18 Nev. 412 | Nev. | 1884
By tbe Court,
It is the official duty of tbe several boards of county com
It is claimed by relator that the legislature had not such power, for several reasons, but mainly because, under the constitution, the office of county assessor must be filled by an election by the people, and that the statute under consideration violates that right. On the contrary, it is urged by respondents that this is not a constitutional office; that it is purely of legislative origin and creation, and that, therefore, the legislature may do with it as it wills; that under the constitution the legislature has power to declare by law the tenure of the office, and that, consequently, it may extend the term to four years. In construing constitutions, the first and last duty is to ascertain the intention of the framers of the instrument, and of the people who ratified it. Courts are governed by the same rules, whether construing constitutions or statutes. It is undoubtedly the duty of courts to uphold statutes passed by the legislature, unless their unconstitutionality clearly appears, in which case it is equally their duty to declare them null. From an examination of the entire constitution does it clearly appear that the people intended to retain the right to elect the incumbents of the office of county assessor, and if they did, does the second section of the statute in question violate that right? We deem it unnecessary to pass upon the question whether this office is of constitutional or legislative origin; for whether it be one or the other, if, as we think, under the constitution, it must be filled by election by the people, no other method can be adopted. So, for the purposes of this decision, we shall admit that it was created by the legislature, and therefore, that the law-making power could abolish it, and adopt some other method of complying with section one of article X of the constitution, concerning taxation. But this admission by no means sustains the conclusion that the legislature has power to fill the office by
We admit, also, that tlie legislature can perform any act not prohibited by the constitution; that, outside of constitutional limitations and restrictions, its power is “as absolute, omnipotent, and uncontrollable as parliament.” But in seeking for limitations and restrictions, we must not confine ourselves to express prohibitions. Negative words are not indispensable in the creation of limitations to legislative power, and, if the constitution prescribes one method of filling an office, the legislature cannot adopt another. From its nature, a constitution cannot specify in detail and in terms, every minor limitation obviously intended. It follows that implied as well as express restrictions must be regarded, and that neither the legislature nor any other department of the government can perform any act that is prohibited, either expressly or by fair implication. (People v. Draper, 15 N. Y. 543; Lowrey v. Gridley, 30 Conn. 458; People v. Hurlbut, 24 Mich. 98.) Prohibitions implied, if they plainly exist in a constitution, have all the force of express prohibitions. For instance, it is declared in section 32 of article IV, that the legislature shall provide for the election by' the people, of certain officers named. There are no negative words employed to the effect that the legislature shall not elect or appoint them, or provide for their election or appointment in some other way'; still no one would claim that, a law providing for their election or appointment by a different mode would be constitutional. In fact, counsel for respondents admit that it would not be.
After a careful examination of the entire constitution, we are clearly of opinion that, the framers aucl the people intended that all necessary state, county, and township'officers should be elected by the people of the locality immediately concerned. Such, in the main, was the method of choosing officers prior to the adoption of the constitution, and such has been the construction placed upon that instrument by the legislature, at least before the passage of the statute under consideration, and even according to this statute, the
It will be noticed that this list includes all state officers-whose offices were created by the constitution, and all at any time since or uow existing, with the exception of state miner.alogist, now abolished, and state printer, both of which were created by the legislature subsequent to the adoption of the constitution. It includes, also, all county officers by mime, for whose selection, in any manner, constitutional provision was made, save such as might be chosen under and by virtue of the words “and other necessary officers,” in section thirty-two of article IV. It includes all county officers whose offices have existed' since the adoption of the constitution, and all that now exist, except county assessor and county school superintendent. It is not claimed that the legislature could make provision for the election or appointment of the officers included in the above list, other than by election by the people. But the framers of the constitution did not intend to name in that instrument all the officers that could be elected, or limit the state to such as were mentioned. On the contrary, section thirty-two of article IV plainly shows an intention to leave it to the legislature whether officers other than those specifically named are required, and if they are, power is given to create them and to make provision for filling them, provided only, that the incumbents shall be elected by the people. Section thirty-two is as follows : “ The legislature shall provide for the election, by the people, of a clerk of the supreme court, county clerks, county recorders, who shall be ex-officio
Provision for the election of the other officers named in the constitution is made in other sections. At the time the constitution was framed the law provided for the election of county assessors and county school superintendents. We cannot saj' why those officers were omitted from the constitution. It may be because the framers deemed it wise to leave the method of exercising important functions of the government appertaining to the revenue and public schools, to the wisdom of the legislature, in order that it might be changed according to possible emergencies. But, whatever the reason may have been, it cannot be said that a failure to make specific mention of assessor or any other officer in section thirty-two, or elsewhere, in the constitution, justifies the conclusion that the legislature is empowered to fill a uecessary office by any method other than by election by the people. The use of the words “and other officers” bars such a conclusion. Those words were inserted for a purpose, and they cannot be disregarded. They show how carefully the framers of the constitution intended to guard what, in free governments, has always been considered an inestimable privilege—the right of the people to select their own officers. Under section thirty-two it is as much the duty of the legislature to provide for the election by the people of “other necessary officers”— that is to say, officers that are necessary in exercising the functions of the government in running the machinery of the state—as it -is to provide for the election of the officers named.
The upshot of the whole matter is this: the framers of the constitution decided for themselves that the officers named were necessary and should be elected by the people ; but they left it to the legislature to decide as to the necessity of additional ones, whether state, county or township, requiring’ only that they, like those named, should be elected by the people. The duty of deciding as to the necessity of
Section 1 of article X of the constitution declares that, the legislature shall provide by law for a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation, and shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, with certain exceptions not material here. This mandatory provision cannot be obeyed without some efficient method of ascertaining the value of property. The duties now required of the assessors must be performed brisóme instrumentality, and the manner of performing them is left with the legislature. From every stand-point, then, we conclude that assessors are necessary officers. So long as they are such—until the office is abolished—they must be elected by the people. Other portions of the constitution are strongly corroborative of the views above expressed.
Section 20 of article IV provides that “the legislature shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases ; that is to say ; * * * regulating the election of county and township officers and section 21 declares that, “in all cases enumerated in the preceding section, * * * all laws shall be general and of uniform operation.” Thus it is made the duty of the legislature to regulate the election of township and county officers by general laws.
It is plain from sections twenty-one and twenty-two that the method contemplated, of filling county and township officers, is by an election under a general law. And section thirteen of article XVII provides that “all county officers under the laws of the territory of Nevada, at the time when the constitution shall take effect, whose offices are not inconsistent with the provisions of -this constitution, shall continue in office until the first Monday of January, 1867, and until their successors are elected and qualified ; and all township officers shall continue in office until the expiration of their terms of office, -and until their successors are elected and qualified. * * *” But it is argued by counsel for respondents that section ten of article XV justifies the action
It is said that the only way to harmonize sections ten and thirty-two is to hold that the officers specifically named in the constitution, and known as constitutional officers, shall be elected by the people, and officers not so named, created by the legislature, known as legislative officers, shall be chosen as the legislature may direct. Such construction uttérly disregards the words “and other necessary officers,” in section thirty-two, and is inconsistent with the evident intention of the framers of the constitution. It convicts that body of inserting, in a most important instrument, words of sweeping import, which they did not intend to have construed according to their usual signification. Section ten of article XV in no manner conflicts with section * thirty-two. It does not refer to state, county or township officers, whose election by the people is otherwise provided for in the constitution. Our opinion is that the office of county assessor is elective, and that, so long as it exists as a necessary office, its permanent incumbents must be elected by the people. It is claimed, however, that, although it is an elective office, the right of the legislature to extend the term of office has been recognized in three cases decided by this court, viz., Clarke v. Irwin, 5 Nev. 111; Rosenstock v. Swift, 11 Nev. 128; Denver v. Hobart, 10 Nev. 28.
We are unable to find anything in either case mentioned that is opposed to our conclusion in this. We do not deny that the legislature may make provisional appointments, if necessary, in order to put a new system in operation. Offices that must be permanently filled by an election, in cases of emergency may be provided for temporarily by other means. The constitutional mandate does not apply to such exceptional cases. (Clarke v. Irwin, supra; People v. Fisher, 24 Wend. 219.)
Clarke v. Irwin shows that certain parties were named as county officers in the bill creating the county of White
At the argument of this case we were referred to Christy v. Board Sup’rs, 39 Cal. 11, and People v. Batchelor, 22 N. Y. 135, in support of the doctrine that when an elective office has once been filled by an election, the legislature may extend the term of the incumbeut, provided the whole term when extended does not exceed the time limited by the constitution. The prevailing opinion in People v. Batchelor is rejected by the court of appeals in People v. Bull, 46 N. Y. 59, and People v. McKinney, 52 N. Y. 376. We shall not stop to review these several decisions. In Christy’s case, as well as Batchelor’s, it was held that the term could be extended by the legislature under the power to fix the duration of the term. In the cases subsequently decided in New York, it was held that an extension by the legislature was, in substance, an appointment to the office for the extended term, and a usurpation by that body, of the right to fill the office, which was secured by the constitution to the electors. We have examined these decisions with great care, and do not hesitate to adopt the reasoning and conclusions of the later New York cases, nor can we add anything to them.
To our minds it is enough to say that, since the constitution gives to the people of a county the right to elect their assessor, and they do elect him for two years, under the' existing law, they have the right also to elect his successor, and, if the legislature extends his term, their rights are abridged. Should we hold that the term could be extended,
Section one provides for an election in 1886, and every four years thereafter*, but-it does not supersede the existing law during the next two years. Tt was not intended to go into effect during that time. It follows that county assessors must be elected at the ensuing general election, under the statute of 1866, for the two years succeeding the terms of the present incumbents.
The writ of mandamus should issue as prayed for ; and it is so ordered. -