Zimmerman v. Cowan

Citations

• 107 Ill. 631
• 1883 Ill. LEXIS 307

Syllabus

<p>1. Contested election—time for filing the petition—as to what time in the day. Under section 113, of chapter 46, Eev. Stat. 1874, entitled “Elections,” providing that in case of the proposed contesting of an election the person desiring to contest such election shall, within thirty days after the person whose election is contested is declared elected, file with the clerk of the proper court a statement, in writing, of the grounds upon which he will contest the election, the contestant is not restricted, as to the time in the day on which he may file such statement, to the hours during which the clerk is required by statute to keep his office open,—that is, from eight o’clock A. M. to six o’clock P. M,—but the “day” contemplated by the statute is an ordinary day of twenty-four hours, which does not expire until twelve o’clock, midnight.</p> <p>2. So where it was proposed to contest the election of a person who had been declared elected to the office of county treasurer, and the statement in writing of the grounds of the contest was filed with the clerk of the proper court on the last day limited by the statute, but not until after six o’clock P. 1M. of that day, it was held, the filing of the statement was in apt time.</p> <p>3. Same—time within which to issue the summons—ivhat is the commencement of the suit. In a proceeding to contest such an election, the filing with the clerk of the statement in writing, as required by the statute, is the commencement of the suit, so that it is not essential, in order to preserve the right of the contestant to proceed, that the summons should be issued within the thirty days limited for the filing of the statement, but it may as well be issued after that timé has expired.</p> <p>4. Time—what constitutes a day. Where a person is required to take action within a given number of days in order to secure or assert a light, the “day” is to consist of twenty-four hours,—that is the popular, and the legal, sense of the term,—so that i