Taggart v. James

• Decision Date: 11 January 1889
• Citation: 73 Mich. 234,41 N.W. 262
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Parties: TAGGART, ATTORNEY GENERAL, EX REL. JACKSON v. JAMES.

41 N.W. 262

73 Mich. 234

TAGGART, ATTORNEY GENERAL, EX REL. JACKSON v. JAMES.

Supreme Court of Michigan

January 11, 1889

Quo warranto.

SHERWOOD C.J.

The information in this case is filed by the attorney general to ascertain by what authority the respondent holds and exercises the office of superintendent of the poor for the county of Wayne. The information charges that the respondent does hold, use, and exercise said office, and has done so for six months last past, without any legal election, appointment, warrant, or authority whatsoever, and has usurped, intruded into, and exercised the said office and still does so usurp and intrude into and unlawfully exercise the same, in contempt of the people of the state and to their damage and prejudice. The petition is filed upon the relation of Thomas Jackson, who is a resident freeholder and tax-payer in the said county. Respondent demurred to the information, and assigns as grounds therefor the following "(1) There is no such office as 'superintendent of the poor for the county of Wayne,' a single superintendent of the poor having no official power or function or authority whatever. (2) There are three superintendents of the poor within and for the county of Wayne, who are appointed by the board of county auditors, and whose official terms respectively expire on the 31st day of December, 1888, the 31st day of December, 1889, and the 31st day of December, 1890; and the said information does not indicate which one of said offices this defendant has usurped, intruded into, and unlawfully holds and exercises. (3) The said information does not allege which office of superintendent of the poor of the county of Wayne this defendant has usurped, intruded into, and unlawfully holds and exercises. (4) The said information does not allege that this defendant has exercised, and is still exercising, the powers or functions, or performing the duties, of an office that has no legal existence, but simply alleges the usurpation of one of the number of legally existing offices, without indicating which one. (5) It does not appear that the relator, Thomas Jackson, has any interest in the matters alleged, and the information is improperly filed on his relation in a case where the attorney general should prosecute on his way relation or not at all."

We think the information is properly filed by the attorney general, and in his name, and the prosecution is, in fact, in...