Snodgrass v. Bd. Of Educ. Of Elizabeth Indep. Dist

• Decision Date: 14 November 1933
• Docket Number: No. 7407.,7407.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: SNODGRASS. v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF ELIZABETH INDEPENDENT DIST. et al.

171 S.E. 742

SNODGRASS.
v.
BOARD OF EDUCATION OF ELIZABETH INDEPENDENT DIST. et al.

No. 7407.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Nov. 14, 1933.

Syllabus by the Court.

Under the provisions of Code, 53-3-3, circuit courts, upon certiorari to inferior tribunals, are authorized to review matters of both law and fact and to dispose of the case "as law and justice may require." When, after judgment on certiorari in the circuit court, a writ of error is prosecuted in this court to that judgment, a decision of the circuit court on the evidence will not be set aside unless it clearly appears to have been wrong.

Error to Circuit Court, Wirt County.

Certiorari proceedings by Osa Snodgrass against the Board of Education of Elizabeth Independent District and others. To review an adverse judgment, the defendants bring error.

Affirmed.

J. H. Smith, of Elizabeth, and A. G. Mathews, of Grantsville, for plaintiffs in error.

J. Raymond Gordon, of Charleston, and Wm. Bruce Hoff, of Parkersburg, for defendant in error.

KENNA, Judge.

On January 19, 1932, charges were preferred against Osa Snodgrass, a teacher in Elizabeth independent district of Wirt county, under the provisions of section 6, article 7, chapter 18 of the Code. The board of education, after a protracted hearing, on February 3, 1932, sustained the charges and immediately dismissed the teacher. On May 7, 1932, the circuit court of Wirt county awarded a writ of certiorari under the provisions of section 2, article 3, of chapter 53 of the Code, and the proceeding was removed to that court. Upon a review by the circuit court of Wirt county, the finding of the board of education was set aside and the teacher ordered to be reinstated.

The function of certiorari has been considerably expanded by the statute, under the terms of which (Code, 53-3-3), it is provided that circuit courts "shall, in addition to determining such questions as might have been determined upon a certiorari as the law heretofore was, review such judgment, order or proceeding, of the county court, council, justice or other inferior tribunal upon the

[171 S.E. 743]

merits, determine all questions arising on the law and evidence, and render such judgment, or make such order upon the whole matter as law and justice may require." This means that the circuit court shall enter such judgment as the inferior court should have entered, not only in consideration of questions of law but of fact as well. Humphreys v. Monroe County Court, 90 W. Va. 315, 110 S. E....