Rupert v. Board of Commissioners of Alturas County

• Decision Date: 11 September 1882
• Citation: Rupert v. Board of Commissioners of Alturas County, 2 P. 718, 2 Idaho 19 (Idaho 1882)
• Parties: RUPERT v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF ALTURAS COUNTY
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

2 P. 718

2 Idaho 19

RUPERT v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF ALTURAS COUNTY

Supreme Court of Idaho

September 11, 1882

APPEAL-STATUTORY RIGHT.-The right to appeal, and the manner of perfecting it is wholly dependent upon our territorial statutes.

APPEALABLE JUDGMENT-ORDER OF BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.-No appeal will lie from the judgment of the district court upon an appeal to the district court from an order made by the board of county commissioners determining the result of an election.

SAME-WRIT OF ERROR.-In such case the remedy is not by appeal but by writ of error; and, aided by bills of exceptions, writs of error furnish a complete and perfect means of bringing causes from an inferior court to the appellate court for review, and for the correction of errors.

APPEAL from District Court, Alturas County.The judgment appealed from being nonappealable, the appeal is dismissed.

Appeal dismissed.

J Brumback, for Appellants.

R. Z Johnson and Huston & Gray, for Respondent.

No briefs were filed in this case.

MORGANC. J. Prickett and Buck, JJ., concurred.

OPINION

MORGAN, C. J.

In the matter of the motion to dismiss the appeal taken by the board of county commissioners of Alturas county, Idaho territory, from the judgment of the district court of the second judicial district in and for said county of Alturas, entered in the records of said court on the third day of November, 1881.It appears from the record in this cause that pursuant to law an election was held in Alturas county, for the relocation of the county seat thereof, on the twelfth day of September, A.D. 1881; that on the twenty-second day of September, A.D. 1881, the said board of county commissioners canvassed the votes cast at said election, and duly entered the result thereof in their records on said last-mentioned date; that on the first day of October, A.D. 1881, one Joseph A. Rupert, of said county, took an appeal from the order of said board declaring the result of said canvass to the district court in and for said county; that after hearing said cause final judgment was entered therein, as stated, on the third day of November, 1881.From said judgment the said board of county commissioners attempted to take an appeal to this court under and by virtue of sections 641and642 of the 11th Session Laws of Idaho.The question is can this cause be brought to this court by this method?At common law appeals of this character are unknown.(SeePowell's Appellate Proceedings, p. 104, sec. 6;Wiscart v. Dauchy, 3 U.S. 321, 3 Dall. 321;Curtis' American Conveyancer, sec. 185.)The right to appeal, therefore, and the method of perfecting it is wholly dependent upon the statutes in force in this territory.(See, also, United States v. Gilson, 1 Idaho 364.)Section 1869 of the organic act of this territory states that "writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of the district courts to the supreme court of all the territories, respectively, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law; that is, such regulations as may be prescribed by the laws of the territory."Section 642 of the 11th Session Laws of Idaho distinctly and clearly sets forth what class of cases may be brought to this court by appeal, as follows: An appeal may be taken to the supreme court from a district court(1) from a final judgment in an action or special proceeding commenced in the court in which the same is rendered; (2) from a judgment rendered on an appeal from an inferior court; (3) from an order granting or refusing to grant a new trial, and from various other orders mentioned in said third clause.

Clearly it is not the duty of this court to give the words of a statute any other meaning than is expressed by their legal signification.It is not the duty of this court, nor has it the authority, to give a statute any broader scope than that intended by the legislature.Does this case come within the first clause of said section?Was this an action or special proceeding commenced in the district court?By virtue of section 28, page 690, of the Revised Laws of Idaho, it became the duty of the said board of county commissioners to canvass the votes cast at said election, and declare the result, which they did.From the order declaring this result the first clause of section 25, county commissioners' law (Idaho Revised Laws, 529), gives the right of appeal to the district court.Section 26 gives the method of appeal.Section 28 directs the clerk of the board of...