State ex rel. Griffin v. Superior Court

Citations

• 70 Wash. 545
• 127 P. 120
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1080

Syllabus

<p>Intoxicating Liquors — Local Option — Elections—“General Election” — Statutes—Construction. Under the local option law by which the legislature intended to allow an immediate election if the people of any unit desired it, and thereafter an election should be had only at a general county or state election, a city election is a “general election” within the meaning of § 23 (Rem. & Bal. Code, § 6294), providing that the petition for a,n election in a local unit shall be signed by qualified electors equal in number to thirty per cent of the electors voting at the “last general election within such unit;” especially in view of the history of the passage of the act showing that the several possible times for general elections were considered, and the last election preceding the regular biennial election was adopted, as giving the fairest index of the number of voters who will exercise the franchise.</p> <p>Statutes — Construction. The history of the passage of an act may be resorted to in determining the legislative intent in the use of the words “last general election.”</p>