Yerger v. State ex rel. Brown

Citations

• 91 Miss. 802
• 45 So. 849

Syllabus

<p>1. Quo Warranto. Exercise of office. Code 1906, § 4017. Code 1906, § 3598.</p> <p>A person unlawfully acting as clerk of the board of trustees of the penitentiary exercises the functions of a public officer, and may be proceeded against under Code 1906, § 4017, authorizing a quo warranto whenever any person “ unlawfully holds or exercises the functions of any public office,” although Code 1906, § 3598, creating the office, is preceded by a head line entitled, “ Employes of the Penitentiary.”</p> <p>2. Clerk oe Board Penitentiary Trustees. Election. Tenure. Term, of Office. Code 1906, § 3598. Officers. Removals from, office, Code 1906, § 3619.</p> <p>Under Code 1906, § 3598, providing that the clerk of the board of trustees of the penitentiary shall be elected by the board and hold office for one year: —</p> <p>(а) The term of a person elected to the office, in the absence of other statutory provisions on the subject, begins from the date of his election and ends one year thereafter; and</p> <p>(б) When the term of the clerk will expire before the trustees go out of office the hoard has the right to elect his successor without waiting for the actual expiration of his term; and</p> <p>(c) When his term has expired the board may elect his successor, although the trustees are themselves shortly to be succeeded by new members of the board; and</p> <p>(d) An incoming board cannot discharge its clerk on the ground that the public service would be promoted by the removal of its agents and employes elected by the outgoing board, although it has power under Code 1906, § 3619, to investigate charges of misconduct of officers and employes and suspend them for misconduct.</p> <p>3. Statutes. Construction. Intention.</p> <p>Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous the courts cannot hold that the legislature meant something different from the true meaning of the terms used.</p>