State v. Blease
| Decision Date | 11 December 1913 |
| Citation | 80 S.E. 263 |
| Parties | STATE EX REL. MEETZ ET AL. v. BLEASE, GOVERNOR. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Petition for mandamus by the State, on relation of L. L. Meetz and others, against Cole L. Blease, as Governor of the state, to compel him to call an election to determine whether certain territory belonging to Lexington county shall be detached and joined to Richland county. Refused.
The following are the petition and exhibits:
The petition of the above-named relators respectfully shows:
I. That all of the above-named relators are now and were at the times hereinafter mentioned, qualified electors and taxpayers of the county of Lexington in the state aforesaid and that they all now reside, and at the times hereinafter mentioned did reside in that portion of the said county proposed to be cut off to be annexed to Richland county, as hereinafter set forth, or are taxpayers in said county of Lexington.
II. That on the 18th day of March, 1910, the electors in the section of the said county known as New Brookland section assembled in convention pursuant to call, and after discussions, by resolution, appointed a committee to pursue the scheme of annexation of certain territory thereabout to the county of Richland, and that thereafter, to wit, on the 8th day of August, 1910, relators with others, in accordance with the resolution of said commlittee, constituting one-third of the qualified electors within the area of the section of the said county proposed to be cut off and annexed to Richland county, presented to and filed with his excellency, Governor M. F. Ansel, a duly verified petition for the said annexation, setting forth the boundaries and showing compliance with article 8 of the Constitution of the state, and filed therewith a plat showing the area and the metes and bounds of the territory proposed to be cut off and annexed to Richland county. Said petition (copy hereto attached, Marked 'Exhibit A') and a copy of said plat being now on file in the Governor's office, to which reference is prayed.
III. That thereupon the then Governor M. F. Ansel, finding that one-third of the qualified electors in the said territory had signed the said petition, proceeded to appoint a commission consisting of four persons, to wit, W. H. Townsend, W. P Roof, A. G. Geiger, and P.J. Wessinger, under the provisions of an act of the General Assembly approved the 21st day of February, 1905, Stats. at Large, vol. 24, p. 915, for investigating as to whether the requirements of the Constitution as to area, wealth, population necessary to be left in the county of Lexington after the said territory shall have been cut off, as set forth in the petition, will be met, and also as to the distance of the lines from said courthouse.
IV. That each of the said commissioners thereafter duly qualified and received his commission from his excellency, the then Governor, M. F. Ansel, and that thereafter the said commission duly organized by the election of W. H. Townsend as chairman, and notified Governor Ansel thereof.
V. That the said commission proceeded in the discharge of its duties under the terms of the act, and after full investigation found that the requirements of the Constitution and laws made and provided in such cases had been fully met, and they so reported to his excellency, Governor Cole L. Blease, the successor in office of the said M. F. Ansel, as Governor of the State of South Carolina, and the respondent herein, a copy of which is appended hereto as Exhibit B.
VI. That the said commission included in the said report the statement that they had not sufficient evidence before them to show that one-third the qualified electors residing in the territory proposed to be cut off had signed the petition for the said annexation, as required under the Constitution, and they recommended in the report on that account only that the petition be dismissed, which was accordingly done by his excellency, Governor Cole L. Blease, by his writing upon the said report, which dismissal is shown on the said report attached hereto as Exhibit B.
VII. That at the time of making their said report to Governor Blease the said commission had before them the return of the canvassers which secured the signatures to the said petition which showed that they had in fact secured the necessary one-third of the qualified electors residing in the said territory to the said petition; the said return being supported by a proper affidavit.
The said commission had also before them the sworn testimony of two of the said canvassers, namely A. R. Taylor and O. M Horlbeck, which were examined under oath by the said commission, to the effect that they had found in the canvass that one-third of the qualified electors residing in the said territory had signed the said petition, which evidence, we submit, was sufficient to warrant a favorable report upon that point by the commission and to warrant his excellency in ordering the election upon the question of the said annexation prayed for in the said petition.
VIII. The relators respectfully show that when the petition was filed with his excellency, Governor Ansel, it became his duty to examine it to find whether it showed compliance with the said article of the Constitution as to the requisite number of signatures to the said petition; that the determination of the 'prima facie,' sufficiency of the petition in this respect was a necessary prerequisite to the appointment of the said commission, and that by the appointment of the said commission, Governor Ansel necessarily passed upon this question, of which he was the exclusive judge, and determined that the constitutional requirements in this case had been fully met.
IX. That by said act and determination the exercise of the executive discretion as to the 'prima facie' sufficiency of the petition, and its compliance with the requirements of the Constitution, was exhausted, such decision thereon being conclusive, and rendering the matter involved in question 'res adjudicata'; and the duty of his excellency, the Governor, to order the election upon the filing of the said report was purely a ministerial duty involving no further exercise of the executive discretion.
X. That the sole duty of his excellency, Gov. Blease, now devolving upon him is the ministerial one of ordering the election in the said territory upon the question of the annexation thereof to the county of Richland.
XI. That the said act of his excellency, the Governor, in dismissing the petition upon the grounds stated in his said order above mentioned is illegal, null, and void.
XII. That the qualified electors and taxpayers within the limits of the said proposed cut-off, your relators, have a legal right to have the said election held upon the question of said annexation as set forth, for the protection and enjoyment of which right the discharge of the said duty by his excellency, Gov. Blease, is necessary.
XIII. Your relators show that the original movement for annexation was based upon the demand...
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