State ex rel. Smith v. Neal

Citations

• 25 Wash. 264
• 65 P. 188
• 1901 Wash. LEXIS 386

Syllabus

<p>COUNTY OFFICERS-SALARIES-MEASUREMENT BY POPULATION-FEDERAL CENSUS AS EVIDENCE.</p> <p>Under art. 5, § 11, of the constitution, which requires the legislature, by general laws, .to regulate the compensation of county officers, in proportion to their duties, and for that purpose to classify the counties by population; and under Laws 1889-90, p. 302, classifying counties, which puts those having between 14,000 and 16,000 population in the thirteenth class; and under Laws 1895, p. 409, which fixes the annual salary of county clerks in counties of the thirteenth class at $1,500; it is the duty of the county commissioners, in the absence of any law ■ pointing out how population should be ascertained, to determine the fact by proof, and for this purpose the most recent federal census is competent evidence; hence mandamus will lie to compel the proper officers to allow the claim of a county clerk for an increase in compensation, where the proof shows that, prior to his term of office, the federal census of 1900 showed that his county had been raised to a class entitling its officers, under the law, to a higher rate of compensation. (Fullerton and Mount, JJ., dissent).</p>