State ex rel. Attorney-General v. Jones

Citations

• 16 Fla. 306

Syllabus

<p>t. A pilot is not an officer within the meaning of the Constitution and Statutes of this State; he is a person invested by law with peculiar powers and privileges connected with commerce, for the exercise of which a qualification is required by the State. The privileges and powers which he has, being of a public nature, resulting from legislative grant, axe franchises. If he is exercising such franchises without the qualification prescribed by the State, an information in the nature of a quo warranto may be brought by the Attorney-General.</p> <p>3. A plea is a sufficient response to an information in the nature of a quo warranto, if it sets up facts showing a right to exercise the office or franchise alleged to have been usurped. Where a statute ^prescribes a qualification for exercising an office or franchise, the plea need not be framed in the words of the law. It is sufficient if the facts set up show clearly the right.</p> <p>A Two years actual service on a pilot-boat on the bar of Pensacola as an able seaman, receiving during that time instructions from pilots relative to the harbor, the bar, depth of water, courses, and the management of vessels, constitutes an apprenticeship within the meaning of the Statutes of this State controlling the subject. An actual binding out is not necessary.</p>