Case Name: Ice v. Board of Canvassers
Court: Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
Jurisdiction: West Virginia
Decision Date: 1908-12-19
Citations: 64 W. Va. 544
Docket Number: 
Parties: Ice v. Board of Canvassers.
Judges: 
Reporter: West Virginia Supreme Court
Volume: 64
Pages: 544–545

Head Matter:
CHARLESTON
Ice v. Board of Canvassers.
Submitted December 19, 1908.
Decided December 19, 1908.
Mandamus — When Granted — Enforcement of Abstract Might.
Mere personal satisfaction to a candidate of knowing he received a certain number of votes, or that a certain ballot is countable for him, is, in law, a mere abstract right, for the vindication of which mandamus does not lie. (p. 544.)
Error to Circuit Court, Marion County.
Action by William B. Ice against the Board of Canvassers of Marion county. Judgment for defendant and plaintiff brings error.
Reversed.
H. N. OgdeN, W. B. CorNwell, T. N. Parks and W. E. R. ByrNE, for plaintiff in error.
Harry Shaw, JNO. L. LehmaN, and J. Guy Richards, for defendant in error.

Opinion:
POEFENBARGER, PRESIDENT:
In the circuit court of Marion county, Wm. B. Ice, Jr. a candidate for member of the House of Delegates, obtained, from the circuit court of said county a peremptory writ of mandamus, compelling the board of canvassers of said county to count a certain ballot for him, which had been rejected. The board obtained a writ of error to the judgment. The petition did not show that the candidate's election would be effected by the counting of the ballot for him. It said only that it would likely affect the result and again that it would change the result. A demurrer to the petition on the ground of prematureness in the application was overruled. The personal satisfaction to a candidate of knowing he received a certain number of votes or that a certain ballot was counted for him is not a substantial right. It is mere abstract right. For the vindication of such a right mcmdamus does not lie. 26 Cyc. 217; Merrill on Mand., section 49; Hall v. Staunton, 55 W. Va. 684, 686. The petition is insufficient to call for the decision of the question it seeks to raise.
For the error of the court below in overruling the demurrer the judgment is reversed, the demurrer sustained and the writ refused, all of which will be certified to the circuit court of Marion county.
Reversed.