The San Francisco call., 1896-10-10

court which has given the question any con
sideration whatever has held against such Q
construction 1t is placing power SO tremen-
dous in the hands of the Registrar that such
construction should not be held if possible to
avoid it. Ii the language needs construction
it should be construed in some other dlrcctloh.
II the rejection of a certificate by Registrar
is final, if it is beyond all review by courts ne
could refuse to file al certificates purportlng g
to come from opposing political parues ana IN
effect hold the result of the election in the
hollow of his hand.
The Secretary OF State, by refusing to ME
petition presented to him coming from one OF
the great political parties OF this State, could
absolutely prevent that party, through lts
electors, from voting for candidate Tor Presl-
dent of these United States. 1t is needless TO
saw that the court is bound to look further tor
the true construction of this act
The second construction suggested, III my
opinion, cannot be maintained. 1t seems i'm
possible that it was ever intended Tor this
court to enter into q trial of fact as to which
set of claimants constituted the regular, true,
genuine Democratic or Republican party. 1T is
admitted bv counsel that such question of fact
is not 10 be determined by the principle or
principles represented by these respective
claimants; but it is insisted that such ques-
ton of fact must be decided by an inyestiga-
ton as to the regularity of the organization;
that respective abstracts OF title must be tur-
Rshed and that the legal title must prevail
Such an investigation would opeu up most in
teresting fields as to titles in real estate. l
see no way OF cutting off the investigation un-
til it goes back to the original or paramount
source of title, whether that original title
originated in the City, State or Nation.
Go not know what particular principles OF
law could be invoked in the investigation of
such a fact It's determination would depend
upon the validity of the action OF commit
tee. and this validity would depend upon the
regularity and validity of motions to adjourn,
to reconsider, to lay on the table, to postpone,
or 10 what constitutes majority, quorum, Il
special meeting, q legal committee, and a
thousand other matters purely of parlimen-
tary usage.
In the trial of such a question Blackstone
and Kent would be entirely displaced by
Cushing and Phillips, and such a question
had better come for consideration before q
high-school debating society than court of
last resort. Again let us assume that the
genuine Central Committee, which guided the
destinies of its party, all resign The power
to perpetuate the organization rested in its
hanos alone, and now the committee is no.
more.
Thus great party would be placed in q
sorry plight. 1t would be placed in the pos i
tion of trust without trustle, and 1 pre-
sumo, upon the happening OF such grave
emergency, court OF equity would fill the
brescn and appoint new committee. Let US
assume q case where the committee would
neither resign nor take any steps to nominate
a ticket to be voted for by its party electors.
We thus have a present, live organization;
il is regular; there is no flaw in its titlei 1t is
beyond suspicion; it represents and stands
for the Republican party, but it does nothing.
Under such circumstances is it possible that
no Republican ticket could be placed in the
political field for which Republicans might
cast their votes? Time is too short for me to
indulge in other suggestions showing absurd
results. II is not because they do not exist
for they are more and worse; and am of the
opinion that this construction must not OBJ
tain if there is any other road to travel, how
ever long and rough it may be-
l think the third construction contended for
should be adopted and that when q certi fl
cate is presented to the Registrar which is in
the form required by the law he is bound to
receive and file it. Penalties are provided
against forging certificates. and it is further
provided that affidavits as to the truthfulness
OF the facts therein recited must be attached.
In limited way these provisions seem to
afford the Registrar some protection; but,
however that may be, If the protection against
The statute provides that the Registrar must
-''then and there forthwith" act upon the GER
titicate presented either by accepting or re-
jecling it. The very language itself clearly indi-
Gates that there shall be no hearing on the
facts. The language, ex necessitate, precludes
such hearing. If the Registrar is not first to
investig ate the facts, then certaiuly the law
does not contemplate that the court shall sub
sequently investigate them. The res ult of the
construction which l think should be adopted
is simply this:
ALI certificates valid upon their face shonld
be received and filed, and if two or more eer-
tifcates are presented by persons claiming TO
represent the same party they should be filed
and the nominees thereon have an equal
chance upon a ballot.
The only serious result to flow from such
holding is that it tends to disorgsnize and dis
integrate party organizations. OF all the evils
it IS the least, and this being so, it will be
assumed that the Legislature intended the
statute to be SO construed. The intention OF
the Legislature in this regard could be made
palmer and probably the objections here sug-
gested could be avoided by future legislation.
Possibly the whole law should be repealed by
reason of its many crudities and contradic-
tions. The writ should be granted.