84 Md. 179 | Md. | 1896
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The sole object of this appeal is to test the validity of the 30th section of the Act of the General Assembly of Maryland, passed at January session, 1896, ch. 359, entitled, “An Act to repeal section 23 of Article 13 of the Code of Public Local Laws, entitled ‘ Harford County,’ sub-title ‘BelAir,’ as repealed and re-enacted by the Acts of 1890, chapter 154, and also to repeal section 30 of Article 13 of the Code of Public Local Laws, entitled ‘ Harford County,’ subtitle ‘Bel-Air,’ and to re-enact the same with amendments.”
The facts proper to be stated are that an election for five town commissioners was held in the town of Bel-Air, on the first Monday of May, 1896, and conducted in accordance with the’provisions of its charter as amended by the Act of 1896, except that of judges of election, as required by section 30 of said Act, did notj as a condition precedent, require of each person offering to vote at such election, to show that he was assessed with one hundred dollars’ worth of real or personal property on the tax book of said town before he was entitled to vote. The said judges of election ignored this provision of the Act of 1896 and allowed all male citizens residing within the corporate limits of Bel-Air above the age of twenty-one years to vote, notwithstanding the right of a number of said citizens to vote was challenged, upon the ground that they were not assessed with the requisite amount of property. The election was accordingly conducted as if the Act of 1896 had not been passed or was void of legal effect. The result of the election was that the five persons receiving the highest number of votes
The question lies within very circumscribed limits, but it is nevertheless a question which has not heretofore been passed upon by this tribunal. Whilst it has received consideration in some of the Courts of the other States of the Union, it does not, however, appear to have been determined except in a very limited number of cases. The contention here is that the 30th section of the Act of 1896 is directly in conflict with the provisions of Art. 1, sec. 1, of the Constitution of the State, which reads as follows : “All elections shall be by ballot; and every male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, or upwards, who has been a resident of the State for one year, and of the Legislative District of Baltimore City, or of the county, in which he may offer to vote, for six months next preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote, in the ward or election district, in which he resides, at all elections hereafter to be held in this State.”
It is only at elections which the Constitution itself requires to be held, or which the Legislature under the mandate of the Constitution makes provision for, that persons having the qualifications set forth in said section 1, Article 1, are by the Constitution of the State declared to be qualified electors. Nowhere in the Constitution are the governments of municipalities in this State, or their officials, either clothed with power or designated as any part of our State government, but their very creation, together with all the powers and attributes which attach to their management, are lodged by the Constitution with the legislative department of our State government, save in some respects the city of Baltimore.
The same question now under consideration here arose in the case of McMahon v. Mayor, etc., of Savannah, 66 Ga. 217. The suffrage clause in the Constitution of the State
Without extending the discussion of this question we are clearly of opinion, both upon reason and authority, that the appellee’s contention is not sustained. For the reasons stated, the order of the Court below directing the writ of mandamus to issue is reversed.
Order reversed with costs.