Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/216/331/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 22:33:12+00:00

Document:
Where the final judgment of the supreme court of a territory is not based on the power of the legislature to enact the statute involved, but on the construction thereof, this Court is not disposed to disturb that construction, and so held following the decisions of the territorial court, that a statute of New Mexico carving a new county out of an existing one did not create a vacancy in an office of the original county because the incumbent did not reside in that portion of the county which remained.
Quaere whether a judgment of ouster in quo warranto is conclusive between the same parties in a suit brought by the de jure relator against the de facto incumbent.
After judgment of ouster in quo warranto, a de jure officer may recover the emoluments of the office, less the reasonable expenses incurred in earning the same, where, as in this case, the de facto officer entered the office in good faith and under color of title.
These cases involve controversies over the right of the fees of the office of Assessor of Bernalillo County, New Mexico. Plaintiff in error received the fees, defendant in error claims the right to them as the duly elected officer.
There was prior litigation over the right to the office. Proceedings in the nature of quo warranto were instituted against plaintiff in error by the territory, upon the relation of defendant in error, to try the title of plaintiff in error to the office. Judgment went in favor of the latter in the trial court, which was reversed by the supreme court, and the case remanded for further proceedings. 12 N.M. 293.
"The term of office had expired before the rendition of judgment by the territorial supreme court, and as to the effect of the judgment of ouster in a suit to recover emoluments for the past, that is collateral, even though the judgment might be conclusive in such subsequent action. New England Mortgage Security Co. v. Gay, 145 U. S. 123; Washington & Georgetown R. Co. v. District of Columbia, 146 U. S. 227."
This action was brought for the past fees and emoluments of the office, amounting, it is alleged, to the sum of six thousand, one hundred eighty-four dollars and sixteen cents ($6,184.16).
"certain proceeding entitled the Territory of New Mexico on the relation of Jesus Maria Sandoval against the said George F. Albright, was restored to the possession of the said office."
The judgment was made part of the complaint.
he had been elected, and that, at the time of the appointment of Albright, the office was and had been vacant from the time of the creation of Sandoval County.
The answer admitted the receipt of $6,648 on account of fees and emoluments, and alleged that Albright paid out the sum of $2,142.25 for clerical and other expenses necessarily incurred in administering the office, which amount, he alleged, he was "entitled to receive as a set-off against any demand" against him. And he alleged that the said sum was paid in good faith. There was a demurrer to the answer filed and a replication. The latter accepted the statement of the amount received by Albright, alleged want of information as to the amount expended as expenses of the office, and denied that Albright was an incumbent of the office in good faith.
The demurrer was sustained to all parts of the answer except those alleging receipt of fees and the payment of expenses. As to them, evidence was submitted to a jury, which, under the direction of the court, returned a verdict for the plaintiff, Sandoval, in the sum of $5,360.53, which was the amount sued for, less the expenses which had been incurred by Albright. Both parties moved for a new trial, the plaintiff on account of the allowance of the expenses, the defendant on account of the recovery against him of the fees and emoluments received by him. Judgment was entered for the amount of the verdict in favor of the plaintiff, and affirmed by the supreme court. 93 P. 717. Both parties sued out writs of error. That of Albright (No. 116) is directed to the judgment against him; that of Sandoval (No. 117), to redress the error, which, he contends, was made against him in allowing as a set-off against his demand, the expenses that Albright had incurred in administering the office.
officer were fully determined in the former suits, and cannot be considered in this; therefore the court below properly sustained the demurrer to all such parts of the answer as sought to raise this issue."
The suits referred to by the court were Albright v. Territory, 78 P. 205; Territory v. Albright, 79 P. 719; Albright v. Sandoval, 200 U. S. 9.
The court therefore addressed itself to the two propositions which it conceived were left in the case -- the right of Sandoval to recover the fees received by Albright and the right of the latter to set off against them his disbursements for expenses. The court, passing on the first proposition, found, it said, no statute of the territory "governing this subject," but decided that "the common law, in the absence of a statute, authorizes a recovery by the officer de jure in such cases." On the second proposition, it found that there could be no question of Albright's good faith, and that it considered the cases made good faith "the controlling consideration for the allowances of expenses to an ousted de facto officer," and affirmed the judgment of the trial court.
contended by defendant in error, that the legislature has the power to create a vacancy, and actually exercised the power.
"arrived at the conclusion that it was the intention of the legislature to declare that office [the office of Assessor of Bernalillo County] vacant, and therefore, although those sections do not contain a declaration to that effect, the court was of the opinion that those sections should be given the effect of such a declaration."
But the supreme court added, "We cannot concur with the trial court in this conclusion," and proceeded to analyze the legislation, and decided that it did not have the meaning plaintiff in error attributes to it. In other words, did not create a vacancy in the office of assessor of Bernalillo County. And considering the laws of the territory as to the qualification of county officers, decided that residence was not one of them. The court further decided that, when plaintiff in error was appointed, the act under which it is contended that it was done had not taken effect, and that therefore his appointment was unauthorized.
The court, considering the legislation in view of the powers of the legislature, as limited by the Act of Congress of July 30, 1886, 24 Stat. 170, c. 818, concluded that the legislature had not the power to remove and appoint county officers, as contended, but the decision of the case was put on the other grounds which we have stated. In other words, put upon the construction of the statutes. And that construction we are not disposed to disturb. Fox v. Haarstick, 156 U. S. 674; English v. Arizona, 214 U. S. 359; Crary v. Dye, 208 U. S. 515.
Under these views, it is not necessary to decide whether the judgment in the quo warranto proceedings is conclusive of the issues in this case, as contended by defendant in error.
The decision upon the respective rights of the parties arising from the statute of the territory may be rested on the grounds which we have expressed, and we come to the proposition whether Sandoval can recover the fees and emoluments received by Albright, and whether, if he can, may the latter set off his expenses. The first proposition is not controverted by Albright, although he suggests that there are some well considered cases the other way, and he cites Stuhr v. Curran, 44 N.J.L. 181. He also cites Taylor v. Beckham, 178 U. S. 548; Butler v. Pennsylvania, 10 How. 402, for the view that there is no such thing as property in a public office. However, his ultimate concession is that the weight of authority is to the effect that a de jure officer may recover from the de facto officer the emoluments of the office, less the reasonable expenses incurred in earning such fees, when the de facto officer entered into the office in good faith and under color of title. And this was the view of the supreme court of the territory. To sustain the first proposition, the court reviewed Stuhr v. Curran, supra, and cites against it United States v. Addison, 6 Wall. 291; Dolan v. New York, 68 N.Y. 274; Hunter v. Chandler, 45 Mo. 452; Glascock v. Lyons, 20 Ind. 1; Douglass v. State, 31 Ind. 429; People v. Miller, 24 Mich. 458; Dorsey v. Smith, 28 Cal. 21; Nichols v. MacLean, 101 N.Y. 538; Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, 149 Ill. 503; Vaux v. Jeffersen, 2 Dyer 114; Arris v. Stukely, 2 Mod. 260; Lee v. Drake, Salk. 467-468; Webb's Case, 8 Rep. 45; 1 Sel. N.P. 81; 1 Chitty, Pl. 112. It is not necessary to make a review of these cases. It is enough to say that they sustain the proposition for which they are cited.
The second question is more debatable, to-wit, whether Sandoval was entitled to the gross receipts of the office, as contended by him, or to the net receipts, as contended by Albright, and as decided by the courts below.
the circumstances of this case, of the deductions allowed by the courts below.
"there may be reason for deducting from any official earnings the actual cost of obtaining them, which would have been entailed on any person who might have held the office."
This may be said of the expenses in controversy in the case at bar. Mayfield v. Moore, 53 Ill. 428, is the leading case which sustains the right to deduct such expenses. This case is followed by others in the same court, and the same view has been announced by other courts. We think they express the correct rule. It makes the measure of recovery the extent of the injury, and the injury, it is clear, is not the gross earnings of an office, but such earnings less, to use the language of Mr. Chief Justice Campbell in People v. Miller, supra, "the actual cost of obtaining them, which would have been entailed on any person who might have held the office."

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