Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1878-07-25
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A "Written Opinion. :"

Commissioners districts, at their first
regular meeting. The County At,or~
>ney has been industriously at work for
some time arranging his plans to pre-
vent the commits ''ers from rsrform>
ing that duty. When they came to
act in the case at their meeting held
this week, he very pompously Informed
thcm that they should secure the writ
ten opinion Of himself as to the valid>
ity of the said law before taking any
action under it; and he instructed
them to prepare questions in writing.
on that subject, to be submitted to
himself: They didn't seem to care
about bis opinion, and he accordingly
wrote out the questions himself, got
them signed by the chairman, and re-
tired to his Office to prepare s'written
opinion" The following is the opin-
ion in full:
THE OPINION.
A. j. Clark, County Attorney.
lis the special act o. the Leg
is!ature entitled "An act to increase
the number of County Commissioners
to fve," a copy Of which is herewith
handed to you, a good and valid law :?
Are the Go. Commissioners obliged to
comply with the directions contained
in said bill? Is 1t optionary with
them whether they shall divide said
County into five commissioner dis
tr'cts or not? If they should do so,
Will their action be legal?
NICOLAS MEYER,
Chairman Of Board of Go. CONS.
July I'D, 1873.
10 the Hon. Board of County Cons
mlssioners, Morrison County, Mimi
Sec. 10, title 3, page 2l9, Vol l,
Bissell's Statutes, reads as follows:
Livery county shall be deemed an
organized county for the purposes Of
this title, and shall have board Of
county commissioners. Inthose coun,
ties which poll eight hundred votes O,
more, the said beard shall consist o.
fue members, and In all other countries
of three members" etc. That is gen,
eral law in full force in this, and eve
~ county in the State. The special
act referred to, says, in substance, that
the commissioners of Morrison County
shall, at their first regular meeting aft
err the passage Of said act, divide said
county into FIVE commissioner districts
etc. And Section 2, of said act, pro
vides for the election Of commissioners
in said districts.
Now there can be no question as to
a direct conflict between the general
law referred to and the special law re.
ferred to
The general law says that in all
counties polling less than eight hun
dred votes the board of commissioners
shall consist Of three members.
The special law does not attempt to
repeal or suspend the general law Sc
far as it relates to Morrison couoty.
1 say, therefore, that the general
law is still applicable to this county.
That the special law IS in direct
conflict with it; of course both laws
cannot be complied with, and the gen.
eral law must take precedence.
And l am Of opinion that if the
board should obey the dictation of the
special act, and divide the county into
five commissioner districts, a board OF
commissioners elected under such pro,
ceedings would be an illegal body, and
that all their acts would be void,
Respectfully &C., A. j. CLARK,
County Attorney
July ed. 1878.
Now, isn't that rich? But not,
outstanding the tremendous weight OF
this written opinion" and the per,
sonal and persistent efforts of the Couu~
Ety Attorney, the commissioners went
right on and did their duty, and di.
; vided the county into districts as pro-
vided by law. They passed resolu
ton, however, directing the County
: Auditor to send the "writter opinion
to the Attorney General. Knowing
that the County Attorney would moi
be likely to allow such an opinion az
that to be laid before the ATTORNEY
General, we at once secureda cory O
the opinion, unknown to it's author. =
And sure enough, we had scarcel,
placed the said copy in our pocket be-
fore he came around and took the orig
mai copy from before the commission
ers, and up TO the time of clt sing ou1
:. forms for the press be still had pos
session Of It, refusing to allow it to b.
sent 70 the Attorney General as or
dered By the commissioners. He-has
beyond all question, been guilty Of :
deliberate, premeditated, systematic
and persistent effort:to defeat the op,
GRAFTON Of the special law giving Nor
rison county five commissioners, ane
he has done this with ! full knowlcdg,
of the fact that the people .almos
unanimously desire the law to so int,
effect. y:
Raisins 15c. per It. at rs t.s
IL WORTHINGToN & Co.'S Z
I For Sale. szs{ .s.ss5 p
[ FL Of se4 Of Sec. 80. vi Of swl of Sec. 20
d.. IN 81 o.