18 S.D. 308 | S.D. | 1904
This is a proceeding by mandamus to compel the county commissioners of Brown county to allow and direct a warrant to be drawn in favor of the plaintiff for his salary as county judge at the rate of $2,000 per annum. Findings and judgment were in favor of the defendants, and the plaintiff has appealed.
At the November election, 1902, the plaintiff was elected county judge of Brown county, and at the time of his election
It is insisted by the state’s attorney of Brown county in support of the action of the county in rejecting the plaintiff’s claim in excess of $500 per annum that as that was the salary fixed at the time he was elected and entered upon the discharge of his duties, on the first Monday in January, 1903, the said commissioners could not legally allow a greater salary under the provisions of section 3, art. 12, of the state Constitution, which provides, among other things, “nor shall the compensation of any public officer be increased or diminished during his term of office.”
The appellant contends (1) that a county judge, under our Constitution, is not such a public officer as is included within that term in the clause of the Constitution above quoted; (2) that if he is a public officer, within the meaning of that section, the Legislature has not, in terms, increased his salary, but that the same has been increased by providing a different method of ascertaining the, true population of the cofinty, and that an increase of salary under such a law is not in violation of the provisions of the Constitution. The question, therefore, presented for our determination, is what is the proper construction to be placed upon .the term “public officers,” as used in the section of the Constitution above referred to? This term has not a very clearly defined meaning. In section 1, Mr. Mechem, in his work on Public Officers, says: “A public office is the right, authority, and duty, created and conferred by law, by which, for a given period, either fixed by law, or enduring
It is further insisted by the respondent that as the salary of the county judge was fixed, payable annually, and he had served a part of his term under the law by which his salary was fixed at $500 per annum, his salary in no event could be changed during the first year. But this contention is untenable. The intention of the Legislature that the salary of county judges in the counties which should be shown by the new method of determining the population to have a greater
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and, inasmuch as there is no dispute as to the facts, that court is directed to enter judgment'requiring the board of county commissioners of Brown county to allow and direct a warrant to be drawn in favor of the plaintiff for his salary at the rate of $2,000 per annum, as demanded in his complaint.