The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-10-08
COURT DECIDES
NEW COUNTY CASE
PETITION FOR MANDAMUS HAS
BEEN REFUSED.
Gov. Ansel Upheld-Supreme Court
Held That His Excellency Did
Right in Dismissing the Pc
tition.


tition.
The State.
The State supreme court yesterday
dismissed the application for a writ
Of nanlamuS compelling Gov. Ansel
IL ;~>1r IN ..r,1ri' Cor All election Tor
{, new co"n;v. formed out OF Edge +:
4ic,1 and Aiken. The action Of the :
court is important in jnat ii decided .
axac;}v lie powers II 4 governor TO .
dismiss o.. acr upon = petition Tor ::
conn,v elections. 1t will be recalled .
thai some time 600. during the last /
DAYS of Gov. HeNward' 5 admlnlStra- i
ton. a petition was presented for the /
election Of new county to be formed !
out Of portions of f,dyetield and Ak
zen and the opponents Of the scheme
claimed that this was the same terri
tory as was contained in the proposed
:,ouniy Of Hayward which was de-
TeaIed in 1906. Gov. Ansel, after
!aea17ng. declared that while there
might be some differences in the
Boundary lines the territory was
practically the same and accordingly
dismissed? he ,>ri:i"n. IN effort was
thcn made by ;hc advocates Of tAe
new county to compel the governor
10 order the election and this decls-
ion diSmisses the petition, holding
that Gov. Ansel had right to take
this action. a purely ministerial duty.
The decision in full, written by AS
:sociate Justice Woods, is as follows:
-. 'sThis is an application for a writ
of mandamus requiring his excelleney
Gov. Ansel to order an election on
the question Of formation Of new
county. We shall not enter into the
INQUIRY whether this court has the
power to issue mandamus requiring
the governor of the state to perform
a plain ministerial duty because, IN
our opinion. the petition does not
show any duty. which the governor
has failed to perform.
'"In January, 1907, the relators
dled a petition with his exeelleneJ
Gov. Hayward for the creation OF
new county out Of portions Of Edge
field and Aiken counties. The de
.scription Of the territory to be IN
.cluded in the proposed new count,
was on its face general and approx
zmate and concluded with this state
ment: The foregoing description am
boundaries are intended to cut off an'
include not exceeding l35 squar
miles from Edgefeld county, and no
exceeding 235 square miles from AK
<en> county: and to that end at an
time before final survey and locatlo
NAV be varied. changed or amende
bv the commissioners acting IN be
half of the proposed new county, az
pointed pursuant to an act approve
The 2lst day Of February, 1908, the
being hereby constituted and appoint
ed attorneys in fact of petitioners TO
that purpose. the power given the1
10 amend or change the lines or de
.scription being ancillary and not e'
<,]nsiye of petitioners right to amen
this petition at any time
Gov. Heyward. under the act c
February q. 1905. appointed comml
.;sioners to investigate whether the n
ouirements of the constitution as
area. distance. wealth, population
,. etc. had been complied with. Sui
seouently. the petitioners petltlone
Gov. Ansel, VINO had succeeded TO
Hevward. to be allowed to amend tt
petition by substituting for the GEL
eral description an exact descrlptlc
of the territory to be included
COURSES, distances and boundarl
shown on the plat. When this app
cation to mend was madl opp
nents Of the new county scheme tI'
an answer to the petition III whit
they alleged the proposed new con
" to be substantially the same as t
proposed new county Of Heywa
(which had been defeated at al ele
ton, held in December, 1906. &c
Ansel. after hearing argument fro
both sides. allowed the amendme1
but dismissed the petition on t
.sround that while there was a V;
zafion in territory Of about 50 squa
miles nevertheless the proposed n;