State v. Bridges
| Decision Date | 25 March 1908 |
| Citation | 94 P. 1065,20 Okla. 533,1908 OK 45 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. KLINE v. BRIDGES. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
Section 10 of the Schedule to the Constitution makes those who were officers of municipal corporations in the Indian Territory at the time of the admission of the state the officers of said municipal corporations after the admission of the state.
The present officers of municipal corporations in that part of the state formerly Indian Territory hold their respective offices and discharge the duties thereof, not by virtue of an election or appointment under any law in force in the Indian Territory prior to the admission of the state, but by virtue of section 10 of the Schedule to the Constitution.
By the provisions of section 10 of the Schedule to the Constitution and the laws governing municipal corporations extended in force in the state the successors of those officers in cities of the first class who are voted for by the entire city will be elected on the first Tuesday in April, 1909.
Under section 10 of the Schedule to the Constitution the Legislature has power to provide for the election, at a date earlier or later than is provided by the laws extended in force in the state, of the successors of those who were made officers, after the admission of the state, of the municipal corporations whose existence was continued by said section.
The act of the Legislature entitled "An act amending sections 1, 5, 6 of article 1, chapter 14, of an act providing for the incorporation and government of cities of the first class, of the Statutes of Oklahoma of 1893, amending section 1 of article 1 of chapter 6 of the Session Laws of Oklahoma of 1897, entitled 'An act amending sections 7 and 8 of article 1, chapter 14, of an act entitled "An act providing for the incorporation and government of cities of the first class," Statutes of Oklahoma, 1893,' providing for the incorporation and government of cities of the first class, and declaring an emergency," approved February 20, 1908, does not change the time of election of the successors of officers of cities of the first class in the Indian Territory part of the state from the time at which the election of such successors will occur under the provisions of section 10 of the Schedule and the laws extended in force in the state.
Application by the state, on the relation of Adam Kline, for writ of mandamus to Burril B. Bridges, mayor of the city of Chickasha. Writ denied.
E Hamilton, for relator.
Lawrence Mills, for respondent.
Adam Kline, relator, filed his original petition in this court against Burril B. Bridges, mayor of the city of Chickasha respondent, and alleges: That he is a resident and duly qualified elector of the city of Chickasha, and that said city is a municipal corporation organized under the laws in force in the Indian Territory, and exists and continues under the laws of the state, and that respondent, Burril B Bridges, is the mayor of said corporation, authorized and required by law to give notice of, and issue the call for the election by the qualified voters thereof of officers of said corporation. That on the 3d day of April, 1906, at an election held in said city of Chickasha, the following persons were elected to serve two years, to wit: Lawrence Mills, city attorney; A. B. Thompson, city assessor; J. B. Burton, Clay Donovan, O. Coffman, and H. C. McKay as members of the city council, and that said persons, on the 9th day of April, 1906, duly qualified as by law required. That on the 2d day of April, 1907, at an election held in the city of Chickasha, the following persons were elected to serve two years: Burril B. Bridges, mayor; J. H. Miller, chief of police; R. C. Parsons, J. A. Temple, J. A. Darnell, and C. E. Riggins, members of the city council, who, on the 8th day of April, 1907, duly qualified as required by law, and that on said last-mentioned date Joe Dews was appointed and qualified as city clerk of said corporation, to serve for a period of one year. That on the 8th day of October, 1907, J. H. Miller, then chief of police of said city of Chickasha, tendered his resignation as chief of police of said city, which resignation was accepted by the council, to take effect on the 1st day of the following November, on which date Emmett Goodwin, who had been previously appointed by the city council to fill the vacancy so created by the resignation of the said J. H. Miller as chief of police, duly qualified as chief of police of the said city of Chickasha as required by law.
Relator further pleads the statutes of Arkansas placed in force in the Indian Territory by an act of Congress, providing for the filling of vacancies in offices of cities of the first class by the city council, by which law it is provided that any person appointed to fill a vacancy in any office of the city shall serve until the next annual election after his appointment, at which time his successor shall be elected; that by reason of such law the term of Emmett Goodwin, as chief of police of the city of Chickasha, will expire on the 7th day of April, 1908; that under the laws in force in the Indian Territory prior to the admission of the state into the Union the terms of office of the said Lawrence Mills, as city attorney, A. B. Thompson, as city assessor, J. B. Burton, Clay Donovan, O. Coffman, and H. C. McKay, as members of the city council, and Joe Dews, as city clerk, will expire on the 7th day of April, 1908, or as soon thereafter as their successors, to be elected at the annual election on said day, shall qualify.
He further alleges that on the 14th day of March, 1908, the respondent, Burril B. Bridges, as mayor of the city of Chickasha, issued a notice and call for an election by the qualified voters of the city of Chickasha, calling an election for the election of members of the city council from each of the wards of said city to take the places of the said J. B. Burton, Clay Donovan, O. Coffman, and H. C. McKay, and for the necessary officers for the school district of the city of Chickasha township, but that respondent failed to issue any notice of or call for an election of a city attorney, city marshal or chief of police, city assessor or city clerk, and that the respondent refuses to issue any call or publish any notice of an election on said date for the election of said officers.
Relator prays for a writ of mandamus commanding the respondent to either insert in his said notice of a call for an election by the qualified voters of the city of Chickasha, already published as aforesaid, a call for an election by the qualified voters of said city of a city attorney, city clerk, tax assessor, and city marshal and chief of police, or that he be required to issue a supplemental call and notice for the election of said officers.
Respondent appears by attorney, and waives the issuance of the alternative writ, and agrees that the case may be submitted upon relator's petition.
The city of Chickasha as a municipal corporation, under the laws in force in the Indian Territory prior to the admission of the state into the Union, was a city of the first class, and under said laws the term of office of Lawrence Mills as city attorney, A. B. Thompson as city assessor, and J. B. Burton, Clay Donovan, O. Coffman and H. C. McKay as members of the city council, all of whom were elected by the qualified voters of said city at an election held on the 3d day of April, 1906, would expire on the 7th day of April, 1908, and the term of office of Joe Dews as city clerk, who was appointed by the city council to serve for a period of one year, and of Emmett Goodwin, who was appointed by the city council to fill the unexpired term of J. H. Miller, who resigned, would expire on said date.
It is the contention of relator that the term of office of said officers is still regulated and controlled by the laws in force in the Indian Territory prior to the admission of the state into the Union, and that the successors of said officers should be voted for at a city election to be called for and held on the 7th day of April, 1908.
Section 10 of the Schedule to the Constitution of Oklahoma (section 459, Bunn's Constitution of Oklahoma) reads as follows: "Until otherwise provided by law, incorporated cities and towns, heretofore incorporated under the laws in force in the territory of Oklahoma or in the Indian Territory, shall continue their corporate existence under the laws extended in force in the state, and all officers of such municipal corporations at the time of the admission of the state into the Union shall perform the duties of their respective offices under the laws extended in force in the state, until their successors are elected and qualified in the manner that is or may be provided by law: Provided, that all valid ordinances now in force in such incorporated cities and towns shall continue in force until altered, amended, or repealed."
We shall consider first the meaning of this section and the effect of the provisions thereof upon cities of the first class existing in the Indian Territory at the time of the admission of the state into the Union and upon the terms of the officers of such cities, and then shall consider whether said section is in conflict with, or is modified by, other sections of the Constitution, and whether this section of the schedule or any of the provisions thereof have been affected by the provisions of an act of the Legislature entitled "An act amending sections 1, 5, 6, of article 1, chapter 14, of an act providing for the incorporation and government of cities of the first class, of the Statutes of Oklahoma of 1893, amending section 1 of article 1 of chapter 6 of the Session Laws of Oklahoma of 1897, entitled ...
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