149 Ga. 568 | Ga. | 1919
In Februaryj 1919, J. J. Rogers filed a petition for mandamus against the Citizens Bank of Douglas, the depository for the County of Coffee, to require the bank as such depository to pay to the petitioner his salary as judge of the city court of Coffee county. To the petition a demurrer was filed, and it was agreed, by counsel for both parties that the judge of the superior court should determine the demurrer in vacation. Upon consideration the demurrer was sustained and the petition dismissed. The petitioner excepted.
The petition alleged that “by due and legal action of the grand jury of Coffee county,” on February 14, 1918, and at and during the February term, 1918, of the superior court of said county, the city court of Coffee county was established “under the ¡rrovisions of the laws of Georgia contained in sections 4831 (a) to 4831 (nn) of Park’s Annotated Code of 1914;”-that the salary of the judge thereof was fixed at $1200 per annum, to be paid monthly in installments out of the treasury of the county; that the petitioner was, by the Governor , of the State, appointed judge of said court, and received his commission as such in due form on March 21, 1918; that he inñnediately qualified by taking the oath of office, and “entered upon the discharge of the duties of said office, and petitioner has since continued and still continues to hold said office and discharge the duties thereof;” that his appointment as judge of said court was confirmed by the Senate at the regular session of the General Assembly held in the year 1918; that on December 23, 1892, and on February 14, 1918, on which latter date the recommendation of the grand jury was received, published, and ordered admitted to record by the judge of the superior court of Coffee county, said county had a population in excess of 10,000, and that no city court of any description was in existence in said county on either December 23, 1892 or February 14, 1918; that the General Assembly, by an act approved August 2, 1916, abolished the office of treasurer of Coffee county, and, by an act approved August' 19, 1916, created the Citizens Bank of Douglas tire county depository in and for Coffee* County, for the purpose of receiving and disbursing all county funds as theretofore received and disbursed by the county treasurer; that since the passage of the act last referred to all the public funds of the County of Coffee have been and aro now in the custody and control of said depository; that taxes were
The demurrer questions the authority of the grand jury of Coffee county to establish a city court fox said county by a recommendation of its body, upon several grounds. The General Assembly, by an act approved October 19, 1891, provided “that upon the recommendation of the grand jury of any county of this State, having a population of fifteen thousand or more, where the same does not now exist, there shall be, and the same is, hereby established a city court for said county.” The second section of the act provided that the grand jury, shall fix the salary of the judge'of the court. Acts 1890-91, p. 96. By an act approved December 23, 1892, the foregoing act was amended by striking the words “fifteen thousand” and inserting in lieu thereof the words “ten thousand,” so that city courts - “may be hereafter established in counties having a population of ten thousand or more, whenever the grand juries of such counties may so recommend as provided by said act.” Acts 1892, p. 107. The act of 1891, as amended by the act of 1892, supra, was codified in the Code of 1895. Civil Code of 1895, §§ 4270-4309; Penal Code of 1895, §§ 777-790. The act was omitted from the Code of 1910, but is contained in Park’s Annotated Code of Georgia (1914). ' Park’s Annotated Code has not been adopted by the legislature, but by resolution of the House of Representatives ' and the Senate its publication was approved and its use commended to the courts, the officers of the State, and the public. Georgia Laws 1914, p. 1242.
The question is in principle controlled by the decision in Clark v. Eve, 134 Ga. 788 (68 S. E. 598). It was made the duty of the commissioners of Eiehmond county to examine, settle, and allow all claims against the county. Acts 1882-3, p. 528; Acts 1907, p. 324. In the case referred to this court held: “Under the provisions of the act approved August 15, 1905, . . the salary of the judge of the city court of Eiehmond county became fixed by law, payable out of the county treasury in monthly installments; and it was unnecessary for the judge of the city court to have his claim
Judgment reversed.