Hanna v. Young

Roberts, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The sole object of this appeal is to test the validity of the 30th section of the Act of the General Assembly of Maryland, passed at January session, 1896, ch. 359, entitled, “An Act to repeal section 23 of Article 13 of the Code of Public Local Laws, entitled ‘ Harford County,’ sub-title ‘BelAir,’ as repealed and re-enacted by the Acts of 1890, chapter 154, and also to repeal section 30 of Article 13 of the Code of Public Local Laws, entitled ‘ Harford County,’ subtitle ‘Bel-Air,’ and to re-enact the same with amendments.” The facts proper to be stated are that an election for five town commissioners was held in the town of Bel-Air, on the first Monday of May, 1896, and conducted in accordance with the’provisions of its charter as amended by the Act of 1896, except that of judges of election, as required by section 30 of said Act, did notj as a condition precedent, require of each person offering to vote at such election, to show that he was assessed with one hundred dollars’ worth of real or personal property on the tax book of said town before he was entitled to vote. The said judges of election ignored this provision of the Act of 1896 and allowed all male citizens residing within the corporate limits of Bel-Air above the age of twenty-one years to vote, notwithstanding the right of a number of said citizens to vote was challenged, upon the ground that they were not assessed with the requisite amount of property. The election was accordingly conducted as if the Act of 1896 had not been passed or was void of legal effect.

The result of the election was that the five persons receiving the highest number of votes ¹⁸¹ acted as if they had been duly elected; having qualified and organized, they proceeded to elect James C. Young, the petitioner in this case, treasurer of the town of Bel-Air, for the ensuing year. The petitioner and appellee here, having qualified, demanded of the appellant who had on the first Monday of May, 1895, been elected treasurer of Bel-Air, the possession of the books, papers and other property of the town then in his possession. This the appellant refused to yield and the appellee accordingly filed his petition in the Court below, for the writ of mandamus to compel the delivery to him of said books, &c. The appellant answered said petition, denying the validity of said election and justifying his refusal to deliver said books, &c., because the judges conducting said election had failed and refused to observe and give effect to the provision of the Act of 1896, which prescribed a property qualification for said electors voting at said election.

Whereupon issue was joined and the case was heard by the Court below, without the aid of a jury. The Court directed the writ to issue and from the order of the Court this appeal is taken. The question lies within very circumscribed limits, but it is nevertheless a question which has not heretofore been passed upon by this tribunal. Whilst it has received consideration in some of the Courts of the other States of the Union, it does not, however, appear to have been determined except in a very limited number of cases.

The contention here is that the 30th section of the Act of 1896 is directly in conflict with the provisions of Art. 1, sec. 1, of the Constitution of the State, which reads as follows : “All elections shall be by ballot; and every male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, or upwards, who has been a resident of the State for one year, and of the Legislative District of Baltimore City, or of the county, in which he may offer to vote, for six months next preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote, in the ward or election district, in which he resides, at all elections hereafter to be held in this State.” ¹⁸² It is contended on the part of the appellant that this section of the Constitution plainly comprehends and includes within its express terms, all elections, whether State or Federal, county or municipal. Yet there is but one municipality mentioned in this section of the organic law, and in fact, Baltimore City is the only municipality mentioned eo nomine in any part of the Constitution. This Court in Smith v. Stephan, 66 Md. 381 , Mr. Justice Bryan delivering the opinion of the Court, said: “ It is sufficient to say that no municipal elections, except those held in the city of Balti-more, are within the terms or meaning of the Constitution.” Whilst the Constitution, Art. 3, sec. 48, authorizes and empowers the General Assembly to create corporations for municipal purposes, it no where prohibits the Legislature from imposing upon the qualified voters, residing within the ..corporate limits of a town, any reasonable restrictions it may deem proper, when seeking the exercise of the right of elective franchise in the selection of its officers. In this respect the power of the Legislature is unlimited.

The argument advanced at the hearing in this Court is to the effect that the Act in question is void because the Constitution has conferred the right and prescribed the qualifications of all electors in this State, the Legislature is without authority to change or add to them in any manner. If the premises of this contention were correctly stated, the argument and sequence would undoubtedly be correct. But, as already observed, the Constitution (Art. 3, sec. 48) only in general terms authorizes the creation of corporations for municipal purposes, and leaves to the Legislature the enactment of such details as it may deem proper in the management of the concerns of the corporation, or which may be regarded as beneficial in the government of the same. The Constitution of this State provides for the creation of certain offices, State and