State ex rel. Godfrey v. O'Brien

Citations

• 95 Ohio St. (N.S.) 166

Syllabus

<p>■ Taxation — Office and officers — Appointment or election — Section I, Article X, Constitution — Compensation — Section 20, Article II, Constitution — Repeals and amendments — Section 16, Article II, Constitution — Assistant assessors and boards of revision —Acts of May 7 and 20, 1915 (106 O. L., 246 and 433) — Constitutional law.</p> <p>1. County and township subdivisions are agencies of the state, and constituent parts of the plan of permanent organization of state government.</p> <p>9. Where the state seeks to exercise its sovereign power through the agencies of county or township officers, the statute creating the office and providing for the selection and compensation of the incumbent, must conform to the constitutional provisions with reference to such officers.</p> <p>3. A provision in an act of the general assembly of this state for the appointment instead of the election of a county or township officer, is in violation of Section 1 of Article X of the Constitution of Ohio and void.</p> <p>4. The general assembly of Ohio cannot delegate the authority conferred upon it by Section 20 of Article II of the Constitution, to fix the compensation of officers.</p> <p>5. The provisions of an act of the general assembly purporting to confer authority upon the county auditor, or the board of county commissioners, to fix the salary of county or township officers within certain limits, without providing a uniform rule for determining such compensation in the several counties of the state, are in conflict with Section 26 of Article II of the Constitution of Ohio, and void.</p> <p>6. The provision of Section 16 of Article II of the Constitution of Ohio, providing that no law shall be revived or amended unless the new act contains the entire act revived, or the section or sections amended, is mandatory. The inclusion, by reference, of the provisions of a repealed statute is in violation of this provision of the Constitution of Ohio and void.</p> <p>7. The statute defini