Mayor of Vicksburg v. Rainwater

Citations

• 52 Miss. 718

Syllabus

<p>1. Police Porge: Employment thereof. City charter. Construction thereof. Casa in judgment.</p> <p>By tlie amended charter of the city of Vicksburg the board of mayor and aider-men may provide, by ordinance, for a competent police force, who shall be under the superintendence of the city marshal. “ They shall be appointed by the mayor, by and with the advice and consent of the said board.” B. was appointed and confirmed as a policeman; no term of employment was ■specified; he served one month, and the city marshal assumed to discharge him. He continued to offer his services for and during the next three months, when the board met and ratified the act of the marshal. Held, that if the policemen are to be regarded as city office holders the marshal cannot remove them. If they are to be regarded as mere employés, working under a contract, there is no power in that officer to annul a contract made for the city by its chief executive, with the advice and consent of its legislative assembly; that the provision of the charter, that the police force should be “under the superintendence'of the marshal,” merely constitutes him their overseer, with no power to deprive the city of their services.</p>