State ex rel. Vanderveer v. Gormley

Citations

• 53 Wash. 543
• 102 P. 435
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 1362

Syllabus

<p>Officers — Counties—Treasurer—Term of Office — Vacancy. Under Bal. Code, § 425 providing for the election of a county treasurer “who shall hold office for the term of two years, and until his successor is elected and qualified,” and Bal. Code, § 1548, providing that every office shall become vacant upon the incumbent’s refusal or neglect to take his oath of office or give or renew his official bond, no vacancy occurs authorizing an appointment by the county commissioners, upon the refusal of an officer elect to qualify, since he was not an “incumbent”; and the term of his predecessor continues until a successox-, “elected” by the same electoral body which elected the incumbent, has qualified (Dunbar and Fullerton, JJ., dissenting).</p> <p>Same — Terms—Holding Over — Successive Terms. Const, art 8, § 6, providing for the biennial election of county officers, and art. 11, § 5, providing that no county officer shall hold office for more than two terms in succession, does not prevent the legislature from making the term of office two years and “until his successor is elected and qualified”; nor does it prevent a second term incumbent from holding over for two years more, on the refusal of his successor to qualify (Dunbar and Fullerton, JJ., dissenting).</p> <p>Courts — Appellate Courts — Organization—Separate Departments — Quorum. Under Const., art. 4, § 2, providing for five judges of the supreme court “a majority of whom shall be necessary to form a quorum,” and which further provides that the legislature may increase the number of judges, “and may provide for separate departments,” it was competent for the legislature, by Laws 1909, pp. 33-37, to increase the number to nine judges, and provide for two departments of the court, consisting of five judges each, three of whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business in a department; and a litigant is not entitled, as a matter of right, to a rehearing by the full court sitting en banc, authorized by se