Blake v. Walker

Citations

• 23 S.C. 517
• 1885 S.C. LEXIS 130

Syllabus

<p>1. The City Council of Spartanburg, as a municipal corporation, has no powers except such as are conferred by its charter in express terms, or such as are necessary to carry out the powers granted, excepting (if, indeed, it he an exception) the inherent power in all elective bodies of judging of the qualification and election of their members.</p> <p>2. Under the local option law (Gen. Stat., § 1753), all elections are to he conducted according to the law governing municipal elections in the town or city where held; and under the charter of the city of Spartan-burg (17 Stat., 435, $ 5), the managers are to count the votes and declare the election, such managers to he appointed by the council “to conduct the election.” Therefore, the declaration by the managers of the result of a local option election could not he reviewed by the City Council.</p> <p>3. The act of 1868 (14 Stat., 108), authorizing an ultimate decision of municipal elections by boards of aldermen, cannot apply here, as there was no contest before the managersand that act having been dropped from the General Statutes of 1872, is not now law.</p> <p>4. The council here were required to act upon the declaration of the result by the managers, and not upon the determination by the council of how the majority voted.</p> <p>5. The conduct of an election does not literally include a declaration of the result, but the word, “conducted” in the local option law had a wider meaning, and in its application to the city of Spartanburg was intended to embrace also a declaration of the result.</p>