State ex rel. Harvey v. Medler

Citations

• 19 N.M. 252
• 142 P. 376

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. A writ of prohibition is an extraordinary writ, issued by a superior court to an inferior court to prevent the latter from exceeding its jurisdiction, either by prohibiting it from •assuming jurisdiction in a matter which it has no control, •or from going beyond its legitimate powers in a matter of which it has jurisdiction.</p> <p>P. •258</p> <p>2. A court is inferior to another when it is placed under the supervisory or appellate control of such other court.</p> <p>P. 259</p> <p>3. The writ of prohibition is not a writ of right, granted •ex debito justitiae, but rather one of the sound judicial dis■cretion, to be granted or withheld according to the circumstances of each particular case, to be used with great caution for the furtherance of justice when none of the ordinary remedies provided by law are applicable.</p> <p>P. 259</p> <p>4. The writ of prohibition cannot be used to correct mere irregularities or to perform the functions of an appeal or writ of error.</p> <p>P. 260</p> <p>5. If it is manifest that an appeal would afford an inadequate remedy, the right of appeal does not, of itself, afford •sufficient ground for refusing relief by prohibition.</p> <p>P. 260</p> <p>6. In creating a legislative department and conferring, upon it the legislative power, the people must he understood to have conferred the full and complete power as it rests in, and may he exercised by, the sovereign power of any country, subject only to such restrictions as they may have seen fit to impose, and to the limitations which are contained in the Constitution of the United States.</p> <p>P. 262.</p> <p>7. There being no constitutional inhibition against legislative action in the matter of suspension of public officers, which is properly to be considered as included within the broader term removal, the provisions of Chapter 36, of the Session Laws of 1909, do not constitute a violation of the constitutional provisions of Section 2, of Article XX.<