State ex rel. Burke v. Foster

Citations

• 111 La. 939
• 36 So. 32
• 1904 La. LEXIS 580

Syllabus

<p>ELECTIONS — NOMINATIONS — VACANCY BY DEATH—POWER OF COURT—DISPUTES-BOARD OF CONTESTS—JURISDICTION.</p> <p>1.Where a candidate nominated at a primary election died, and the executive committee of the party filled the vacancy by nominating another candidate, held, that the district court of the parish is without jurisdiction to enjoin the committee from filing a certificate of the nomination in the office of the Secretary of State.</p> <p>2. The decision of disputes as to party nominations rests with the party whose nomination is claimed, in the absence of statutory regulations to the contrary. The jurisdiction of courts in such matters is purely statutory. Act No. 152, p. 266, of 1S9S, confers no jurisdiction whatever on the courts, but creates a board of contests, whose decision is made final on all questions within its cognizance.</p> <p>Hence the determination of the dispute as to the nomination complained of rests either with the party or board of contests, and the courts are without jurisdiction in the premises.</p> <p>3. Article 109 of the Constitution of 1898, vesting original jurisdiction in district courts in all cases where “civil or political rights are involved,” has no application to a dispute as to a party nomination. The Trainor Case (recently decided by this court) 35.South. S38,1 was one where there was a threatened interference in the conduct of a primary election by subordinate committee without authority in the premises.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>