, 1880-01-04

while the town may legally elect as many a
seven Selectmen, the well-known practice
to elect only three, and In such cases q re
turn to be valid must be signed by majorit,
of them, because by no possibility can les
number constitute legal quorum. But tn
rule is otherwise with respect to the Alder
men of cities, Most Of our citie
are required by law to have a.
many as seven Aldermen, ant
none of them, we believe, ha.
less than five: To constitute quorum, it i
only necessary to have majority Of tht
whole number present, and when such quo
rum is present a majority Of the quorum
may do business. Suppostng the number tt
be seven, four would constitute legal quo
rum, and, three being the majority, that quo
rum could legally act, although the fourth
should refuse to join them, or should op
pose their action. Consequently, if the re
turn from a city having five or seven Alder:
men is signed by three of them, it may
be valid and legal return, because
only four may have been present, and in such
case three (being majority Of those pres
ent) could legally act, although the fourth
should oppose their action and refuse to join
them. When such return is laid before the
Governor and Council they cannot know,
and they have no right to assume, that the
return is not valid. 1t is the duty Of the
Aldermen to be in session and examine the
votas md If tha Clarl- n nate record
thareof Fron, +ho+ 1900 raoord - oar+isad oor,. ~
which ;e ~o+oinad ~ 1a-,, .ros1s.,, oSr, ~. y.
that = o,ororn ~ +ha 1dar,,ar rnos nrasont
Tha law r;t1, raenao+ r. . ,1,or,,,,, ~ ~.
iorit;ae il corrootl, e+,+od j., n,na,. 49,
judgement IN and ! n;llo,,e ,1nn;c;n,1
Cornorations- Sees o1s and o17 In tha
latter wor1, it.js s,id hod,oa co1rnoead of -
defnit number act bv tf'e maiorities of those
nresent nrovidad thnsa nrosant conc+;tnto -
majority of the whole nnmher or to nsa Nr;
Danes i,1ustrotfon If the hodv cone;s+s ~
Twelve ConnciImen. seven is tha least NM
her thot con constitute n valid 1naotIno
thonph four of tha avon nav oct onJ eo "a,
as ,ye are aware. the law ia 90 stated in ok. ~
stance hu - ~ 0'>''~ 49,
AI1. Aycrrxr AMI ,,onr1,- .,rrr,o,,1,r,
rho rio on,1;ooh1o - e,,a,, oaeae - .;r,;1a,.
to that rh;cj, ann,;es +n o',r % Hons, , 80 Ranra-
sentatives- The whole nnmhar ~ Ranre-
santatjves established hv law ID 1s1 ma
ioritv fth,t is 'saventv.s;x n,ernhare, con.
etit,,toc = o,or,,n, ~ d. hne;noss r. tho~ai -
oct,, altv that n,,1nhar nrecant and majority
- +1,on' f+ho+ 10 .+h;r+r-n;na ,,.n,ho-sI vo+o
IN the of9;r1not;ya vo1;I law c,n +herehv ho
enaote1 Or | ~ n+har hnsinaes - - ~ transacted ~ If1ess
thnn saventr.six no1nhore ora nresant +har
~ hns;roes ~, fa l,o,a ovcont ~ o5;or~n
~ oomnol tha ,t+endonca of oheent momharc
Th;s "a - f,1,,;17or law and ;flrciro+ac +ho
,r;ncin1a o,,n1icoh1o r. tha ALDERMEN of
cities and shows how and whv a return
sie11e;1 ] hv lass than = maioritv NJ the whole
nrmher nav he and so far ~ tha Governor
md ronno;1 ara concarno, ia conc,ro;va1v
presumed to be valid. They have no right to
70 behind the returns. .
Question +Is a return by the Aldermen of
a city which does not give the number of
votes cast. for each person voted for as a
of the LEGISLATURE, and does not
show what persons were voted for as such
members in any one Of the several wards Of
such city, q valid return within the require
ments Of the same section?
Answer-We are not sure~ that wc-cou,pre-
hend the full scope Of this. question: Our
answer will meet all of>its supposed plr-
poses. It is immaterial whether the
Aldermen returned to the Governor
and Council the. detailed vote Of
each ward separately, or whether they re-
turned the result of all the votes of all the
wards for each candidate together. Either
mode is satisfactory way Of reaching the
same result The substance only is sought
for in such matters Nor is it a material
matter that. instead of returning all the
names of persons voted for. there is a return
Of votes as scattering: provided that. how
ever. such votes NAV be added or subtracted.
some candidate. orsetor candidates. appear to
be chosen bv plurality of the votes thrown.
The Governor md Council
c.xSor orp1c7.1rv rrow
mr. have ~ thew The riett to ascertain that the
rotaa ratnrned 40 scattering xvere mt actual
11o+s ,.;t Tho ,.o-3 x &c ++ar;n-s - ,,rr;t4an
+haroon Nor 5s tha election ~ cs5ndidatas -
-, chosen hv = y1nra1itr ~ ~ The votee to ha
7afaotaf1 hec,uce tha yho1a numhar ~ ,.o+ee
~ ho11ots NAV hp stated erroneons1v mr. mt
stated at all. The Constitution contains no
,uch requirements, and the statutory pro-
7ision recurring it is entirely unimportant
md inapulicab1e to cases where a plurality
# votes elects. It is a we'll
settled rule Of the construction
;hat where the general terms of a