Dickson v. Hill

• Citation: 75 Ga. 369
• Parties: DICKSON, ordinary, v. HILL, ordinary.
• Decision Date: 13 October 1885
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

75 Ga. 369

DICKSON, ordinary, v. HILL, ordinary.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

October 13, 1885

October Term, 1885.

1. Semble, that the survey made of the county line between the counties of Rabun and Habersham, in 1878, was insufficient, and did not conform to the act of 1828, which added a part of the county of Habersham to the county of Rabun.

2. The act of 1879 makes it imperative that, when the grand jury presents that the line between its county and an adjoining county is undefined or in dispute, the ordinary shall transmit forthwith a certified copy of such presentment to the ordinary of said adjoining county; and it is the duty of the ordinaries of the respective counties to notify and direct the county surveyors to survey, mark out and define such disputed county lines. There is no discretion vested in the ordinary notified as to his duty, and upon his refusal to perform it, a mandamus will be granted to compel him to do so.

County Matters. Rabun County. Habersham County. Mandamus. Before Judge ESTES. Rabun County. At Chambers. September 14 1886.

Reported in the decision.

J. J KIMSEY, for plaintiff in error.

H. S WEST; LOUIS DAVIS, for defendant.

BLANDFORD Justice.

The grand jury of Habersham county having presented that the county line between that county and Rabun county was undefined, requested the ordinary of Habersham to have the same defined and surveyed. This presentment was certified to the ordinary of Rabun county by the ordinary of Habersham and he was requested by the last mentioned ordinary to direct the county surveyor of Rabun to run off, mark and define said county line; which he refused to comply with. The ordinary of Habersham filed his petition to the superior court, for a writ of mandamus to compel the ordinary of Rabun county to direct the county surveyor of Rabun, in conjunction with the county surveyor of Habersham, to mark out and define the line between said counties. A mandamus nisi was granted by the judge of the superior court of Rabun county. This was answered by the ordinary of Rabun county, in which he claimed that the line between the two counties was not undefined or in dispute, but that the same had been surveyed in 1878, and he annexed to his answer a plat of said survey. The judge of the superior court held that this answer was not sufficient in law, and he made the mandamus absolute. This judgment is excepted to, and this is the error alleged.

The act of December 20th, 1828 (Acts of 1828, p. 58), is " An act to add a part of the county of Habersham to the county of Rabun," and it provides that " so much of the county of Habersham as lies north and east of a line beginning near the upper end of the falls on Talloola river at the corner of fraction number one hundred and eighty-three, in the thirteenth district of said county...