State ex rel. Edwards v. County Commissioners of Sumter County

Citations

• 22 Fla. 1

Syllabus

<p>1. The allegations of a return or an answer to au alternative writ of mandamus, should he stated positively, and not upon information and belief.</p> <p>2. The rules requiring pleas to he sworn to does not restrict a defendant to pleading matters of defence which are within his personal knowledge. The affidavit is required as an evidence of the pleader’s good faith in setting up the defence.</p> <p>8. If the alternative writ in a proceeding to compel the Comity Commissioners of a county to issue a permit under Chapter 3416, Laws of Florida, granting the right to sell liquors, wines or beer, makes the necessary allegation that the petition to the Commissioners was signed by a majority of the registered voters of the election district, and the return to the writ alleges ifai a proper manner that certain names appearing thereon as petitioners were not signed by, and the signing thereof is not the act and deed of, the persons represented by such names, and that without such names the petition does not contain a majority of the registered Voters of the district, a material issue will he raised, and the burden will be upon the relator to prove his averment.</p> <p>4. The applicant for the right to sell liquors, wines or beers, under the above statute, may sign his own petition and is to he counted the same as any other registered voter of the election district.</p> <p>5. The simple failure to publish the “marks” of a few petitioners whose names are published, is not a material defect in complying with the provisions of the statute.</p> <p>6. Although the statute requires that each petitioner shall sign the petition in the presence of two credible witnesses, it does not require the witnesses to subscribe to such signing.</p> <p>7. A person who has not obtained a permit from the County Commissioners under Chapter 3416, Laws of Florida, cannot lawfully carry on the business of a liquor dealer : such a permit is a warrant not only of the right, but also of the personal fit