Marion Cnty. v. Grundy Cnty.
| Decision Date | 30 September 1858 |
| Citation | 37 Tenn. 490 |
| Parties | MARION COUNTY v. GRUNDY COUNTY. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
FROM MARION.
This bill was filed in chancery, at Jasper, for the purposes stated in the opinion. At the September Term, 1858, Chancellor Van Dyke gave a decree for defendant, dismissing the bill. The complainant appealed.
Frazier and Hyde, and Welcker and Key, for the complainant; J. A. Minnis, for the defendant.
The Legislature, on 27th February, 1856, passed an act, by which a portion of the county of Marion was attached to the county of Grundy. This bill was filed by Marion, to have her territory restored, upon the ground that the said act was unconstitutional.
By the constitution, article 10, sec. 4, the last clause, the county of Marion “shall not be reduced below 1,000 qualified voters” in forming any new county. And, by a previous general clause, including Marion, no old county, “shall be reduced to less than 625 square miles.” The bill alleges that the constitution has been violated by the act in question, in respect to population as well as territory.
It appears that by an act of the same session, passed two days before, ch. 162, sec. 3, the first and second civil districts of Marion were attached to Hamilton, but this was not to take effect until the 21st September, 1857.
The proof shows, that without the two districts annexed to Hamilton, and the fraction attached to Grundy, the area of Marion would only be 492 1/2 square miles, and the number of qualified voters 870, including those in the part attached to Grundy. It is left to be inferred from the proof, and we suppose the fact to be so, that if the two districts were not detached from Hamilton, then both the territory and population of Marion would be sufficient to save the act in question from constitutional objection. So the case must turn upon the question, whether, at the time the act complained of was passed, the first and second districts constituted a part of Marion? Two days before, they had been stricken off, and attached to Hamilton, so far as the Legislature had power to do it. But it is said, that it was not to take effect until the next September. What of that? The deed was done, and no conditions affixed. The territory and population were transferred, and nothing remained to be done by any power--nothing but the lapse of seven months was required to consummate the deed. It must be regarded, then, that the...
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