Honey v. Graham

Citations

• 39 Tex. 1

Syllabus

<p>I. A proclamation by the Governor that the State Treasurer elect had absented himself from the limits of the State—not on public business and without leave of absence—leaving no bonded or responsible clerk, but leaving a man acting as such who, when called on to give the bond required by law, was unable to do so ; held, not sufficient to authorize the courts to infer an abandonment of the office.</p> <p>8. The right to hold and exercise the functions of an office to which one is elected by the people, is regarded both as property and privilege, and the incumbent can only be deprived of his office in the manner pointed out in the 16th Section of the 1st Article of the Constitution.</p> <p>3. Though the Governor may assume the existence of a vacancy in such an office, no case can occur wherein he will be authorized to adjudge the office forfeited.</p> <p>4. The right of trial by jury exists in every case where it is charged that an office has been forfeited, and no emergency can arise which will deprive the claimant of this right, or which will authorize the Govenor in assuming judicial functions which do not constitutionally belong to him.</p> <p>5. The power of the Governor to create a vacancy in an office exists only where the office is filled by the Governor’s appointment, without concurrence by the Senate or election by the people, and the term of office is undefined by law.</p> <p>6. The right to an elective office may be lost by nonuser or misuser, though a party continue to assert it, but the determination of the question whether it be lost or not is for the judiciary and not the executive.</p>