73 Ga. 484 | Ga. | 1884
This.is a proceeding under the charter of Montezuma (Acts 1871, p. 123) to abate a mill-pond within the limits of the town, on the ground that it is a public nuisance, injurious to the health of that community. The evidence, on the trial of the case, was conflicting. The mayor and council adjudged the pond to be a nuisance, and ordered it abated. The defendants eertioraried the case ; the superior court sustained the certiorari, and ordered a new trial, and the plaintiff in error excepted.
If the facts alleged by defendants to be true, in relation to DeYaughn’s interest in the issue on trial, are trae, then he was not qualified to preside either as judge or juror in the case. “ So tender is our law of bias on the part of the noblest and purest in behalf of self-interest, that no judge is permitted to sit in a case in which he has any interest.” Mayor, etc., of Macon vs. Huff, 60 Ga., 224-5; Code, §205. If DeVaughn is pecuniarily or personally interested in the issue, let him retire from the court, and let the mayor and remaining aldermen, who have no more interest in the question than that of any other good citizen of the town, proceed with the trial.
What we have said is sufficient to show that the judg
Judgment affirmed.