Evans v. Carroll
Decision Date | 16 July 1958 |
Citation | 104 So.2d 375 |
Parties | Thomas K. EVANS, Appellant, v. Louis CARROLL, Appellee. |
Court | Florida Supreme Court |
George L. Pink, West Palm Beach, and C. Shelby Dale, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.
Ives, McIntosh & Davis, West Palm Beach, for Louis Carroll.
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and Allan F. Milledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The appellant, Thomas K. Evans, was elected to the office of Constable of the 4th Justice of Peace District in Palm Beach County, Florida, at the general election held on November 6, 1956, and upon the expiration of the former term on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January, 1957, appellant assumed said office under the commission theretofore issued.
This appeal is from a final decree of the circuit court, in chancery, entered upon a second amended complaint filed on March 1, 1957, charging appellant with violating certain provisions of the election code, F.S. § 99.161, F.S.A., by failure to make proper reports of campaign contributions. The court found as a fact that appellant had wilfully or knowingly violated the law, and decreed his election to be void and the office vacant under the provisions of F.S. § 104.27(2) and (9), F.S.A., as follows:
'(2) The nomination or election to office of any person who knowingly violates the provisions of § 99.161, or whose campaign treasurer of deputy campaign treasurer knowingly violates the provisions of § 99.161, shall be void, and the nomination or office shall be filled as in other cases where a vacancy occurs.
'It shall be the duty of the attorney general upon his receipt of a copy of the petition to act as counsel for the state, and he shall file in the proceeding such pleadings as he determines ought to be filed.
The question to be determined at the outset relates to the jurisdiction of this Court to review the decision under the pertinent provision of Section 4, Article V, Florida Constitution, F.S.A.:
The court below, in making its ruling, did not expressly refer to certain points raised by appellant going to the validity of the statute under which the proceeding was brought (Section 104.27, supra), but this fact does not alter the effect of the decree as a negative disposition of all pertinent questions properly raised by appellant. In determining analogous jurisdictional problems in review of federal questions on appeal from state courts, the controlling principle, where there is no clear or express ruling by the court below, is said to be that Stern and Gressman, Supreme Court Practice, p. 89.
In such cases, 'We pierce the shell of the record presented for review sufficiently far to determine that our proper jurisdiction is not infringed upon or improper jurisdiction is not foisted upon us.' State ex rel. Audrain County v. City of mexico, 355 Mo. 612, 197 S.W.2d 301. See, also, Milligan v. Wilson, Fla., 104 So.2d 35. An examination of the record in the instant case for this purpose fully sustains the apparent conclusion of the trial court that the constitutional questions posed are merely clorable, unrelated to the particular facts involved, and therefore present no substantial basis upon which an appeal will lie under the above cited constitutional provision.
The appellant asserts that the statute, F.S. § 104.27, F.S.A.,...
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Bernhardt v. State
...We have jurisdiction of this cause pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution, F.S.A. (1973). See Evans v. Carroll, 104 So.2d 375 (Fla.1958); Harrell's Candy Kitchen v. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, 111 So.2d 439 (Fla.1959); Demko's Gold Coast Trailer Park v. Palm Be......
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Borden Co. v. Odham
...particular facts presented pose no substantial basis upon which direct appeal as matter of right will lie to this court. Evans v. Carroll, Fla.1958, 104 So.2d 375; State v. DeMeo, 1955, 20 N.J. 1, 118 A.2d 1, 56 A.L.R.2d 905. These observations as to the general rule may be pertinent in vie......
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North Am. Co. v. Green
...and the power to determine complement each other, to be sure, but the former does not control the latter. As we agreed in Evans v. Carroll, Fla., 104 So.2d 375, 378, the determining factor in passing upon the power to retain and decide an appeal is the substantiality of the question involve......
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Florida Audubon Soc. v. Ratner
...the right to mine limestone under any provision in the easement document purporting to reserve rights to the grantor, cf. Evans v. Carroll, 104 So.2d 375 (Fla.1958) (though trial court did not expressly refer to certain points, decree was a negative disposition of all pertinent questions); ......