City of Pond Creek v. Haskell

• Decision Date: 28 August 1908
• Docket Number: Case Number: 232
• Citation: 97 P. 338,21 Okla. 711,1908 OK 153
• Parties: CITY OF POND CREEK et al. v. HASKELL, Governor et al.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1908 OK 153

97 P. 338

21 Okla. 711

CITY OF POND CREEK et al. v. HASKELL, Governor et al.

Case Number: 232

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: August 28, 1908

Syllabus

¶0 1. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--Presumption in Favor of Constitutionality. A court will never declare an act of legislation, passed with all the forms and solemnities requisite to give it the force of law, unconstitutional and void, unless the nullity and invalidity of the act are placed, in its judgment, beyond a reasonable doubt.

2. COUNTIES--County Seat--Location--Change--Legislative Authority. The constitutional convention, or the people of the state of Oklahoma, either through the Constitution or by legislative enactment, have full power and authority to provide for the location, relocation, or removal of any of the county seats of the state, and to provide the procedure therefor.

3. SAME--Constitutional Provision--Self-Executing. Section 6 of article 17 of the Constitution, providing for the holding of elections for the relocation or removal of the county seats of the different counties of the state, is self-executing.

4. SAME--Statutes Applicable. A petition praying for the issuance of a proclamation calling a special election for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors of a county the question of the removal or relocation of the county seat, filed with the Governor prior to April 17, 1908, depends in no particular for its force and validity on Senate Bill No. 234, approved on that date, but upon the provisions of section 6, art. 17, of the Constitution.

5. STATUTES--"Special or Local Law"--County Seat Elections. An act of the Legislature under which special elections for the relocation or removal of county seats are provided for, the purpose being to secure a permanent location thereof, applicable to all of the counties of the state alike, is not a "special or local law," within the meaning of sections 32, 46, art. 5, of the Constitution.

6. SAME--Independent and Amendatory Acts--Enactment--Form, An act of the Legislature, which is in form original and in itself intelligible and complete, and does not, either in its title or in its body, appear to be revisory or amendatory of any existing law, is not within the inhibition of section 57, art. 5, of the Constitution, providing that "no law shall be revised, amended, or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only; but so much thereof as is revised, amended, extended, or conferred shall be re-enacted and published at length"; and this is true, even where such act seeks to effectuate the powers conferred by referring to and requiring the officers provided for thereunder to proceed in the performance of their duties in accordance with general laws previously enacted.

7. ELECTIONS--Registration--Statutes--Validity. Under the provisions of section 6 of article 3 of the Constitution, providing that the Legislature "may when necessary provide by law for the registration of electors throughout the state or in any incorporated city or town thereof," a statute requiring all voters of all cities of the first class to register as a prerequisite condition for exercising their rights of suffrage, is not violative of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States or of section 7 of article 3 of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma, which provides that "the election shall be free and equal."

8. COUNTIES--County Seat--Election Statutes--Constitutionality. An act of the Legislature under which special elections for the relocation or removal of county seats are provided for, the purpose being to secure a permanent location thereof, containing a proviso for the creation of a special election board by appointment by the Governor of the state of "some person, resident of the county, who does not live or reside in either city or town which is a candidate for said honors, and each of said rival towns is to select one person each who shall constitute said election board," and which further provides for the selection and commissioning by the Governor of "one special election commissioner for each voting precinct or voting place in such county," and which disqualifies for such position any person "who shall be, or have been, a resident of such county or who shall be interested in any manner in the success of any city, town, or place which is a candidate for any such county seat," is not void, but a proper exercise of legislative authority, carrying out the terms of section 6, art. 3, of the Constitution, providing that "the Legislature shall make all such regulations as may be necessary to detect and punish fraud and preserve the purity of the ballot."

Suit by the city of Pond Creek and others against C. N. Haskell, Governor, and others, to restrain the Governor from canvassing the returns and from declaring the result of an election to determine the removal of the county seat of Grant county from Pond Creek to Medford, and restrain the county officials during the pendency of the suit from removing their offices, and that the temporary injunction be made perpetual. On demurrer to the bill. Sustained.

Dale & Amidon and W. A. Ledbetter, for plaintiffs.

C. G. Hornor, Dale & Bierer, B. F. Hegler, Jr., and B. B. Blakeney, for defendants.

DUNN, J.

¶1 This is a suit brought by the city of Pond Creek and others against C. N. Haskell, Governor of the state of Oklahoma, and the county officials of Grant county, Okla., the controversy growing out of an election called on a proclamation issued by the Governor calling an election in the county of Grant, held for the purpose of voting upon the location of the county seat of that county; the leading competitors in the contest being Pond Creek and Medford, which are the only ones interested or involved herein. The returns of the election showed on their face that Medford received a majority of all of the votes cast, and the city of Pond Creek and the other plaintiffs brought this action for the purpose of securing an injunction restraining the carrying into effect the apparent result of the election. The averments in the petition material here are:

"That the city of Pond Creek is now, and has been for some 14 years last past, a city of the first class, duly organized and incorporated as such by virtue of the laws of the territory of Oklahoma, now the state of Oklahoma, and that it has been during such time the duly and legally appointed and constituted county seat of Grant county, in said state of Oklahoma, and that it was constituted and appointed such county seat by virtue of the grant of the Congress of the United States of America duly and legally authorizing the same, and that for the purpose of establishing the said county seat of Grant county, in the state of Oklahoma, at Pond Creek, a certain public square was set apart by the government of the United States for the same, and that there has since been erected upon the public square a large courthouse and county jail at a great expense to the said citizens of Grant county, and more especially of the citizens and residents of Pond Creek, and that during said time and at the present time there has been kept and maintained at the said courthouse all the public records of said county, and that the county officers named as defendants herein have kept and maintained their offices in the said city of Pond Creek.

"That the above-named plaintiffs, other than the city of Pond Creek, F. J. Gentry, J. H. Asher, J. A. Alderson, F. L. Patton, C. M. McCarter, August Diamond, Conrad Strecker, C. S. Watson, E. E. Darrough, C. E. Foster, C. B. Franke, and L. W. McGivney, are residents of Pond Creek, in the county of Grant, in the state of Oklahoma, and were such residents and citizens of Pond Creek during the times herein mentioned, and were taxpayers in said city, and paid taxes therein annually in an amount in excess of $ 5,000. That if the said county seat be moved from Pond Creek, as authorized by the election and proceedings hereinafter mentioned, the taxable value of the property situated therein would be greatly diminished, and said city of Pond Creek would be greatly damaged and injured thereby in the lessening and reduction of the revenues said city of Pond Creek would receive and is entitled to levy and collect by way of taxation in an amount in excess of $ 5,000. That said city of Pond Creek is indebted in excess of $ 5,000 and its current expenses exceed the sum of $ 5,000 per annum, and if said county seat should be moved therefrom it could not collect sufficient taxes to pay interest on said indebtedness and the said current expenses, and would as aforesaid be deprived of revenues in excess of $ 5,000.

"That the amount involved in this controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, exceeds the sum of $ 5,000. That Pond Creek was made the county seat of Grant county by act of Congress approved March 3, 1893 (section 14, Indian Appropriation Act, 27 Stat. 645), and that the same cannot be changed or removed therefrom by the election and proceedings hereinafter set forth. That the determination of this controversy involves the construction of said act of Congress.

"That on or about the 19th day of March, 1908, there was filed with the Governor of the state of Oklahoma a certain pretended petition for the calling of a county seat election for Grant county, Okla. A copy of said petition is hereto attached, marked 'Ehxibit A,' and made a part hereof. That afterwards, and on the 19th day of March, 1908, acting upon said alleged petition and alleged application, the Honorable C. N. Haskell issued a proclamation calling for the special election to be held on the 27th day of May, 1908, for the purpose of permitting the people of Grant county, Okla., to vote upon their choice for the selection of a county seat of said county. A copy of said proclamation is hereto attached, marked 'Exhibit C,' and made a part hereof.

"Plaintiff alleges that the said petition was illegal,

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