The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-01-09
THE MAINE COUNT.

Opinion of the Supreme Court Justices
Following is synopsis of the answer Of the
Justices of the Maine Supreme Court to the
series of interrogatons. submitted to them by
Gov. Garcelon:
l. The Governor and Council have no author
iy to order new election when no proper re-
turn Is made. The House may seat members
who have in fact been elected, even if no re-
turn at all is made to the Secretary of State.
Representative is not to be deprived of his
seat because municipal officers have failed 10
do their duty.
= The constitution calls for returns which
shall be regular in all essential particulars, and
which truly represent the facts they purport to
set forth. But much of the constitutional re-
quirements is merely directory.
3. While towns may have seven Selectmen,
most of them have but three, aud the signature
of two Of these is sufficient In the case of
Boards of Aldermen, a majority of quorum,
though not a majority of the whole, is compe-
tent 10 act.
4. 1t is immaterial whether the returns from
city show the vote by wards or not. 1t is not
necessary that each candidates name should
be on the returns, provided that the votes re-
turned as scattering, however added or sub
tracted, do not affect the result. Votes re-
turned as scattering may have had that word
printed on them for all the Governor and Coun-
Gil know Where a plurality elects an election
is lot to be defeated because the whole num-
Der of ballots Is erroneously stated, or not
stated at all.
s. Returns are not valid unless signed by the
Town or City Clerk, but Deputy Clerk or
Clerk pro tenn. would answer the purpose.
q. The Governor and Council must act on
the basis OF the returns as they are sent to the
Secretary of State. If they purport to be made,
signed and sealed in open nesting, the Gov
ernor and Council have no right 10 ascertain
whether they were 30 made or not.
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the Governor and Council are not to inquire
whether the town had but two Selectmen or
not The signatures would be enough in GER
tain cases, and the presumption is i'll favor of
the return.
s. A person not citizen may be a Selectman
de fdctO, and bind the town as completely az if
he were Selectman de jure. So far as the
public are concerned the acts of de .fdctO Of
tcer are as valid as those of a de .jure officer.
9. In the case of marked ballots, Selectmen
have the right to reject them when offered, but
the statute forbids the rejection of ballot after
it has been received into the ballot-box. The
Selectmen have no business to report the mat
ter of marked ballots to the Governor and
Council, and the latter have no right to pay
any attention to such report or reference.
10. There can be no ground for rejecting the
word "ditto" or "do" or disregarding the
dots or marks that are in common use as their
substitutes.
IL. The Governor and Council have no right
TO reject returns on the ground that they are
not genuine, unless objection in writing is pre-
sented to them declaring that any or all the
signatures are not genuine, or that the return
had been altered since it was made; then notice
should be given to the parties interested, and
in investigating the case the Governor and
Council should be governed by the usual rules
of evidence.
IL. In case of duplicated returns, both in
proper form, the fret received must be the
basis Of the action Of the Governor and Council
II defective, they can be corrected according to
the statutes. Returns must have their full
effect il they arc Ineligible, in spite of trivial
Irregularities