State Ex Rel. Barnhill v. Thompson

Citations

• 29 S.E. 720
• 122 N.C. 493
• 1898 N.C. LEXIS 291

Syllabus

<p>Action of Quo Warranto — Public Officer — County Commissioner — County Board of Education — Forfeiture of Office by Accepting Another.</p> <p>1. The County Board of Education it a public ofliee.</p> <p>2. A citizen and tax payer of a County is eniitled to bring an action in the nature of quo warranto to try the right of a person to hold two offices in such County at the same time.</p> <p>3. Under Section 7, Art XIV of the Constitutian, one person cannot hold the office of County Commissioner and also be a member of the County Board of Education.</p> <p>4. The question of holding two public offices at the same time does not depend, as at common law, upon the incompatibility of the two offices alone but upon the positive language of the Constitution forbidding it.</p> <p>5. The acceptance of a second office by one already holding a public office operates ipso facto to vacate the first. While the officer has a right to elect which of the two he will retain, his election is deemed to be made when he accepts and qualifies for the second.</p>