Case Name: STATE OF NEW JERSEY, EX REL. RUSSELL W. MOORE, v. JOHN SEYMOUR
Court: New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals
Jurisdiction: New Jersey
Decision Date: 1903-06-08
Citations: 69 N.J.L. 606
Docket Number: 
Parties: STATE OF NEW JERSEY, EX REL. RUSSELL W. MOORE, v. JOHN SEYMOUR.
Judges: Before. Justices Van Syckel and Garretson.
Reporter: New Jersey Law Reports
Volume: 69
Pages: 606–607

Head Matter:
STATE OF NEW JERSEY, EX REL. RUSSELL W. MOORE, v. JOHN SEYMOUR.
Argued February Term, 1903
Decided June 8, 1903.
Where in an application for leave to file an information in the nature of a writ of quo warranto directed to a defendant elected to an office under an unconstitutional act, and in the proceedings relator proposed to attack not only the title of defendant to the office, but the legal existence of the office itself—Held, that whether the office which defendant is claiming to hold had a legal existence can only be determined by the attorney-general acting in his public capacity.
Application for leave to file information.
Before. Justices Van Syckel and Garretson.
For the relator, Benjamin F. Jones.
For the defendant, Arthur B. Seymour.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
This is an application for leave to file an information in the nature of a writ of quo warranto directed to John Seymour, directing him to show by what authority he claims to have and enjoy the office of 'a member of the common council of the city of Orange, and of president of said common council.
The act under which Seymour was' elected was declared unconstitutional in Christie v. Bayonne, 35 Vroom 191. In this proceeding the relator proposes to attack not only the title of Seymour to the office, but also the legal existence of the office itself.
In the case of Holloway v. Dickinson et al., the opinion of Mr. Justice Pitney, in the Supreme Court at the last February Term (ante p. 72), holds that members of a de facto board of education, organized under the General School law (Pamph. L. 1902, p. 69) cannot be ousted at the instance of a private relator in quo warranto, on the ground that such board of education has no legal corporate existence.
Whether the office which Seymour is claiming to hold has a legal existence can be determined only at the instance of the attorney-general, acting in his public capacity as the representative of the people of the state.
The application, therefore, of -Russell W. Moore for leave to file an information is denied, with costs.