HOLLAND v. OWNBEY

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HOLLAND v. OWNBEY
1926 OK 590
247 P. 1106
121 Okla. 102
Case Number: 17526
Decided: 06/29/1926
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

HOLLAND
v.
OWNBEY et al.

Syllabus

¶0 Statutes--Local Laws--Invalidity of Act Fixing Terms of Commissioners in One County. Chapter 169, Session Laws 1925, being an act of the Legislature of 1925, entitled: "An Act fixing the term of office of members of the Board of County Commissioners of Pottawatomie County, State of Oklahoma, repealing all Acts in conflict herewith, and declaring an emergency," is in violation of section 32, art. 5, of the Constitution, and void.

F. H. Reily, for plaintiff in error.
Park Wyatt, for defendants in error.

 
NICHOLSON, C. J.

¶1 A. J. Ownbey, Wilber Moore, C. I. Johnson, R. L. Hanes, and L. E. Cleary brought this action against D. J. Holland, as secretary of the county election board of Pottawatomie county, seeking a writ of mandamus to compel him to have their names printed on the primary ballots to be submitted to the voters of commissioner's district No. 1, at the primary election to be held August 3, 1926, as democratic candidate for the nomination to the office of county commissioner of said district. An alternative writ of mandamus was issued, and in his return thereto, Holland relies upon House Bill No. 281, chapter 169 of Session Laws of 1925; as his justification for refusing to permit said parries to file for nomination to said office. A peremptory writ of mandamus was issued as prayed for, and Holland has appealed. By paragraph C of section 1 of chapter 121, Session Laws 1923-24, it is provided that at the general election held in November, 1924, there shall be elected in each county in the state, three county commissioners, one from district No. 1, for a term of two years; one from district No. 2, for a term of four years, and one from district No. 3, for a term of six years; the term of office of such commissioners to begin on the first Monday in July following their election, and that thereafter one county commissioner shall be elected every two years, and hold office for a term of six years, or until his or her successor is elected and qualified.

¶2 By these provisions a county commissioner from commissioner's district No. 1 in each county in the state shall be elected at the general election to be held in November, 1926, and of course, shall be nominated at the primary election held in August of said year. Therefore, it was the duty of Holland to receive the applications of the relators and have their names placed on the ballots, unless he is warranted in refusing to do so by chapter 169, page 272, Sess. Laws 1925, entitled "An Act fixing the term of office of members of the Board of County Commissioners of Pottawatomie County, State of Oklahoma, repealing all Acts in conflict herewith, and declaring an emergency," section 1 of which reads as follows:

"The terms of office of the members of the board of county commissioners of Pottawatomie county, State of Oklahoma, from the first and second districts thereof, shall be for a period of four years from the date of their qualifications of office, and entering upon their duties as such, and, provided, that such terms of office shall begin on the first Monday in July, 1925, and shall expire on the first Monday in July, 1929."

¶3 A mere glance at this act shows that it is a special and local law designed to apply only to Pottawatomie county; its aim being to fix a different term of office of county commissioners in that county from that fixed by general law for all counties in the state. It is stipulated in the record that no notice of the intended introduction of this bill was ever published in Pottawatomie county, hence the Legislature was prohibited from considering the act by the provisions of section 32, art. 5, of the Constitution, which is as follows:

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