State ex rel. Mullen v. Doherty

Citations

• 16 Wash. 382
• 58 Am. St. Rep. 39
• 47 P. 958
• 1897 Wash. LEXIS 330

Syllabus

<p>QUO WARRANTO—JURY TRIAL—AMENDMENT OF CITY CHARTER—NOTICE OF ELECTION—RECORD OF ADOPTION—APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS.</p> <p>The constitutional provision declaring that “theright of trial by jury shall remain inviolate” has reference to the right to jury trial as it existed in the territory at the time when the constitution was adopted.</p> <p>As the right to trial by jury in quo warranto proceedings did not exist at common law at the date of the early settlement of this country, nor was authorized by statute at the date of the adoption of the state constitution, the constitutional provision, that “the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate,” is inapplicable in proceedings to try the right to a public office.</p> <p>The failure of a city clerk to post in each election precinct of the city notice of a proposed election for the adoption of charter amendments, as required by statute and ordinance, which were passed pursuant to a constitutional provision in regard to giving such notice but without specifying the manner thereof, will not invalidate the election, when it appears that notice had been published in all the daily papers of the city the requisite length of time, that the election was a matter of public notoriety and had been discussed by the people generally in their homes, and the result of the votes cast showed that the great body of the electors had expressed their will upon the adoption or rejection of the amendments. (Dunbar, J., dissents).</p> <p>The appointment by the mayor of a commissioner of public works is not subject to confirmation or rejection by the city council, when the charter expressly provides that the person appointed by the mayor “shall hold office at the pleasure of the appointing power.”</p> <p>The omission of the city clerk to record the amendments to the city charter, adopted by vote of the electors of the city, would not invalidate the amendments themselves, but merely affect the manner of their proof.</p> <p>Notice of a propose