State v. Maloney

• Decision Date: 09 November 1892
• Citation: 20 S.W. 419,92 Tenn. 62
• Parties: State ex rel. Rambo v. Maloney.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

20 S.W. 419

92 Tenn. 62

State ex rel. Rambo v. Maloney.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

November 9, 1892

Appeal from chancery court, Knox county; Henry R. Gibson Chancellor.

Special proceeding by the state on the relation of T. A. Rambo against G. L. Maloney to determine the title of relator and defendant to the office of county judge of Knox county. From a judgment and decree declaring the defendant to be entitled to hold such office for a term of eight years from September 1, 1888, relator appeals. Modified.

Caldwell J.

This case involves the title to the office of county judge of Knox county. It is an "agreed case," submitted to the chancery court upon the following written stipulation "The aforesaid parties, stated as complainant and respondent in the caption hereof, beg leave to submit to your honor's adjudication an agreed case upon the following state of facts, which they aver are real facts, and that the matters in controversy between them constitute a real controversy, to wit: The defendant, George L. Maloney, at the regular August elections of the county of Knox in the year 1888, was elected county judge of Knox county under the act of the legislature of 1887, (chapter 148, p. 258,) and was duly commissioned and qualified under the provisions of said act to fill said office of county judge of Knox county agreeably to the constitution and laws during the term, with all the powers, privileges, and emoluments thereunto appertaining by law, and for the term of four years from that time has occupied said office. At the regular August elections for said county in the present year-1892-the relator, T. A. Rambo, offered himself as a candidate for said office, had no opposition, and received all the votes cast in said election for said office, and was declared by the officer holding said election duly elected thereto, and in pursuance thereof received his commission from the governor and has qualified as such judge under said statute; and on the first Monday in September after said election, and after his commission and qualification as aforesaid, he applied to the defendant, Geo. L. Maloney, to be inducted into said office, and demanded of him the books, records, and papers of said office, which demand the said Geo. L. Maloney refused, and he continues to hold said office and the possession of said books, records, and papers, insisting that he is entitled to hold said office under his said election and under the constitution of the state for a term of eight years from the date thereof, or of four years from the first Monday of September, 1892. During his occupancy of said office the said Maloney has performed the duties imposed upon him as such county judge by the act above referred to, and has received the salary therein provided and allowed; the same having been paid by said county, as directed by said statute. In addition thereto the said Maloney has acted as a turnpike commissioner for Knox county, under the provision of section 1491 of Milliken and Vertrees' Code of Tennessee, and subsequent sections, and for such services has received from said county, in addition to the salary above named as county judge, a salary of $100 for the term of one year, and $150 per annum for two years. He has likewise during his term of office as such county judge been acting as one of the board of commissioners of the workhouse of Knox county, under the Acts of 1891, (chapter 123,) and for such services has received from the county trustee of said county, in addition to the salaries above mentioned, the sum of $50. Since he has been acting as such county judge he has investigated the accounts of former trustees of Knox county, and discovered a default of two of said trustees, or a discrepancy in their settlements, upon which there was found due to said county the sum of about $33,000, which has been partly recovered and paid into the county treasury, and the rest secured. For his services in this regard he was allowed and paid by the county court, in addition to all sums hereinbefore mentioned, the sum of $600, which was the amount of the commission that said trustees would have received had they settled without defalcation. During his said term of office he also acted under appointment of said county court as a commissioner, or a member of a building committee, to build a new jail for said county, for which service he was paid by said county the sum of $250. Also during his said term of office, and before the passage of the workhouse act of 1891, (chapter 123,) he acted as a member of a committee appointed by said court to superintend the workhouse of said county, for which service he was paid by said county $300 for two years' service. Upon these facts, the parties to this agreed case pray your honor to adjudge whether the said Geo. L. Maloney is entitled to retain and hold said office for the full term of eight years from the date of his said election, as he now contends, or until the next regular election for judicial officers of the state of Tennessee, two years hence, or for any time beyond the 1st day of September, 1892, and the commissioning and qualification of his successor; and, if not, that your honor adjudge his removal from office, and that the relator herein be inducted into said office as his duly-qualified successor thereto. And also that your honor will adjudge all questions of law legitimately arising out of the facts of this case as hereinbefore stated, and grant all such relief to the plaintiff and relator herein as he shall be justly entitled to in your honor's court upon the facts of this case." Upon the foregoing facts the court adjudged and decreed that "the respondent, G. L. Maloney, is entitled to hold the office of county judge of Knox county for the constitutional term of eight years from the date of his commission, and that the application of the relator to be inducted into said office must be denied." From that decree the relator has appealed.

Generally the counties of this state have no county judges. Where they exist it is by virtue of special statutes. The office of county judge of Knox county was created by chapter 148 of the Acts of 1887. By the first section of the act the term of the office was expressly limited to four years. If that...