Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-01-16
THE SUPREME COURT DECIDES THAT
JUDGE PAGE HAD NO POWER TO
REMOVE A JAILER.


JUDGE PAGE HAD NO POWER TO
REMOVE A JAILER.
Lyman d. Baird Therefore Entitled to
his pay a. Jailsr In spite OF
Pages Order.
Ptonse,-P'ess Januasyll.
1t is known that during the time sher.
man Page, judge of the Tenth district,
was suspended from Office, awaiting trial
before court of impeachment for crimes
and misdemeanors, Sheriff r. o. Hall, of
Mower cousty, removed his jailer, q
fellow by the.name of Allen, and appoint.
ed to the place Mr.. Lyman D. Baird,
whose appointment was confirmed by
Judge Brill, Of St. Paul, then sitting on
the bench Of the Tenth district As soon
as Page escaped conviction, he returned
to Austin, and few days after issued an
order removing Baird, and declaring that
he should receive no compensation for
the time he was in Office. Baird, how.
ever, retained the Office until the close
of the year, having in the meantime taken
the necessary steps to compel the auditor
of Mower county to issue the necessary
warrants for his salary, and the supreme
court having heard the case, yesterday
rendered the following decision, which
sustains Baird completely, and utterly
routes Judge Page from the position he
had taken in this matter. The following
is the opinion Of the court:
Supreme court, October term, 1878. The
State of Minnesota ex rel. Lyman ID.
Baird, REALTORS, VS.. p. T. Mcintyre, county
auditor Of Mower county, respondent.
On. 100. general statutes, contains the
following provisions, viz: 1.-THE sheriff
Of the county, by himself or deputy, shall
keep the Jail and be responsible for the
manner in which the same is kept
section 2. GAIL sheriff. and jailers to
whom any person is sent or committed by
virtue of any legal process issued by or
under the authority Of the United States
shall be and they are required to receive
such person into custody and to keep
him safely until discharged by due course
Of law, and all such sheriffs and jailers
offending in the premises shall be LIABLE"
etc-section 5. "All instruments Of
every kind by which prison
er Is committed or liberated shall
be = safely kept in suitable box
by such sheriff or by his deputy acting
as jailer'-section 10. From these pro-
Visions Of statute (and there are others in
the same chapter of like tendency it is
apparent that 1t was intended by the
legislature that jailer should be deputy
of the sheriff. Section 178, chapter 8,
general statutes enacts that ''Every sher-
if shall appoint under his hand and seal
q sufficient number Of persons as deputy
sherifts, for whose acts he shall be re.
spOnsible and whom he may remove at
pleasure" The effect of this is to vest
sheriffs with the exclusive power of ap-
pointing and removing deputy sherlfs,
including jailers as such deputies.
On this state of the law an act was
passed in 1873 (ch. 43, laws 1879 which
provides IN section 2, that the Judge of
the district court for each county shall
also determine from time to time the
compensation that shall be allowed for
the service Of 4 jailer or turnkey in the
county Jail, which compensation shall be
paid monthly out Of the county treasury
upon the warrant Of the county auditor,
| such jailer or turnkey to be appointed
by the sheriff of such county subject to
the approval of the judge. The effect of
this is that the appointment by a sheriff
of deputy to act rs jailer ia not effectual
and complete until it is approved by the
| district court for the county, but other
wise the sherif's exclusive right under
the existing statutes to appoint a dep
uty to act as jailer and to remove him at
pleasure, is not disturbed or in anywise
affected. His right to appoint is changed
in effect to right to nominate, but his
exclusive right to remove at his own
sovereign will and pleasure remains
wholly unchanged. When q person has
been duly appointed by = sheriff his
deputy, to act Is jaller, and the appoint
ment has been approved by the judge,
and he has duly qualified, he is in Office
as jailer dejure and de fact0. He can be
removed by the sheriff only. 1t the
| compensation which he is to be allowed
for his services as jailer has been deter
mined upon by the judges of the district
court for the county, the act Of 1878
authorizes such judges, from time to time,
to redetermine the same, that is to say,
to increase or dimi nish it. But it does
not effect the determination previously
made, but the same remains in force, and
until it is properly changed continues to
fix the compensation to which the jailer
Is entitled.
| From these views it follows that the
order of Judge Page removing the relator
from the place az jailer and determining
that he should be entitled to no compen.
sation for his services as jailer were void
and that Notwithstanding the same the
relat0r IL entitled to the compensation
previously fixed and upon proper showing
and demand for warrant from the
county auditor upon the county treasury
for the amount due him a. such compen-
sation. Let = peremptory mandamus issue
accordingly. BERRY. J.