45 Tex. 134 | Tex. | 1876
This is a suit for the office of justice of the peace of precinct No. 1, Waller county, to which appellant claimed to have been elected at the general election held December 2, 1873; while appellee maintains that he is justly and legally entitled thereto by virtue of an election held on the 16th of August, 1873, in pursuance of an act passed by the Legislature April 28,1873, creating and provicling for the organization of said Waller county.
The decision of the case seems now of little importance, as the present judgment will have to be reversed. The controversy for the office must evidently survive the tenure of the party having the better title to it, as well as the existence of the office itself, and the Constitution by wMch it was created. If, therefore, the mere right to the office was the only matter to be affected by a decision of the case, we might very well refuse to consider the objections to the judgment. But the
The controversy grows out of what seems to be conflicting provisions in our present Constitution, (Constitution of 1869.) Section nineteen of article fifth of that instrument provides that there shall be elected in each county of the State, as may be provided by law, five justices of the peace, who shall hold their offices for four years ; and should any vacancy occur in either of said offices, an election shall be held for the unexpired term. It can hardly be questioned that it was intended by this section of the Constitution to have all the justices of the peace throughout the State elected at a uniform time fixed by law. To secure tins uniformity and periodicity, it is provided that persons who may be elected to fill such vacancies as may occur shall hold merely for the unexpired time of their predecessors. But section twenty-four of article twelve says: “ The Legislature shall, at the first session thereof, and may at any subsequent session, establish new counties for the convenience of the inhabitants of such new county or counties.” Hew counties cannot be established without the election and qualification of justices of the peace and other county officers. And as these new counties are to be established whenever the convenience of the people of the particular locality requires it, manifestly, it would be impracticable to require the election of the officers at the regular period fixed for the election of the like officers throughout the State. Unless, therefore, the terms of the justices of the peace elected on the organization of new counties are curtailed until the first ensuing general election, or extended until the next general election subsequent to the expiration of four years from the date of their election, the general uniformity in the time of holding such elections which the Constitution contemplates, cannot be observed.
These views lead us to the conclusion that the judgment of the court in this case is erroneous. It is therefore reversed and remanded.
Reversed and remanded.