177 P. 944 | Or. | 1919
Lead Opinion
We consider these matters in their order.
The power of the council to appoint a person to fill a vacancy in the office of commissioner is limited by Section 30 of the charter to an appointment to hold “until the next general municipal election.” Under the charter as it stood before the change made by the amendment, that election would have been held in June, 1919, but this period was abridged by the amendment, as well as by Ordinance No. 34,638 of the City of Portland, so that the city election occurred on November 5, 1918, instead of June, 1919, thus, apparently, leaving a hiatus or vacancy in the office of the appointive commissioner from November 5,1918, until July 1, 1919. There is nothing in the charter or ordinances of the city authorizing an election to fill out any portion of an unexpired term of a commissioner, excepting the provision authorizing an appointment by the council to be effective until the next regular municipal election. This provision was evidently drawn upon the theory that elections would continue to be held in June and in the event of the occurrence of an unexpired term, the place of a person serving for such unexpired term by appointment would be filled by a commissioner elected at the municipal election, who, by the provisions of tlie charter, would hold for four years, such term beginning July 1st. When the council made provision by Ordinance 34,638 for a general municipal election, it made no provision either by a proposed amendment to the charter, or otherwise,
“All officers, except members of the legislature, shall hold their offices until their successors are elected and qualified. ”
This provision is discussed in State ex rel. v. Simon, 20 Or. 366 (26 Pac. 170), and there held applicable to offices created by city charter. It is true the charter there considered was one granted by the legislature before the adoption of the present amendment to Section 2, Article XI of the Constitution, commonly called the Home Eule Amendment, and that the present charter was one enacted by the people of the City of Portland subsequent to such amendment. The amendment expressly provides that charters enacted thereunder shall be ‘ ‘ subject to the Constitution and criminal laws of the State of Oregon,” so that it is conceived that Section 1 of Article XV of the Constitution is just as applicable to city offices created by initiative charters as to those created by legislative fiat. It would seem naturally to follow, therefore, in the present instance that the City of Portland having failed to provide by charter or ordinance for an election to fill the vacancy from November 5, 1918, the time fixed by the amended Constitution for holding the city election, until July 1, 1919, when Baker’s successor is entitled to take the office, and Kellaher being lawfully in the office continues to hold until his successor is qualified. Even in the absence of constitutional warrant for holding over after the period prescribed by the charter, the writer is of the opinion that Kellaher would hold over ex necessitate, and there is respectable authority holding that where
The intention of the framers of the charter seems to the writer to have been to provide for filling the office by appointment until the successor for the full term should have been elected and qualified. The dates when these things would happen were determined by the time of holding the election (first Monday in June), and the time when the person elected should assume the duties of his office (July 1st following), so when the charter prescribed that the person appointed to fill a vacancy should hold until the next general election, it in effect and intent prescribed that he should occupy the office until his successor was elected and qualified because as the law then stood these dates coincided. The change made by the constitutional amendment did not create two vacancies in the same office, but merely extended the duration of the vacancy to be filled, the intent of the framers of the charter being that a person appointed to fill a vacancy should hold until his successor for a full term had been elected and qualified. That intent can be best effectuated by disregarding the letter of the charter and enforcing its spirit by construing it as above indicated.
The cases of State ex rel. v. Johns, 3 Or. 533, and State ex rel. v. Ware, 13 Or. 380 (10 Pac. 885), do not support plaintiff’s theory. There the Constitution provided for an election to fill the vacancy while here we have no provision whatever for such an election. In both these cases the decision turned upon whether
It may be said that Section 125 of the charter of 1913 by implication provides for an election to fill an unexpired term. This section among other things requires that “the auditor on or before the 15th day before every election shall prepare and file in his office a certificate containing a complete list of the offices to be filled, stating whether for a full or an unexpired term,” but in the judgment of the writer this can logically refer only to an office wherever election for an unexpired term is provided for, as in Section 64, supra.
Section 29 of the Charter of 1913 defines a vacancy in the office of mayor or commissioner as follows:
“A vacancy shall exist when the mayor or a commissioner fails to qualify by taking the oath and filing bond on or before July 1 following his election, or within ten days after notice of his appointment to fill a vacancy, dies, resigns, is removed from office, is. convicted of a felony, is judicially declared a lunatic, or is judicially convicted of corruption, malfeasance or delinquency in office,” etc.
It is conceded that defendant was lawfully appointed to the office of commissioner to succeed George
Speaking generally, the office of commissioner of the City of Portland is undoubtedly an elective office and Kellaher was an incumbent of that office. The fact that he had been chosen by the council to fill a vacancy in the office did not change the quality of the office itself. It still remained elective in character even though occupied by a person chosen to hold it temporarily by a body other than the whole electorate. So the whole question, whether Kellaher held over until July 1, 1919, depends upon whether or not there is authority in the charter for holding a special election to,fill the remainder of Baker’s unexpired term from November 5, 1918, to July 1, 1919. As stated before the writer fails to find such authority in that instrument. It may not be inappropriate to here call attention to Section 129 of the Charter of 1913,
“Here state officers to be elected, as mayor and two commissioners, or auditor and two commissioners.”
While the circumstance is not conclusive it is valuable and indicates it was never in the legislative mind that under any contingency more than two commissioners could be chosen at the same election. This fact, considered with the fact that in another section of the charter heretofore noticed provision was made for the election of an auditor to fill an unexpired term, has — in the judgment of the writer — great weight as indicating that it was not the intention of the committee who framed the charter or the electorate who adopted it to provide for an election to fill an unexpired term in the office of commissioner.
A judgment should be entered declaring defendant lawfully entitled to hold the office of commissioner until July 1, 1919.
I agree with both the reasoning and the conclusion of Mr. Chief Justice McBride that the amendment to the Constitution, designated as Article II, Section 14-a, was properly submitted and was legally adopted; and that by its own force the amendment changed the date of the next succeeding general municipal election for Portland from June 2, 1919, to November 5, 1918. However, I am of the opinion that T. L. Perkins was legally elected and is entitled to hold the office of commissioner until July 1, 1919.
George L. Baker was elected a commissioner on June 7, 1915, for the full term of four years. His term commenced on July 1, 1915, and he assumed the office on that date. He resigned on June 29,1917, and the council appointed Dan Kellaher. If Baker had continued to serve until the end of the term for which he was .elected he would serve until and including June 30, 1919, and if the date of municipal elections had not been changed his successor would be elected on the first Monday in June, 1919; but because of such change in the date of municipal elections some person was elected on November 5, 1918, for the full term of four years commencing on July 1, 1919.
In addition to choosing a successor of Baker to hold for the full term of four years, which shall begin on July 1, 1919, the people of Portland, at the election held on November 5, 1918, elected T. L. Perkins to fill out the remainder of Baker’s unexpired term. This unexpired term is the so-called short term and covers the period which began on November 5,1918, and ends with June 30, 1919. It is conceded by all parties that Kellaher was legally appointed by the council and that he lawfully occupied the position of commissioner until November 5,1918. Perkins claims that the term for which Kellaher was appointed ended on November
An examination of the charter of Portland will be made easier if attention is first directed to certain legal principles deemed to be controlling. The theory of the common law involved the idea that the king was the source of all power and the disposer of all offices; and hence whenever a vacancy occurred in a public office the office reverted to the king again to be filled. All public offices were granted on good behavior and no public office could be granted for a definite number of years or a term; and consequently there could be no vacancy in a term and no such thing as an unexpired term.
In this country where the people are the source of all power we have laws, organic or statutory, which provide for elective public officers with fixed terms. Almost invariably these fixed terms begin and end on specified dates. The term of an office means the period prescribed for holding the office and is the estate or interest which the incumbent has’in it; and, therefore, when the holder of an office dies, resigns or is removed, his estate or interest ends, his term is usually dissolved, and the office becomes vacant and reverts to the people, the source from whence it came, again to be filled by them. Since the term of an elected incumbent ends with his death, resignation or removal, the vacancy which results is a vacancy in the
“And it seems the term of office of one elected or appointed to fill a vacancy in a board of several officers will be held to be for the unexpired term only, where the clear intent of the creating power is that the entire board should not go out of office at once, but*554 that different groups should retire at regularly recurring intervals.”
If Kellaher’s appointment ended with “the next general municipal election,’'’ which occurred on November 5, 1918, and if the charter contemplates an election to fill out an unexpired term then Perkins and not Kellaher is entitled to hold the office of commissioner until Baker’s unexpired term will have ended on June 30, 1919; otherwise Kellaher is the lawful incumbent.
The present charter of Portland was enacted by the legal voters of the city in the exercise of the initiative and is entitled:
“An Act to amend an Act of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon entitled, ‘An Act to incorporate the City of Portland, Multnomah County, State of Oregon, and to provide a charter therefor, and to repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith,” filed in the office of the Secretary of State, January 23, 1903, amended by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon in 1905 and subsequently amended by the people of the City of Portland, providing for a commission form of government.”
Sections 21, 30, 64 and 123 of the charter are material to the discussion and for that reason are here set down in full:
“Sec. 21 — Elective officers:
“There shall be no elective officers of the City of Portland other than the Mayor, four Commissioners and the Auditor. All said officers shall be elected at large by the legal voters of the City of Portland and for a term of four years, except as provided in Sections 30 and 123 of this Charter.
“Sec. 30 — Manner of Filling Vacancies:'
“If a vacancy occur in the office of Mayor or Commissioner the Council shall appoint an eligible person*555 to fill such vacancy until the next general municipal election.
“Sec. 64 — Qualifications—Filling Vacancy in Office:
“ There shall be an Auditor of the City of Portland who shall possess the same qualifications required of a Commissioner and in addition those of an expert accountant. He shall be elected at the general municipal election and shall serve for a term of four years.
“If a vacancy occur in the office of Auditor the Council shall appoint an eligible person to fill such vacancy until the next general election subject to the provisions of law with respect to the recall of officers, and also subject to the provisions of this Charter declaring when a vacancy shall exist; the person appointed to fill such vacancy must within five days from the date of appointment or election qualify therefor as in the case of an officer elected for the full term or he shall be deemed to have-declined and the office shall be considered vacant. Any such vacancy shall be filled at the next general municipal election for the unexpired term.
“Sec. 123 — Municipal Elections:
“A municipal election shall be held on the first Monday in June, 1913, and on the first Monday in June on each second year thereafter, which shall be known as the general municipal election. All others shall be known as special municipal elections. The first general municipal election under this Charter shall be held on the first Monday in June, 1913, for the purpose of electing a Mayor, four Commissioners and an Auditor. The Mayor and the two Commissioners who receive the highest votes shall hold office until the first day of July, 1917, and the auditor and the other two Commissioners shall hold office until the first day of July, 1915. Thereafter every such officer shall hold office for the full term of four years. Such elected officers shall assume office the first day of July after the election.”
It must be admitted, of course, that Kellaher holds over until his successor is elected and qualified; and hence if no person has been legally elected for the so-called short term, then Kellaher would hold until and including June 30, 1919.
Unless Perkins was legally elected, there are at least two. adequate reasons for the conclusion that Kellaher is entitled to continue in the office until July 1, 1919: (1) The rule of necessity; Mechem’s Public Officers, § 397; and (2) a provision contained in Article II, Section 14 — a, of the Constitution. Probably a third reason may be found in the language of Article 5Y, Section 1 of the Constitution as construed and applied in State ex rel. v. Simon, 20 Or. 365, 377 (26 Pac. 170).
It has been contended that the amendment to the Constitution, Article'll, Section 14r-a, is determinative of the question for decision. This contention is based upon the fact that Kellaher’s term began simultaneously with the commencement of the operation of the amendment. It will be assumed, but it is not decided,
“Every officer who, at the time of the adoption of this amendment, is the duly qualified incumbent of an elective office of an incorporated city or town shall hold his office for the term for which he was elected and until his successor is elected and qualified.”
Now, this language merely retains Kellaher in office “for the term for which he was elected” and then continues his tenure “until his successor is elected and qualified.” If the term for which Kellaher was “elected” ended on November 5, 1918, then he has held for the period guaranteed by the Constitution. The words “until his successor is elected and qualified” of themselves imply that at some time somebody can and will be elected to succeed the incumbent. If the charter contains authority for an election of a
It must be conceded that a town or city must have a charter and that only those powers which are contained in the charter can be exercised.' But there is a section in the charter which enables the voters to fill an unexpired term by an election; for we read in Section 125 that:
*561 “The auditor on or before the fifteenth day before every election, shall prepare and file in his office a certificate containing a complete list of the offices to be filled, stating whether for a full or an unexpired term, and the candidates for each office who are entitled to have their names appear upon the ballot.”
It may be argued that the words “an unexpired term” in Section 125 refer exclusively to Section 64, which in express language provides for the election of an auditor to fill an unexpired term. It may be admitted that the fact that Section 64 is the only section which in direct and express languagé provides for an election for an unexpired term is some argument in support of the contention that the only “unexpired term ’ ’ contemplated by Section 125 relates to the office of auditor alone; and yet this very same fact is also some argument in support of the theory that it is the intent of the charter that the mayor and two commissioners shall be elected for the full term of four years at one biennial election and that an auditor and two commissioners shall likewise be elected at the succeeding biennial election. Indeed, it seems to the writer that the only purpose which the framers of the charter had in mind when they inserted the last sentence appearing in Section 64 was to preserve the plan, upon which the charter was built, of electing the mayor and two commissioners at one election and the auditor and two commissioners at another election. It must be conceded that if a person is elected to fill an unexpired term for the office of auditor he would be entitled to qualify immediately after the election, because the language of Section 64 only permits the appointee to hold the office as against all persons “until the next general election” and the person elected for the unexpired term would not be obliged to wait until July
Assuming that the charter contemplates that a vacancy shall first be filled by appointment and the appointee shall hold until the next general municipal election when some person shall be elected to fill out the remainder of the unexpired term, then, prior to the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution, the duration of that remainder of such unexpired term was either two years and one month or only about one month, depending upon whether the -next general municipal election was the first or second election after the commencement of the term. The amendment to the Constitution worked a change in the date of municipal elections with the result that in Portland a' corresponding change was effected in the period of time to be served by any person elected to fill out the remainder of an unexpired term. The amendment did not create unexpired terms where none existed before, although it did have the effect of changing the length of the period of time to be served by an officer elected to complete an unexpired term.
The conclusion here reached is supported by the opinion of Mr. Justice Lord in State ex rel. v. Ware, 13 Or. 380 (10 Pac. 885). In 1878 (Laws 1878, p. 31), the legislature, acting upon the authority of Article VII, Section 10, of the Constitution, enacted a statute providing
“Allot among" themselves their terms of office, so that the term of one of them shall expire in two years, one in four years, and two in six years, and thereafter one or more shall he chosen every two years, to serve for a term of six years.”
Section 4 provided that:
“Every vacancy in the office of judge of the Supreme Court shall he filled by election for the re*564 mainder of the vacant term, unless it would expire at the next election, and until so filled, or when it would so expire, the Governor shall fill the vacancy by appointment.”
It is obvious that Section 3 did no more than to fix the term of office and to command the supreme judges, first chosen to allot among themselves their terms of office. It will he noted that Section 4 in express and. unequivocal language directed that every vacancy in the office of judge of the Supreme Court should be-filled by election for the remainder of the vacant term. There as here the officers first elected held for different terms, but their successors held for the same-terms. There as here the written law confers the-power of appointment to fill’ a vacancy. There as-here an elected officer resigned. There as here the-vacancy was first filled by an appointment. There as here the question was whether the resignation left a vacancy in the term as well as a vacancy in the office. In all its essential features that case is parallel to this, case. Mr. Justice Lord ruled that even though Section 4 was entirely erased from the Constitution,, nevertheless Section 3 would work the same result that was accomplished by Section 4 so far as the-judges of the Supreme Court were concerned. We herewith quote at length from the opinion of Mr. Justice Lord, for the reason that the language used by him is particularly pertinent to the facts presented here.
“Blot out the limitation which it (Section 4) imposes upon the term given by Section 3 when a vacancy occurs, and it is freely admitted, in the case of a vacancy, that the circuit judges, whenever elected, would be elected and entitled to hold for the full term of six years; but a like effect would not result to the supreme judges upon such a contingency, for the rea*565 son that it would'violate the purpose for which the terms of these judges were required to be allotted. But it is argued that the object of Section 4 in confining vacancies to be filled to the residue of the vacant term was for the purpose of preserving the allotment prescribed by Section 3, which the supreme judges were required to make; and as Section 10 provided that the circuit judges shall hold their terms without allotment, therefore, say counsel, Section 4 does not apply to them. The object of an allotment undoubtedly is to provide that officers sitting in the same body shall go out of office at different periods. Hence it is claimed, to maintain and perpetuate the system established by allotments, when a vacancy occurs, or an officer of such body fails for any reason to hold for his full term, necessarily and logically his successor must hold for the unexpired term of his predecessor. I grant this. But if such is the purpose and intention of an allotment, there is no need of Section 4 to preserve it. The fact that it is provided that such officers composing the body are to allot their terms when first chosen, writes out plainly and unmistakably the intention or object to be subserved by the allotment, and renders unnecessary and needless any declaration or provision to preserve it. What need, then, of Section 4? Erase it from the Constitution, and you do not destroy the allotment or affect the intention for which it was established. The allotment, and the purposes it was intended to embrace, can stand without it. Section 3 provided for the allotment of the terms of the supreme judges, and to preserve the purposes of that allotment, vacancies occurring by reason of death or resignation would have been necessarily and legally limited to filling for the remainder of the vacant term. (See Baker v. Kirk, 33 Ind. 524.)
This doctrine also finds support in State ex rel. v. Mayor of La Porte, 28 Ind. 248; Parcel v. State, 110 Ind. 122 (11 N. E. 4). See also the cases cited in note to State ex rel. Fish v. Howell, 50 L. R. A. (N. S.) 345.
If it is admitted that the words, “Here state officers to be elected, as mayor and two commissioners, or auditor and two commissioners ’ ’ appearing in Section 129 present a circumstance which “indicates it was never in the legislative mind that under any contingency more than two commissioners could be chosen at the same election,” then there is no possible escape from the conclusion that Perkins is entitled to be seated, unless it can be said that an appointee can invariably hold until the end of the unexpired term. A regular election is held biennially; and this is expressly defined by Section 123 as “the general municipal election.” If from the time of the first election each officer had served his full term then two commissioners would have been elected regularly every two years; and of course Section 129, when referring to “two commissioners,” means the two commissioners who are to be chosen at each election for the full period of four years. Now if the legislative mind intended that under no contingency could more than two commissioners be elected at the same election for the full term of four years then one of only two possible conclusions must be accepted: (1) The people have the right to elect a commissioner to fill out an unexpired term; or (2) the appointee always holds until the end of the unexpired term. This can be demonstrated by an example. At the first election held in June, 1913, two commissioners were elected for terms of four years and two for terms of two years. The term of each commissioner began on July 1, 1913. Two retired from office at the end of June 30, 1915, and the
If it is admitted that a vacancy occurring one month after the commencement of a four year term is filled by appointment by the council “until the next general municipal election,” and that the people at that election are authorized to elect a person to fill out the remainder of the term, which remainder would in that event amount to more than two years, then by the same token if the vacancy occurs between the first and second elections after the beginning of the term, the appointee would only hold until such second election because it is the “next general municipal election” after the appointment and the people can at that time choose some person to fill out the remainder of the term whether such remainder is one month, as it would have been before the adoption of the amendment to
The defendant contends that Perkins has not been domiciled in Portland for the time required by the charter. It is not necessary to discuss the facts in detail but it is enough to say that on the facts as presented in the record Perkins’ domicile is within the boundaries of the City of Portland and has been for the time required.
Concurrence Opinion
(Concurring Specially). — Under the Portland charter the rule is that the offices of mayor, commissioner and auditor áre to be filled by election at large by the legal voters of the city: Section 21. The principal exception is that upon a vacancy occurring in the office of mayor or commissioner the council shall appoint an eligible person to fill the vacancy until the next general municipal election: Section 30. The further exception as outlined in Section 123 has in a sense served its purpose in the initial classification of the commissioners so that an entire change in the personnel of the council will not be effected at any general election. It must, however, be counted as a factor in the investigation as indicating that there may be an election to fill an unexpired term of a commissioner so as to preserve that adjustment. In my judgment, it is not necessary that there should* be a special ordinance providing for elections to fill vacancies. In that respect the charter is self-executing in effect. The election machinery is at hand and available. The power of the council to appoint sustains the tenure of the appointee only until the next general municipal election. The power of election then comes automatically into operation. The appointee has enjoyed all possible benefits of the exception to the rule which requires that officers shall be elected by vote of the people at large. To continue him longer in office would be to legislate judicially and impair the authority of the people to choose their own officers.
Concurrence Opinion
(Concurring Specially in the Opinion of Mr. Justice Harris). — It is the theory of our form of government that the people have the right to elect their own officials. “While, for certain purposes and under certain conditions, the power to fill a vacancy in office is conferred by the people upon a designated officer or board, yet I do not believe that in the present instance the people who conferred that power ever intended that the appointment should be extended over and beyond the date of the next general municipal election after the vacancy was so filled. It was the purpose and intent of the people to reserve the right to fill any unexpired term of such vacancy at the first ensuing election. In the case of State ex rel. Whitney v. Johns, 3 Or. 533, the syllabus lays down the rule that:
“The appointee of the Governor, appointed to fill a vacancy in office occasioned.by death or resignation, only holds said office until the first general election after the vacancy occurs. * * At that time the people may supply the office by election.”
In the opinion it is said: -
“The people of Oregon by their Constitution made their judiciary elective, and only gave the executive power to fill temporary vacancies, which should occur between, elections. If the people had intended to part with this power by appointing county judges, they would have expressed it. It cannot be inferred. No inference or intendment is ever presumed against the sovereign. Snch is the universal rule for the construction of statutes, for they emanate from the sovereign power which, in this state, is the people. They appoint the executive, and he only acts by delegated authority, and this authority cannot be pre*574 sumed beyond the express words of the grant. And I think the power in this case only extends to the filling-a vacancy until the next general election, when the people can regularly exercise their authority in electing officers. I think it is -not reasonable to presume that, where the people have reserved to themselves the appointment of an officer, they would confer on the executive the filling of a vacancy in the office, which would extend the time of the appointee beyond a gen- • eral election, and deprive the whole people of a county from electing their own local officer, when they could, fill it as conveniently as they appointed the original incumbent. ’ ’
On this principle, I concur in the result of the opinion of Mr. Justice Habéis.