People ex rel. Hoffman v. Hecht

Citations

• 105 Cal. 621
• 38 P. 941
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 691

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional Law—City Charter—Board of Freeholders—Eligibility.—Under section 8 of article XI of the constitution the board of fifteen freeholders authorized to frame a city charter must be composed of those who have been for at least five years qualified electors of the city, and persons chosen upon the board of freeholders for the city and county of San Francisco, who have not been for at least five years qualified electors thereof, are ineligible to the office of freeholders.</p> <p>Id.—Effect of Qualification of Freehoi,df.rs.—Where a board of fifteen freeholders was elected to frame a charter for the city and county of San Francisco, two of whom were ineligible to the office, the remaining thirteen members regularly elected constitute a legal board of freeholders with authority to act in the framing of a charter.</p> <p>Id.—Qualification of Freeholders—Organization of Board—Vacancies.—The persons elected as freeholders must qualify as individuals, and the board of freeholders has no legal existence until it is organized by the individuals whose election has been proven, and the board is created by the organization of the members elected; and, when fifteen members have been elected by a plurality of all the votes cast, the constitution is so far complied with that it only remains for the persons selected, ora majority of them, to organize and exercise the power of the board of freeholders, and any vacancy caused by ineligiblity or death, or unwillingness to act, of a single member does not invalidate the election, or invalidate the organization of the board.</p> <p>Id.—Code Provision—Change of Rule—Rights of Majority.—Under section 15 of the Political Code words giving a joint authority to three or more public officers or other persons are construed as giving such authority to a majority of them, unless it is otherwise expressed in the act giving the authority; and this provision changes the former rule that the existence of a full board is necessary in ord