The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1921-02-11

provides that the Road Superintend.
ent shall have the power 10 make
necessary provisions for guards, there
fore, | advise yon that the Superin-
tendent of Work House cannot con
tinue in charge of same, but the
| guards should remain until their sue
cesors are named or appointed by the
Road superintendent.
Answering your question No. A with
reference to Superintendent Of Roads
and District Road Commissioners. b /.
i. This is the, most ,seriops question
you have asked AN I have been I'M,
able to find any decision, directly on
this question, ..oon. SIS 4a a.
Under the Looney Law all prior
road laws in conflict Herewith are
repealed and the new law takes eff
feet from and after it's passage, but
the election of the Road Superin-
tendent by the Quarterly Court as is
provided by said Looney law, does not
take place until the April term of
court, therefore, it seems that the
new law is in effect without any pro,
visions as to it's enforcement or oper-
alton until the April term of the quar-
terly court. Shannon's code provides
that the establishment and general
supervision of roads, ferries, water
courses and local improvements is en-
trusted to the county court, and that
the. county courts have power to ap.
point commissioners to fill all vacan-,
cies that may 5occprl ,The supreme,
court Of this state has, held that the,
county courts composed of the, JUS
tees Of the, peace, wh4 are the repre-
ss9ealnqtatiyes and authorised agents OF
'itbhee county are given exclusive, control
vof the establishment and supervision
Of roads and bridges. 1t is generally.
understood that every. officer. shall
hold office until his successor is elect
ed or appointed and qualified and that
the county court can appoint sue
cessor in case of vacancy, but there
can be no vacancy as long as an of.
ficer holds until his successor Is elect.
ed. ..
In the Shelby county case or the
Memphis charter case Of Malone VS..
Williams reported in 10th Gates from
pages 377 to $50, 1t is held that the
legislature cannot take from the Of
ficer the substance, of the office and
transfer it to another to be appointed
IN ? different manner, and to hold by
a, different tenure, although the nam.
OF the office is. changed or the office di-
vided and the duties assigned to two
or more officers under different
names, It is. also held in said case
that the legislature cannot change the
name. Of an office and create a new
name and provide for practically the
same same duties, in. order that one officer
shall be dismissed and a new one ap.
pointed in his place. 1t is also we'll
understood that the right of an. incum-
bent to hold his Office recognizes the
right of the legislature to abolish
legislative office, and that, when the
office is abolished, the right of the in
cumbent to hold it is gone, because
there is no office to hold. But in
this instance the Office of road super
intendent and district commissioners
were not abolished, but the laws un-
der which they were created were re-
pealed and the same Offices were Gre
ated under the new law with practi-
cally the same duties, and although
the road superintendent and district
commissioners were elected under the
1919 road law and their duties have
been enlarged under the Looney law,
I am of the opinion that they SHOULD
hold oysrzas road superintendent and
district commissioners until their sue
cessors have been elected and quail
fed under the new law. l think am
borne out in. this statement by the de-
cision above referred to and the cases
cited in the. above case, which hold
that it does not matter that the duy
ties of the several officers may, be, to |
ss9mree extent enlarged Under the pres ]
ent act as. compared, with the, prior
acts The Offices are substantially
the same; the names being changed.
Men cannot be legislated out of Office
in this way. Even if the statute in
question =. could be treated as valid
amendatory act of prior legislation, it
could not have the effect to remove
the officers above named, and create
a vacancy to be filled by appointment,
since the same act which purports