State v. Horne

• Decision Date: 12 October 1923
• Citation: 86 Fla. 309,98 So. 330
• Parties: STATE ex rel. PERRY v. HORNE, Circuit Judge.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

98 So. 330

86 Fla. 309

STATE ex rel. PERRY v. HORNE, Circuit Judge.

Florida Supreme Court

October 12, 1923

Original mandamus proceeding by the State of Florida, on the relation of Mary E. Perry, against Mallory F. Horne, Circuit Judge. Peremptory writ issued.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

Circuit court has jurisdiction in probate matters where county judge is disqualified. Under section 3346, Revised General Statutes of 1920, the judge of the circuit court has jurisdiction in probate matters in cases in which the county judge of the county is disqualified.

Statute giving circuit court jurisdiction in probate matters where county judge is disqualified held not unconstitutional. Rev Gen. St. 1920, § 3346, giving circuit court jurisdiction in probate matters when county judge is disqualified held not violative of Const. art. 5, §§ 11 and 17, as to jurisdiction in probate matters, in view of section 5, since the Constitution does not give county judge exclusive jurisdiction, and section 11 gives circuit court jurisdiction 'of such other matters as the Legislature may provide.'

COUNSEL

J. B. Hodges, R. T. Boozer, and W. H. Boozer, all of Lake City, for relator.

OPINION

WHITFIELD J.

This mandamus proceeding is brought to determine whether a circuit judge has jurisdiction to act in lieu of a disqualified county judge, in requiring executors of the wills of deceased persons to perform their duties as such executors. In this case the circuit judge declined to act in lieu of a disqualified county judge in his circuit, on the ground that the circuit judge----

'had no jurisdiction of said matter on account of the reason that section 3346, Revised General Statutes of Florida 1920, is unconstitutional, and in contravention of sections 11 and 17 of article 5 of the Constitution of the state of Florida.'

The constitutional provisions are as follows:

'The circuit courts shall have exclusive original jurisdiction in all cases in equity, also in all cases at law, not cognizable by inferior courts, and in all cases involving the legality of any tax, assessment, or toll of the action of ejectment and of all actions involving the titles or boundaries of real estate, and all criminal cases not cognizable by inferior courts; and original jurisdiction of actions of forcible entry and unlawful detainer, and of such other matters as the Legislature may provide. They shall have final appellate jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases arising in the county court, or before the county judge, of all misdemeanors tried in criminal courts, of judgments or sentences of any mayor's court, and of all cases arising before justices of the peace in counties in which there is no county court; and supervision and appellate jurisdiction of matters arising before county judges pertaining to their probate jurisdiction, or to the estates and interests of minors, and of such other matters as the Legislature may provide. The circuit courts and judges shall have power to issue writs of mandamus, injunction, quo warranto, certiorari, prohibition, habeas corpus and all writs proper and necessary to the complete exercise of their jurisdiction.' Section 11, art. 5.

'The county judge shall have original jurisdiction in all cases at law in which the demand or value of property involved shall not exceed one hundred dollars; of proceedings relating to the forcible entry or unlawful detention of lands and tenements; and of such criminal cases as the Legislature may prescribe. The county judge shall have jurisdiction of the settlement of the estates of decedents and minors, to order the sale of real estate of decedents and minors, to take probate of wills, to grant letters testamentary

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