State Pub. Utilities Comm'n v. Early
| Decision Date | 11 December 1918 |
| Docket Number | No. 12138.,12138. |
| Citation | 285 Ill. 469,121 N.E. 63 |
| Parties | STATE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION v. EARLY et al. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Original proceedings in mandamus by the State Public Utilities Commission to compel the State Service Commission, Albert D. Early and others, to cancel a certification for appointment as service engineer. On demurrer to petition. Writ awarded.
Albert D. Rodenberg, of Springfield, and Ernst Freund, of Chicago ( , for respondents.
The public utilities commission, upon leave had, filed its original petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the state civil service commission to cancel the certification of the respondent Albert N. Richardson, and immediately thereafter to certify to the petitioner the name and address of the candidate standing highest upon the register of eligibles for the position of service engineer, in accordance with section 10 of the act of May 11, 1905, as subsequently amended, entitled ‘An act to regulate the civil service of the state of Illinois,’ approved May 11, 1905, in force November 1, 1905. Laws 1905, p. 113.
The position of service engineer is included in the classified civil service of the state, and the appointment of such service engineer is authorized to be made by the petitioner subject to the provisions of the above act. Under the provisions of the act the civil service commission held an examination on or about April 7, 1917, open to applicants for the position of service engineer. In advance of such examination the civil service commission formulated a rule, and gave notice thereof, that the examination for service engineer would not be confined to residents of Illinois, but that such examination would be free to all citizens of the United States. It is conceded that this position is a technical one. Albert N. Richardson at that time resided at Kansas City, Mo., and was not, nor did he claim to be, a citizen of the state of Illinois, or to reside therein. He took the examination so advertised and stood sixth on the list of those eligible for appointment to said position. Owing to previous military service during the Spanish-American war he was placed at the head of the list of eligibles to be certified for appointment to said position. On July 2, 1917, he was certified by the civil service commission as an eligible for such appointment. The petitioner refused to accept the certification, and refused to appoint Richardson, on the grounds that at the time he took the civil service examination for such position he was not a citizen or resident of the state of Illinois, but resided at Kansas City, Mo., and that, conceding the position of service engineer is a technical one, the commission is without authority to certify for appointmentany person not a citizen and resident of the state of Illinois. A second written request or requisition for an eligible for appointment to said position having been made on the civil service commission, and by it declined, the petitioner filed the petition herein. The respondents demurred to said petition, and the cause now comes on said petition and demurrer.
The question to be decided is whether or not a person who is not a citizen and resident of the state of Illinois is eligible for examination, certification, and appointment to the position of service engineer under the classified civil service of this state. The decision of this question depends upon the construction to be placed upon that part of section 6 of the foregoing act, as amended by Laws 1911, p. 224, which reads as follows:
‘All applicants for offices or places in said classified service, except those mentioned in section 11 hereof, shall be subjected to examination, which shall be public, competitive and free to all citizens of the state of Illinois who may be lawfully appointed to any office or place in the service of the state of Illinois, with limitations specified in the rules of the commission as to residence, age, sex, health, habits, moral character and qualifications to perform the duties of the office or place to be filled, which qualifications shall be prescribed by rule in advance of such examination: Provided, however, that in examinations for technical positions residence may be waived.’
It is contended by respondents that the provision, ‘Provided, however, that in examinations for technical positions residence may be waived,’ gives to the civil service commission the authority to certify for appointment to such position a person not a citizen or resident of Illinois.
In the construction of statutes courts seek to find and give effect to the intention of the Legislature. A review of the civil service acts passed by the Legislature will afford some evidence of the legislative intent in the act in question. The first Civil Service Act passed by the Legislature of this state was ‘An act to regulate the civil service of cities,’ approved and in force March 20, 1895. Section 6 of that act provides, in part, as follows:
‘All applicants for offices or places in said classified service, except those mentioned in section 11, shall be subjected to examination, which shall be public, competitive and free to all citizens of the United States, with specified limitations as to residence, age, health, habits and moral character.’ Hurd's Stat. 1917, par. 451, p. 476.
The next Civil Service Act was passed in 1895, and was in force July 1 of that year, and related to civil service in counties. It amended section 61 of an act to revise the law in relation to counties, approved March 31, 1874, and is in part as follows:
‘Fifteenth-All applicants for offices or places in said classified service, except those mentioned in the twentieth paragraph of this section, shall be subjected to examination, which shall be public, competitive and free to all citizens of the United States, with specified limitations as to residence, age, health, habits and moral character.’ Hurd's Stat. 1917, p. 800.
The first state civil service law, approved May 11, 1905, in force November 1, 1905, was entitled ‘An act to regulate the civil service of the state of Illinois,’ section 6 of which was in part as follows:
‘All applicants for offices or places in said classified service, except those mentioned in section 11, shall be subjected to examination, which shall be public, competitive and free to all citizens of the state of Illinois, with limitations specified in the rules of the commission as to residence, age, sex, health, habits, and moral character.’ Laws 1905, p. 115.
This section of the act was amended by an act approved June 10, 1911, in force July 1, 1911, and as amended is the section of the act here in question as hereinbefore set out. The Legislature also passed in 1911 an act relating to civil service in park systems, also approved June 10, 1911, in force July 1, 1911, section 6 of which provides as follows:
‘All applicants for offices or places in said classified civil service, except those mentioned in section 11 hereof, shall be subjected to examination, which shall be public, competitive and free to all persons who may be lawfully appointed thereto with limitations specified in the rules of the board as to residence, age, sex, health, habits, moral character and qualifications to perform the duties of the office or place to be filled, which qualifications shall be prescribed in advance of such examination.’ Hurd's Stat. 1917, par. 78, p. 632.
By the city and county acts examinations are open to ‘all citizens of the United States, with specified limitations as to residence,’ etc. Under the state Civil Service Act of 1905, examinations were open ‘to all citizens of the state of Illinois, with limitations specified in the rules of the commission as to residence,’ etc. That act was amended in 1911 by inserting after the words ‘citizens of the state of Illinois,’ the words ‘who may be lawfully appointed to any office or place in the service of the state of Illinois,’ also adding the proviso in question here. It will be also noted that the Park Civil Service Act passed in 1911 opened the examinations ‘to all persons who may be lawfully appointed thereto with limitations specified in the rules of the board as to residence,’ etc. These acts also provided that the commission or board shall make rules to carry out the purpose of the acts and provide for the promulgation of such.
It is apparent that the class of persons to whom the rules of the civil service commission limiting residence could apply, under the act in question, are citizens of the state of Illinois. It is likewise evident that the Legislature did not intend the use of the term ‘residence’ as synonymous with ‘citizenship,’ but did intend to give to the civil service commission power to prescribe the residence of the citizens of the state of Illinois who may take such examinations....
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