140 Ga. 854 | Ga. | 1913
The writ of error complains of the ruling of the judge refusing to discharge Marshall Moore from the custody of the warden at the State Penitentiary on a writ of habeas corpus. Moore was regularly convicted of murder in the superior court of Wheeler county, and sentenced to the penitentiary for life. The ground upon which it was sought to have him discharged was that the establishment of the County of Wheeler was in violation of the constitution of the State, and the court proceeding was without authority of law, and the conviction void.
1. An act was approved on August 14, 1912 (Acts of 1912, p. 41), proposing an amendment to article 11, section 1, paragraph 2, of the constitution of this State, as amended in 1904, so as to create a new county to be known by the name of Wheeler. The act described the boundaries of the proposed county, fixed the location of the county site, and contained other provisions relating to the organization of the county. Section two of the act was as follows: “Be it further enacted, That when this proposed amendment shall be agreed to by two thirds of the members elected to each of the two houses composing the legislature of the State of Georgia, such proposed amendment shall be entered upon the Journal of each house with the yeas and nays thereon; and the Governor is hereby directed to cause the said proposed amendment to be published in one or
When the constitution of 1877 was adopted, the act approved August 20, 1872 (Acts 1872, p. 29), was in effect. By this act' it was provided, that elections for members of Congress and presidential electors should be held Menially on Tuesday after the first Monday in November; that elections for county officers should be
Counsel for plaintiff in error insist that the election contemplated in art. 13, sec. 1, par. 1, of the constitution of 1877, to which the question of amendment should he submitted, was intended to apply only to the October election, rather than the November election; but we fail to see any ground for this contention. To give the constitution this construction would also eliminate the January election; yet at the January election, as well as the November election, there would be the same facilities for expression by the voters of the State, and probably as large a vote as if it were submitted at the October election. Under these views, it was proper to submit for ratification the proposed amendment to the constitution, for the purpose of creating the County of Wheeler, at the November election. See Allen v. State (Ariz.), 130 Pac. 1114, 44 L. R. A. (N. S.) 468.
3. The grounds urged for the discharge of the prisoner upon the writ of habeas corpus were insufficient for the grant of that relief, and the judge committed no .error in refusing to discharge him.
Judgment affirmed.