Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-15
WHO ARE ENTITLED 40 VOTE IN
thu MUNICIPAL ELECTION?

between the charter and the franchise
law as TO who are legal municipal
voters.
Let as see how this is The franchise
act provides that no person shall be en-
titled to-vote at any State, county, district
or municipal election, or any other cleo
ton held under the laws Of this State,
unless he shall have been registered, and
shall have received a certificate thereof,
as provided in this act
The city charter (see act Of the Legis-
lature of February Is, 1889 provides as
follows:
SIC Is. Be it further enacted, That an
! election for Mayor and Aldermen, and
| Common Council, shall be held in each
ward Of said city, on the last Saturday in
| September in each and every year. The
voters shall vote by ballot; every white
/ male OF the age of twenty-one years and
/ upwards, being entitled 10 vote 10y the lava
/ Of this State who shall have resided within
! the city six months next preceding the
! election at which be may OTTER TO vote,
| shall be entitled to vote, bat only in the
| ward where he resides. Non-residents own
| ing a freehold in said city, being qualified
! 10 vote for members of the General Assem-
! bly, of the State of Tennessee, shall be en-
! titled t. vote in the ward where their free
! hold is situated. And such persons owning
real estate in more wards than one, he or
/ they may elect in which Of said wards to
! vote, but shall not he allowed to vote in
! more than one Judges of election for each
| ward shall be appointed by the existing
! Board of Aldermen, who shall take an oath
10 faithfully and impartially discharge
| their duties. They shall open the polls at
o'clock in the forenoon and close them at
4 o'clock in the afternoon, when they shall
forthwith proceed to ascertain and transmit
TO the existing Mayor the result of such
election, certified, and authenticated by the
| clerks and a majority OF the Judges of EleC-
| tons for each ward. The Mayor shall
| deliver to the City Recorder the re-
turns az they may be received by him, who
| shall forthwith enter the same as they are
! excessively received in a book to be kept
for that purpose. In cases where two or
| more persons have received an equal num-
beT Of votes for Alderman or Councilman,
the election shall be referred back by the
Mayor to the voters Of the ward, and held
a. before, within the next succeeding ten |
days, and all persons chosen in each ward
as a member Of either branch Of the City |
Council, shall within two days after his !
election, be furnished by the City Recorder |
with a certificate thereof which certificate |
shall be presumptive evidence of the title |
Of such person TO a seat, but each branch Of |
the City Council, however, shall have |
authority to decide ultimately upon all |
questions relative to the qualifications, |
election, and returns of Its members.
1t will thus be seen that there is a
very decided conflict between the char
ter of Nashville and the franchise law as
to who are entitled to vote in the munici. |
pal election The former declares, not |
that "they only shall vote who are quali-
led to vote for members Of the General |
Assembly, but every white male Of
the age Of twenty-one years aud up
wards, being entitled TO vote by the laws
Of this State, shall be entitled to
vote The question then IS whether
the laws Of this State as in force
when this amendment Of the charter Of |
the city was passed by the Legislature,
February l9, 1859 and accepted by |
the people Of Nashville as part of their
charter shall be the law by which we
shall be governed in fixing the qualifca-
ton of voters in the pending election, or
whether the franchise law, which forms
No part of the charter of the city, shall
fix the qualification Of the voters.
BY the act Of February IS, 1898, it is
provided as follows:
SEC. T. De it enacted, That the inhabi-
tants of the city of Nashville, as the same
extends and is laid out, are hereby couati- |
tuted a corporation and body polite by the
name and style of the Mayor and Alder
men Of the city of Nashville and by the
same name shall have perpetual succession,
shall sue and be sued, plead and be i'm
pleaded, in all courts of law and equity,
and IN all actions whatsoever; NAV pur-
chase, receive and hold property real and
personal, within said city, and may sell,
lease or dispose Of the same for the benefit
of said city, and may purchase, receive, and
hold property, real and personal, beyond
the limits Of the city, TO be used for the
burial Of the dead, for the erection Of water
works, for the establishment Of a hospital |
for poor house, worlhouse, or house of
correction, or for a public park or prone
made, or for any other purpose that the City
Council may deem necessary and proper |
and may sell, lease or dispose of such pro-
perry for the benefit Of the city, and do. all
other acts, touching the same as natural
persons; they shall have and use a com
mon seal and change it at pleasure.
BY this section, which was accepted
by the citizens as part of the charter
of Nashville, the city is constituted
corporation ant bady polite in almost
the identical phrassology that IS used in
constituting any other body Of men !
corporation for any purpose whatever
Blackstone gives as this definition Of
a corporation
A body polite or corporate, formed and
by law to act az a single per-
son a society having the capacity of trans. ,
acting business as an individus. Corpora !
lions are aggregate or sole. Corporations /
aggregate consist Of two or more persons
united ina society, which is preserved by :
d succession Of members, either forever or
al the corporation Is dissolved by the :
power THAI formed IL by the death of ;
All ats members, by surrender Of its charter :
on franchises. or by forfeiture Such cor
potauons are the Mayor and Aldermen Of !
cities, the head and fellows Of q college.
The dean and chapter OF a cathedral church. -.
the stockholders Of bank or Insurance. !
company, etc.
We thus see that Nashville is cor, 7
porati0n standing upon the same FOOTING s.
in law as bank, an Insurance comranv il
or railroad The charter Of the Nash
vile and Chattanooga railroad pro- C
viics that "the affairs Of said com b
paBT shall be managed BY a board .
Of directors. to consist Of fifteen, who I
shall be chosen by the stockholders G
from their own body and the charter Of
the Nashville Commercial Insurance t
Company provides that an election shall /
10 bal1 q for rba Ers4 o1.,tt-,, e,- IL. ! Il