133 P. 775 | Or. | 1913
delivered the opinion of the court.
1. By the act of February 28, 1913 (Laws 1913, p. 620), the legislative assembly passed a law, providing that: ‘ ‘ There shall be held a special election in the several voting precincts of this state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1913. All measures passed by the twenty-seventh legislative assembly of the State of Oregon upon which the referendum may be invoked shall be submitted to the people for their approval or rejection at such special election.” The plaintiffs have sued out of this court an original alternative writ of 'mandamus, requiring the defendant, as Secretary of State, to forthwith receive and file in his office an initiative petition, therein described, for a “Woman Wageworker’s Eight-hour Law,” and commanding him to submit the proposed law to the legal voters of the'State of Oregon for their approval or rejection at the special election above mentioned, or show cause to the contrary. The defendant has demurred generally to the writ.
Two questions are involved. The principal one pressed upon our attention is whether or not the proposed law shall be submitted to the electorate at the special election mentioned. The other is whether or not the secretary shall be compelled to file the petition on the showing made in the writ.
Affecting the first question, Article IY, Section 1, of the Oregon Constitution says that:
2. Legislation other than the act of February 28, 1913, has been provided by general laws for the guidance of public officers in relation to the initiative process, and these laws have been in operation for a number of years. The act authorizing a special election to be held in November, 1913, mentioned above, does not contain any allusion to initiative measures. It does not purport to repeal or amend any previous legislation on the subject of the initiative. It is manifest that the Secretary of State, as directed by the people in its Constitution already quoted, must be guided by the general laws on the subject involved. In the face of this mandate of the people, that officer cannot find any justification in the special act mentioned authorizing him to submit any initiative measure to the people during the present year. It is well settled that unless there is authority of law for an election it
3. Upon the second question we note that Section 3472, L. O. L., as amended by Chapter 359 of the Laws of 1913, prescribes many conditions which must be observed in preparing a petition for the initiative.
The demurrer must therefore be sustained.
Demurrer Sustained.