State ex rel. Olson v. Scott

• Decision Date: 13 October 1908
• Docket Number: 16,018 - (254)
• Citation: 117 N.W. 845,105 Minn. 513
• Parties: STATE ex rel. C. O. ALEXIUS OLSON v. HUGH R. SCOTT and Others
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

117 N.W. 845

105 Minn. 513

STATE ex rel. C. O. ALEXIUS OLSON v. HUGH R. SCOTT and Others

Nos. 16,018 - (254)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

October 13, 1908

Rehearing on October 16, 1908, Reported at 105 Minn. 513 at 515.

Petition by a qualified elector within the Forty-Fourth election district, who received at the primary elections the third highest number of votes cast for candidates for election as representatives from that district, for an order directing the auditor of Hennepin county not to print the name of Alex McNeil, who at the same election received the second highest number of votes cast, upon the official ballot to be used at the general election on November 3, 1908, on the ground that McNeil was disqualified for and ineligible to the office because he was a representative from that district and a member of the legislature at the session of 1907, which passed an act increasing the compensation of senators and representatives.

An order to show cause having been made, the respondents answered and asserted that the relator was not authorized by law to maintain the proceeding and that the question of general ineligibility of candidates can be raised only by and in behalf of the state, and no action can be taken by, or on relation of, any individual except by permission of the court, after refusal of the attorney general to act. Order to show cause discharged.

SYLLABUS

Name on Official Ballot.

A proceeding by petition and order to show cause, under section 202, R.L. 1905, is the proper proceeding to test the question whether members of the legislature which enacts a law increasing the compensation of senators and representatives are disqualified from becoming candidates for such office for the ensuing term.

Compensation of Members of Legislature.

Under section 7, art. 4, of the constitution: "The compensation of senators and representatives shall be three dollars per diem during the first session, but may afterwards be prescribed by law. But no increase of compensation shall be prescribed which shall take effect during the period for which the members of the existing house of representatives may have been elected" the legislature may, at any session, increase the compensation of its members, to take effect at the next ensuing term.

Increase of Compensation.

Section 9, art. 4, providing: "No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he is elected, hold any office...