ga. 458 | Ga. | 1898
It may therefore be considered as settled beyond all doubt, or peradventure, that a public officer who has under the law a fixed term of office, and who is removable only for definite and specified causes, can not be removed without notice and a hearing on the charge or charges preferred against him, with an opportunity to make defense. It follows necessarily that a statute providing for the removal from office of such an officer for inefficiency, incapacity, neglect of duty, or other cause, and which makes no provision for giving him notice, or for allowing him to be heard in his defense, is contrary to the constitutional guaranty which declares that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. See Kennard v. Louisiana, 92 U. S. 480; Foster v. Kansas, 112 U. S. 201. The doctrine just announced was distinctly recognized and applied by this court in Savannah, Florida & Western Ry. Co. v. Mayor & Aldermen of Savannah, 96 Ga. 680, in which it was held that a section of the city charter of Savannah providing for condemning land for street purposes was unconstitutional because it made no provision for any notice to landowners whose property was to be taken. The principle of that case is directly applicable to the case in hand, and in accord with the rule which, so far as we are informed, prevails everywhere in this country. The order entered by the judge of the superior court of Tattnall county, upon the recommendation of the grand jury, undertaking to remove from office the members of the county board of education of that county, was a mere nullity. It was based upon an unconstitutional statute which made no provision for notice to these officers, and none was in fact given.
Judgment affirmed.