FRANK COOLEY AS REGISTRATION OFFICER OF THE CITY OF CLEARWATER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA EX REL. W. R. ALDRICH
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The Florida Supreme Court reversed a trial court's grant of peremptory mandamus requiring a city registration officer to register an elector. The court held that a special act designating the county supervisor of registration as the city's registration officer does not violate Florida's constitutional prohibition on special acts regulating county officers' jurisdiction and duties.
The statute does not violate the constitutional prohibition. Although the supervisor of registration is a county officer, designating him as registration officer for the City of Clearwater does not regulate his duties as a county officer or alter his performance in that capacity; rather, it creates a separate municipal role with defined jurisdiction and duties.
“This Act designates the supervisor of registration of Pinellas County as registration officer of the City of Clearwater. This does not result in regulating the jurisdiction or duties of the supervisor of registration of Pinellas County and in no way changes or affects the performance of his duties as such county officer.”
The court's core reasoning that designating a county officer for a separate municipal role does not constitute regulating a county officer's duties in violation of the Constitution.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceFrank Cooley, as registration officer of Clearwater, refused to register W. R. Aldrich as a qualified elector of the City of Clearwater. The refusal w…
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The appeal brings for review an order awarding peremptory mandamus in a suit brought to coerce the city auditor and clerk of the City of Clearwater as ex officio registration officer of the City of Clearwater, to register the relator as a qualified elector of the City of Clearwater.
The City auditor and clerk.filed his answer to the alternative writ in which he defended his action in refusing to register the relator on the ground that by the enactment of Chapter 22235, Special Acts of 1943, Sec. 162 of the Charter of the City of Clearwater being 9710 Special Acts of 1923 was amended so that the City auditor and clerk was no longer registration officer of the City of Clearwater and that by the provisions of said Act the supervisor of registration of Pinellas County had been designated registration officer for the City of Clearwater. .........
On final hearing peremptory writ was, awarded.
The pertinent part of Chapter 22235, Special Acts of 1943, is as follows: r;
“Section 162. Registration of Voters. The Supervisor of Registration of the County of Pinellas shall be the registration officer for the City of Clearwater. Each person who is a qualified elector of the City of Clearwater, as provided by Section 161 of Chapter 9710, Special Acts of 1923, and who desires to be registered as an elector of the City of Clear-water, shall take the following oath to be administered by the supervisor of registration or his duly authorised deputy:
“ T do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am a bóna fide resident of the City of Clearwater, Florida, and possess all of the qualifications of an elector of said City.’
“Any person' taking ■ súch oath who shall swear falsely shall be deemed guilty of perjury.”
It was contended .in the court below,. and that court so held, that this Act violates Sec. 20, Article III of the Constitution of Florida in that it is a special or local Act regulating the jurisdiction and duties of a county officer.1 With this *705conclusion we do not agree. This Act designates the supervisor of registration of Pinellas County as registration officer of the City of Clearwater. This does not result in regulating the jurisdiction or duties of the supervisor of registration of Pinellas County and in no way changes or affects the performance of his duties as such county officer. The effect of the statute is to make him registration officer of the municipality of Clearwater and to define his jurisdiction and duties as such registration officer.
, This case is on all-fours with the case of State v. Armstrong, 103 Fla. 121, 137 So. 140, and is ruled by that case and authorities there cited. See also State v. Holbrook, 129 Fla. 241, 176 So. 99.
Therefore, the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded with direction that the petition be dismissed.
So ordered.
CHAPMAN, C. J., TERRELL, BROWN, THOMAS, ADAMS and SEBRING, J. J., concur.
concurring:
I think the conclusion reached is strengthened when the question involved is considered in connection with our decisions construing Sec. 8, Art. VIII of the Constitution.
BROWN, J.,
concurring:
I think the conclusion reached is strengthened when the question involved is considered in connection with our decisions construing Sec. 8, Art. VIII of the Constitution.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Brandon Planning & Zoning Auth. v. Burns, 304 So. 2d 121 (Fla. 1974)…are applicable to, and control in cases construing present Section 11 of Article III of the Florida Constitution enacted in 1968. “Special acts are not invalid which only add to the duty of constitutional officers. Cooley v. State ex rel. Aldrich, [155 Fla. 703], 21 So. 2d 347. Application of this rule is found in the present laws under which the Board of County Commissioners operates. The County Commissioners draw their general zoning authority from Chapter 125.01, Florida Statutes and, in furtherance the…
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The Bd. OF Cnty. Comm'rs OF Palm Beach Cnty. v. Millard F. Hibbard, 292 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1974)…e special act in question violates Art. 3 Sec. 11 of the Florida Constitution because it pertains to the ‘duties of officers’. Special acts have been upheld that only added to the duties of a constitutional officer, Cooley v. State ex rel. Aldrich, 155 Fla. 703, 21 So. 2d 347 (1945) and State ex rel. Landis v. Armstrong, 103 Fla. 121, 137 So. 140 (1931) but the act in question curtails the duties of certain constitutional officers (county commissioners) and shifts such duties to another constitutional offi…1 / 2
Authorities Cited
- State v. Holbrook, 129 Fla. 241 (Fla. 1937)
- State v. Armstrong, 103 Fla. 121 (Fla. 1931)