58 Ga. 512 | Ga. | 1877
The complainant filed his bill in the superior court of Chatham county, against the defendants, with a prayer for an injunction, of which the following is a substantial copy:
Humbly complaining, your orator, John O. Eerrill, ordinary of Chatham county, showeth, that by an act of the general assembly of the state of Georgia, approved 21st February, 1873, five commissioners and eai-offieio judges were created and organized for said county, who, under the terms of said act, were to be appointed and commissioned by the governor of said state for a period of four years; that on or about the 21st of February, the governor did appoint and commission, as said commissioners, for the period of four years as aforesaid, the following persons, to-wit: Geo. P. Harrison, Robert D. Walker, M. H. Meyer, William W. Paine, and Edward C. Anderson, Jr., all of said county; that, afterwards, said Harrison resigned his said office as commissioner, and William S. Lawton, of said county, was appointed in his place, to serve during his unexpired term ; and that on the — day of September, 1876, the said Anderson departed this life, and Christopher C. Casey, of said county, was appointed and commissioned in his place to serve during his unexpired term.
And your orator further shows, that there is no provision in said act creating said commissioners, providing that they should act until their successors are appointed; that there is no provision authorizing the appointment of any successor to them in said office; but that, by express terms of saidjact^ said commissioners were to be appointed and commissioned for a period of four years, and at the expiration of said term their term of office expired, and the office ceased to exist; and that neither in said act, nor in any act amendatory thereof, is the power given to the governor to appoint successors to said commissioners, or to continue them in office after the expiration of the said term of four year’s from the said 21st February 1873.
And your orator further shows, that under and by virtue of said act creating said commissioners, the ordinary was required to turn over to said commissioners all books and papers relating to the jurisdiction and powers conferred by said act, and was prohibited from exercising any of the powers or functions so conferred upon said commissioners, and that now said commissioners have ceased to exist, the jurisdiction and powers that were taken from the ordinary and vested in said commissioners, have been xestored to the ox*dinaxy, and that your orator, as ordinary, is alone entitled to exei’cise said jux-isdiction and powers, and to have in his keeping and custody all the books and papers appertaining thex-eto. And your orator shows that notwithstanding the
Wherefore, as your orator can have no adequate relief except in a court of equity, to the end that the said Robt. D. Walker, William S. Lawton, William W. Paine, Mathias Ii. Meyer and Christopher C. Casey, may be restrained and enjoined from acting, and from assuming to act, as said commissioners, and from discharging and exercising, and from assuming to discharge and exercise, any of the rights, duties, powers and functions which vested in said commissioners under the act creating said commissioners, and the act of acts amendatory thereof, and from continuing to refuse to turn over to your orator, as ordinary as aforesaid, the books and papers appertaining to their offices as commissioners,
The defendants, in pursuance of an order to show cause why the injunction prayed for should not be granted, appeared and demurred to the complainant’s bill, on the ground that it contained no equity which would authorize the chancellor to grant the injunction prayed for. The chancellor, after considering the demurrer, as well as the answers of the defendants, granted the injunction. Whereupon the defendants excepted.
The 15th section of the 5th article of the constitution of 1868, declares that “ the general assembly shall have power to provide for the creation of county commissioners in such counties as may require them, and to define their duties.” The act of 1873 is “ an act to create and organize commissioners of Chatham county, who shall be ex officio judges, to define their jurisdiction and duties, and for other purposes.” The first section of the act declares “that there shall be created and organized in the county of Chatham, state of Georgia, five commissioners of Chatham county, which commissioners shall be styled commissioners of Chat-ham county and ex officio judges.” The second section of the act declares “that said commissioners and ex officio
In our judgment, the act of 1873, creating and organizing five commissioners for Chatham county, providing for their appointment, defining their jurisdiction and duties, is a permanent, constitutional, public law of the state: that the term for which the commissioners created and organized by it, to be appointed by the governor, is limited to four years; but the act itself will continue of force until it is repealed ; and, at the expiration of four years from the date of the appointment of the commissioners under the provis
Let the judgment of the court below be reversed.