Peabody v. The School Committee of the City of Boston

• Decision Date: 29 June 1874
• Citation: 115 Mass. 383
• Parties: Lucia M. Peabody v. The School Committee of the City of Boston
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

115 Mass. 383

Lucia M. Peabody v. The School Committee of the City of Boston

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

June 29, 1874

Suffolk.

Petition dismissed.

G. S Hale & T. W. Clarke, for the petitioner, in support of the jurisdiction, cited Conlin v. Aldrich, 98 Mass 557; State v. Wilmington, 3 Harring. (Del.) 294 299, 309; State v. Fitzgerald, 44 Mo. 425; State v. Funck, 17 Iowa 365; Ex parte Heath, 3 Hill 42, 52; Rex v. Askew, 4 Bur. 2186-2188; Rex v. Mayor &c. of London, 9 B. & C. 1, 26, 27; Attorney General v. Poole, 4 Myl. & Cr. 17; Parr v. Attorney General, 8 Cl. & Fin. 409; 1 Dillon on Munic. Corp. §§ 141 & seq.; 2 Ib. §§ 665-667.

J. P. Healy, for the respondents, upon the same point, cited Howard v. Page, 6 Mass. 462; Strong, petitioner, 20 Pick. 484; Carpenter v. County Commissioners, 21 Pick. 258.

OPINION

Gray, C. J.

The petitioner having been chosen by the legal voters of one of the wards of the city of Boston, at the annual municipal election in December last, a member of the school committee of the city; and it having been declared by vote and resolution of a majority of the school committee, at a meeting duly held, that she had not been legally elected, that she was legally disqualified, and that her seat was vacant, for the sole reason (as appears by the record of the school committee, as well as by the statement of facts agreed, upon which the case has been submitted by the counsel of the petitioner, and by the city solicitor in behalf of the school committee, to the decision of the court) that she is a woman; she has applied for a writ of mandamus to compel the school committee to admit her to her rights as a member thereof.

Both parties have manifested a desire to obtain the opinion of this court upon the question whether under the laws of the Commonwealth a woman can be a member of a school committee, and have agreed that according to such opinion a peremptory writ of mandamus shall issue, or the petition be dismissed; and the learned counsel on either side have concurred in contending that the court has jurisdiction of the question in this form of proceeding.

But neither the agreement of parties nor the opinion of counsel can justify the court in rendering a judgment, unless it is satisfied that it has been vested by the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth with jurisdiction over the subject matter to be determined. It is the duty of the court therefore, in the first place, to consider whether the case stated by the parties is within its jurisdiction. This question is an important one, and has, with the assent of the counsel and the aid of their learned briefs, been considered by all the members of the court, including Justices Ames and Endicott, who did not hear the oral argument at the bar.

The question of jurisdiction depends upon the construction and effect of that section of the revised charter of the city of Boston, which provides that "the board of aldermen, the common council, and the school committee, shall have authority to decide upon all questions relative to the qualifications, elections and returns of their respective members." St. 1854, c. 448, § 24.

To assist us in the interpretation of this provision, we naturally turn to instances of the use of like words, which may be assumed to have been in the mind of the legislature when they framed it.

The Constitution of the Commonwealth declares that "the Senate shall be the final judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of their own members, as pointed out in the Constitution;" and that "the House of Representatives shall be the judge of the returns, elections and qualifications of its own members, as pointed out in the Constitution." Const. Mass. c. 1, § 2, art. 4, § 3, art. 10. It cannot be doubted that either branch of the legislature is thus made the final and exclusive judge of all questions whether of law or of fact, respecting such elections, returns or qualifications, so far as they are involved in the determination of the right of any person to be a member thereof; and that while the Constitution, so far as it contains any provisions which are applicable, is to be the guide, the decision of either house upon the question whether any person is or is not entitled to a seat therein cannot be disputed or revised by any court or authority whatever. Coffin v. Coffin, 4 Mass. 1, 34, 35. Mass. Election Cases, (ed. 1853,) 8, 10, 28, 30. 1 Kent Com. (12th ed.) 235. The only form in which the justices of this court can properly express any opinion upon that subject is under that clause of the Constitution which authorizes each branch of the legislature, as well as the governor and council, to require it upon important questions of law and on solemn occasions. Const. Mass. c. 3, art. 2. Opinion of Justices, 10 Gray 613.

The Constitution also authorizes the general court "to name and settle annually or provide by fixed laws for the naming and settling all civil officers within the said Commonwealth, the election and constitution of whom are not hereafter in this form of government otherwise provided for." Const. Mass. c. 1, § 1, art. 4. As school committees are not named or provided for in the Constitution, the mode in which they shall be elected or appointed, and the results of such election or appointment ascertained and determined, is thus intrusted to the discretion of the legislature.

The original Constitution of Massachusetts contained no provision authorizing the general court to establish cities. But the increase of population, especially in the town of Boston made it so inconvenient to regulate municipal affairs in the primary meetings of the inhabitants, that by an amendment of the Constitution in 1820 the general court was expressly authorized to erect and constitute municipal or city governments in any town containing twelve thousand inhabitants. Const. Mass. amendment 2. The same causes thus induced the establishment of organized local governments by delegates chosen by the people, in the more populous municipalities of the Commonwealth, that nearly two centuries before had brought about the election of representatives to the general court,...