115 Ga. 955 | Ga. | 1902
The defendant in error, Emanuel Prey, presented to the commissioners of Chatham county an application for a lease of certain territory upon which to plant and cultivate oysters. This application was based upon section 1696 et seq. of the Political Code. George Parsons appeared before the commissioners and filed a caveat to the granting of Prey’s application. Subsequently Augustus Oemler united with Parsons in filing an amendment to his original caveat. In this amendment it was alleged that “ the said George Parsons has already planted such ground within said county and State, and if any lease is granted at all, he is entitled to a preference in obtaining the lease of such ground, and he hereby applies for such lease.” A hearing was had before the commissioners, at which much evidence was introduced on both sides, and at the conclusion thereof the commissioners passed an order granting Prey’s application for a lease. Thereupon Parsons and Oemler presented to the superior court a petition for certiorari, which was overruled, and they excepted.
The notice provided for by this section was evidently designed to afford an opportunity to “ any person who has already planted ” territory applied for by another to resist his application for a lease thereof, and to establish by proof the former’s right to “the preference in obtaining the lease” to which the statute refers. It was not, we think, in legislative contemplation that there should be, under the provisions of this section, any contest before the county
J%bdgment affirmed.