Walsh v. Town Council of Town of Johnston
| Decision Date | 07 December 1892 |
| Citation | 25 A. 849,18 R.I. 88 |
| Parties | WALSH v. TOWN COUNCIL OF TOWN OF JOHNSTON. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
John Walsh was removed by the town council of the town of Johnston from the office of commissioner of highways. He appeals, and the town council now moves to dismiss the appeal. Motion granted.
Benjamin M. Bosworth, for appellant.
Herbert B. Wood and William Fitch, for appellee.
The appellant in this case claims an appeal from an order or decree of the town council of the town of Johnston, entered September 13, 1892, removing him from the office of commissioner of highways of said town, under the provisions of Pub. St. R. I. c. 38. § 12. Said section is as follows: "In case of the incapacity of any surveyor of highways, or of any tyrannical and unwarrantable exercise by him of the powers of his office, the town council may, after giving him such notice as they may deem reasonable, either suspend or altogether remove him from his office, and appoint another in his place." The case is before us upon the appellee's motion to dismiss the appeal, upon the ground that no appeal lies from the said order or decree of said town council, and hence that this court has no jurisdiction in the premises.
The appellant claims that the right of appeal is given to him by the provisions of section 35 of said chapter, which is as follows: "Any person aggrieved by the judgment or decree of a town council may appeal within forty days after the entering up of such judgment or decree, and not thereafter, unless the time of taking such appeal id otherwise provided for by law." The only question before us for decision, therefore, is whether said last-named section gives a right of appeal from the doings of the defendant to an council in the premises. We do not think it does; for while said section, if considered by itself, seems to confer the right of appeal from any Judgment or decree of a town council by which any person may be aggrieved, yet, when taken, as it must be, in construing the same, in connection with what precedes it in the same chapter, and also with the other and more specific provisions of the statutes relating to appeals from the doings of town councils, it is evident that it was not intended to confer the right of appeal, but merely to fix a limitation of time within which such right, which is elsewhere specifically given, could be exercised. In short, we think said section 35 amounts simply to a general limitation of the time within which an appeal maybe taken from the appealable doings of a town council. So that in all cases where a right of appeal is conferred, and no special time is given within which it may be exercised, the limitation here fixed controls. This construction is further manifest from the fact that the section of the statute tow under consideration, while perhaps seeming to give a right of appeal, does not designate the court to which such appeal must be...
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...Council of Portsmouth, 84 R.I. 503, 125 A.2d 150 (1956); Aldee Corp. v. Flynn, 72 R.I. 199, 49 A.2d 469 (1946); Walsh v. Town Council of Johnston, 18 R.I. 88, 25 A. 849 (1892). The petitioner therefore contends that certiorari is the only remedy available to obtain review of the decision de......
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Aldee Corp.. v. Flynn
...fix a limitation of time within which such right, which is elsewhere specifically given, could be exercised.’ Walsh v. Town Council of Johnston, 18 R.I. 88, 89, 25 A. 849, 850. In the course of its opinion, however, the court adverted to the fact that the section did not designate the court......
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Pawcatuck Val. St. Ry. Co. v. Town Council of Westerly
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Order of St. Benedict in Portsmouth v. Town Council of Town of Portsmouth, 9676
...been in our statutes since 1867, but sec. 52 was not added to chap. 333 until the enactment of P.L.1950, chap. 2525. In Walsh v. Town Council 1892, 18 R.I. 88, 25 A. 849, which involved an appeal of a highway commissioner, the court at page 89 of 18 R.I., at page 850 of 25 A. held that the ......