Gersch v. City of Chicago
| Decision Date | 20 June 1911 |
| Citation | 95 N.E. 630,250 Ill. 551 |
| Parties | GERSCH v. CITY OF CHICAGO et al. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to Superior Court, Cook County; Charles A. McDonald, Judge.
Mandamus, on petition of Charles H. Gersch, against the City of Chicago and others, to compel the placing of his name on the roster of police patrolmen of the city of Chicago, and on the pay roll, and to certify his name for the payment of salary as such. From a judgment dismissing the petition on demurrer, relator brings error. Affirmed.A. B. Chilcoat, for plaintiff in error.
Edward J. Brundage, Corp. Counsel, and Robert R. Jampolis, for defendant in error.
On February 15, 1911, the plaintiff in error filed a petition in the superior court of Cook county, praying for a writ of mandamus to place his name upon the roster of police patrolmen of the city of Chicago and upon the pay roll and to certify his name for payment of his salary as such police patrolman. A demurrer was sustained to the petition, and, the petitioner having elected to stand by it, the petition was dismissed, at his costs. The petitioner has sued out a writ of error from this court to review the judgment, on the ground that by it his right to share in the police pension fund is abridged, in violation of the fourteenthamendment to the Constitution of the United States and of section 2 of article 2 of the Constitution of this state.
The petition sets out very fully the provisions of the charter of the city of Chicago of 1863 in regard to the police department, the amendment thereof, and a number of ordinances of the city upon the subject of the police; the adoption by the city of the cities and villages act (Hurd's Rev. St. 1905, c. 24) on April 23, 1875; the passage on June 28, 1875, of an ordinance for the reorganization of the police department, and on April 13, 1881, of another ordinance on that subject; the adoption on March 25, 1895, of the city civil service act by the voters of the city and its going into effect on July 1, 1895 (Hurd's Rev. St. 1905, c. 24a). All these facts are alleged as they appeared in the case of Bullis v. City of Chicago, 235 Ill. 472, 85 N. E. 614. The petition also alleges the appointment of a board of civil service commissioners, and their adoption of rules and classification of the offices and places of employment in the city. It is then alleged that Charles H. Gersch, the plaintiff in error, was appointed to the office of police patrolman on August 17, 1876, by the general superintendent of police, took the oath of office, entered upon the performance of his duties, and continued therein nutil wrongfully discharged; that he continued in office and was recognized as police patrolman by the mayors, superintendents of police, and city councils, and no successor was appointed for him, but money was appropriated for his salary,...
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...N. E. 574. If there is a defect in the law, it is the province of the Legislature, and not the court, to correct it. Gersch v. City of Chicago, 250 Ill. 551, 95 N. E. 630. The court has never attempted to exercise any compulsory power over the legislative department. The Constitution enjoin......
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