51 Ark. 159 | Ark. | 1888
To sustain the certiorari, it is argued that the circuit court acquired no jurisdiction to reverse the order of the county court refusing the prayer of the local option petitioners, because the law makes no provision for appeal in this special statutory proceeding. Our decisions do not sustain the position. Appeals from all judgments of county courts to the circuit courts, under such regulations and restrictions as the legislature may prescribe, are guaranteed by the constitution. Art. 7, sec. 33. In practice, the terms of the act passed in aid of this provision of the constitution, has been applied habitually in special proceedings where the statute regulating them contains no provisions about appeals. Mans. Dig,, sec. 1436; Levy, ex parte, 43 Ark., 43; Phillips County v. Lee County, 34 Ib., 340; Dodson v. Fort Smith, 33 Ib., 508; Williams v. Citizens, 40 Ib., 290; Trammell v. Bradley, 37 Ib., 374; Boyd v. Bryant, 35 Ib., 69.
The question is answered in the negative by the decision in Williams v. Citizens, sup. Speaking of the right of apetitioner to withdraw from the petition in the county court — the court of first instance — it is said that if the original signatures were obtained intelligently and without fraud, and have not been erased before presentation, or afterwards by leave of the court for cause, they fulfill the requirements of the statute. See Grinnell v. Adams, 34 Ohio St., 44; Hays v. Jones, 27 Ib., 218; Dutton v. Village of Hanover, 42 Ib., 215.
The presentation of the petition is in the nature of an election. When the county court has acted, the votes have been cast and the election returns made, and an appeal does not invest the petitioner with the power to change his vote or to withdraw it except for good cause, as 4s indicated in Williams v. Citizens, supra. While the circuit court tries the issue on appeal, de novo, it can award or refuse a prohibitory order only upon the petition as signed when acted upon by the county court.
Let the judgment be affirmed.