Tyler v. Secretary of State

Marbury, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is the second appeal to this Court involving the referendum concerning House Bill No. 496, sponsored by the appellant and enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland as Chapter 525 of the Acts of 1961. The opinion of this Court in the first appeal is reported in Tyler v. Secretary of State, 229 Md. 18, 184 A. 2d 101 . After hearing oral argument on this appeal, we passed a per curiam order on October 18, 1962, affirming the order of Judge Raine in the court below, passed on October 2, 1962, from which this appeal is taken, without prejudice to the rights of the parties to seek and obtain final decision on the validity of the referendum petitions, either before or after the general election to be held on November 6, 1962.

We now set forth our reasons for affirmance. Following the decision of this Court on the first appeal the appellant filed a petition for a temporary injunction, directing the Secretary of State to refuse to certify the referendum petitions to the Board of Election Supervisors of Baltimore County, or, in the alternative, to withdraw certification if such had been given, and directing the Board to remove or delete Chapter 525 from the absentee ballots and to refrain from placing it upon the voting machines to be used at the election on November 6, 1962, until a final determination and adjudication by Judge Raine of the validity of the petitions. Judge Raine ordered the temporary injunction as prayed on September 17. The intervening defendants below and some of the appellees here (Llewellyn, et al.), filed a motion to dissolve the temporary injunc ²⁰ tion and a petition for a permanent injunction to require the placing of the referendum on the absentee ballots and on the voting machines.

On September 25 the intervening defendants answered the allegations of the appellant as set forth in his amended bill of complaint. The appellant, on September 26, filed a motion for summary judgment as to 761 of the petition papers, supported by an affidavit of Mr. Sweeney, an assistant attorney general, that he was competent to testify and had personal knowledge of the facts that these 761 papers each had at least one improper signature. This would decrease the number of valid signatures below the required minimum. The intervening defendants answered the motion for summary judgment alleging that there was a material dispute of fact.

At the hearing on the motions Judge Raine overruled appellant’s motion for summary judgment, dissolved the temporary injunction, and granted the intervening defendants’ petition for permanent injunction, placing the issue of Chapter 525 before the voters on November 6, 1962, pending further action of the court on the sufficiency of the petitions. We agree with the appellant when he says that a court of equity may preliminarily enjoin a referendum vote prior to the hearing on the merits, citing Sun Cab Co. v. Cloud, 162 Md. 419 , 159 Atl. 922 , and also with his assertion that preliminary injunctions do lie when necessary to preserve a status quo. Kahl v. Con. Gas, El.

Lt. & Power Co., 189 Md. 655, 658 , 57 A. 2d 331 . On the other hand, we have said that the granting or refusal of an injunction rests in the sound discretion of the chancellor, and his conclusions of fact will not be disturbed unless it very clearly appears that he made a mistake either of law or of fact and that the evidence does not support his conclusions. Fox v. Ewers, 195 Md. 650 , 75 A. 2d 357 . Considerable latitude is permitted to courts in dealing with injunctions.

Bishop