Murphy v. Eney

Fowler, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellees who are registration officers of the seventh precinct of the twenty-first ward of Baltimore City registered one George Rotan as a qualified voter and ⁸³ entered his name as such on the registry of voters of the said precinct and ward. The appellants who are registered voters in said precinct and ward duly objected to said registration, alleging that by virtue of the Act of 1892, chapter 401, the boundaries of the third legislative district of Baltimore City were changed so that the ninth precinct of the eleventh ward, where the voter had formerly resided, became and formed part of the second legislative district; that so being a part of the second legislative district, and the seventh precinct of the twenty-first ward forming a part of the third legislative district, the said Rotan who had lived only two months in said seventh precinct had not the qualifications as to residence to entitle him to be registered in the third legislative district, of which, as we have said, the seventh precinct formed a part. The appellees refused, however, to strike Rotan’s name from the registry of voters, and the appellants appealed to the Baltimore City Court, where they filed a petition setting forth the foregoing, and other facts not necessary now to refer to.

To this petition the-appellees filed an answer asserting the invalidity of the Act of 1892, chapter 401, which answer was demurred to, and the demurrer having been overruled and their petition dismissed, the appellants have appealed. The only question presented, therefore, is whether the Act of 1892, chapter 401, is constitutional. If the precinct from which the voter moved, and that to which he moved and applied for registration are in the same legislative district, then it is conceded he was legally registered; but, on the contrary, if these precincts are in different legislative districts it is admitted that the voter was not entitled to registration, for he had not lived six months in the third legislative district where he applied for registration. By the legislation in force prior to 1892 (see 1882, chapter 2, 1888, chapter 98, ⁸⁴ sections 2, 3 and 17, 1890, chapter 186; Art. 4, section 3, Code Pub.

Local Laws,) both these precincts were in the third legislative district; but the Act of 1892, chapter 401, made several changes in the boundary lines of the legislative districts above named — one of which was to place the ninth precinct of the eleventh ward in the second legislative district — the seventh precinct of the twenty-first ward remaining a part of the third legislative district — the result being, if the Act of 1892 be valid, that these two precincts are in different legislative districts and the voter was not qualified for registration. But we think it is clear the Act in question (1892, ch. 401,) must be declared unconstitutional, for it omits to make any provision for the inhabitants of the sixteenth ward of Baltimore City to vote at any election, that ward being placed in neither of the three legislative districts. It was, of course, conceded that if the Act in question had this effect, namely to disfranchise the inhabitants of the sixteenth ward and deprive them of their right to representation in the Legislature, it would be void. And this result was sought to be avoided by an attempt to show that the Act of 1882, chapter 2, which does provide for the sixteenth and other wards, and the Act of 1892, chapter 401, could stand together.

But while