Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1903-09-26
THE COMMISSIONERS
CARRY THEIR POINT
Supreme Bench Holds That Court Can
sot Be Legally Held IN 1Oaopah.

the commissioners be compelled to
order the holding of terms of court
in Tonopah, in their favor, and the
only relief which the people of Tono-
pah can now hope for is that the next
legislature will pass bill districting
the county. The full text of the de-
cision, which was concurred in by the
whole court, is herewith given:
Petitioner applies for writ of
mandate requiring respondents as
commissioners of Nye county to carry
out the provisions of an act passed
by our last legislature Nevada Stat
ute 1903, page 1881, which directs
that sittings of the district court shall
be held at the town of Tonopah when
ever the people of that portion of
the county living nearer or more con-
veniently situated to that town than
to Belmont, the county seat, shall be
accommodated thereby or when such
sittings in the opinion of the district
Judge, shall be more economical to
the litigants. We quote: "Sec. 4.
The sittings of the district court, or
session thereof, held in the town of
Tonopah shall be the same in validity
and effect as if held inlthe town of Bel
mont, and shall be so held for the
accommodation of the people, for the
accom-, oda ton and convenience of
litigants, witnesses and jurors, and
for the purpose of giving greater
publicity to the proceeding of such
court than if held in the town of Bel
mont; Section 5. The county com
missioners of Nye county shall pro
vide the proper rooms for the use of
the court and the clerk. "
Respondents have failed to provide
the rooms designated. Petitioner
asserts, and it is conceded, that the
town of Belmont, the county seat, is
distant from the town of Tonopah
fifty miles, and eighty-fiv miles from
Austin in Lander county, the nearest
and most convenient railroad station;
that there is no telegraphic or tele-
phone service between Belmont aud
the world at large and especially
with Tonopah; that the only commu-
nication between the latter place and
Belmont, is by United States mail,
which is forwarded by way of Soda
vile, and from there through several
counties by rail to Austin and thence
by stage to Belmont, requiring sew
eral days in transit; that the popula-
ton of Nye county is about five
thousand inhabitants, and of these
that about four thousand reside in or
nearer to Tonopah than TO Belmont;
that all sittlngs of the district court
are held at Belmont, and that If a
part of them are held at Tonopah, as
provided for in the act mentioned a
great saving will be made to the
county in the payment of fees and
mileage to jurors, and large number
of litigants and persons having bust
ness with the district court will be
accommodated. The question in
volved is controlled by Art. ", Sec.
Z, of our state constitution which
requires that, "the terms of the
supreme court shall be held at the
seat of government, and the terms
of the district court shall be held at
the county seats of their respective
counties; provided, that in case any
county shall hereafter be divided into
two or more districts, the legislature
may by law, designate the place of
of holding court in such districts. "
AS shown by reference to the con-
stitutional debates, the opponents OF
this section failed in strong effort
to prevent its Insertion, and after
objection, discussion and due consid-
GRAFTON, it was inserted by the franz
ers and adopted by the people in
their sovereign capacity and became
the supreme law of the state
our legislatures and the courts
until abrogated or modified by the
same august body by which it had
been created.
This statute does not attempt to
create or name new district, nor
to divide the county, nor to fix by
any definite boundary the part of the
county from which judicial business
would be heard and determined at
Tonopah.
Although there are other towns in
the state not connected with the
outer world by rail or wire much
more distant from the county seat
than Tonopah, and for the people in
which attendance upon court entails
even greater inconvenience, we are
not unmindful of the hardships to
which large portion of the citizens
of Nye county are subjected and
which the act was intended to re.
lieve, and although we appreciate
the purpose for which the statute
was passad ones tionS reUardinp tho