Case Name: G. W. Warren vs. W. D. McDonald
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1880-10
Citations: 32 La. Ann. 987
Docket Number: No. 14
Parties: G. W. Warren vs. W. D. McDonald.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Annual Reports
Volume: 32
Pages: 987–991

Head Matter:
No. 14.
G. W. Warren vs. W. D. McDonald.
Appeals in contested election cases are still returnable as provided for in Sections 40 and 1434 of the Revised Statutes of 1870, which do not conflict -with Act No. 45 of 1870. 0. C. Duson vs. O. M. Thompson, 32 An. 861. affirmed.
Act No. 44 of 1877 is the only law of tbe State, under -which juries are now drawn, and it is for the Jury Commissioners, appointed under its provisions, to draw the juries by which contested election cases are tried.
The general venire box being destroyed, it was legal for .the Jury Commissioners to draw a jury of talesmen for the trial of this case.
The ballot-boxes having been destroyed, verbal evidence was nroperly admitted to show the number oí votes cast for Plaintiff and the number cast for Defendant.
APPEAL from the Eighteenth Judicial District Court, parish of Webster. Turner, J.
T. M. Port and John Young for Plaintiff and Appellant.
The law does not require a vain or impossible thing.” 22 A. 33.
•“ When the letter of the law leads to an absurd conclusion, the judge is bound to recede from it until he arrives at a reasonable conclusion.” 16 L. 268.
Sec. 7 of Act 45, Ex. Ses. 1870, applies to cases arising under the writs of mandamus and quo warranto, and the act to prevent intrusion into office, and not .to contested election cases. 12 A. 825, 13 A. 175, 21 A. 289.
The order of appeal is the act of the judge, and a mistake of a return day made by him can not be visited upon the appellant.” 31 A. 596.
The plurality of votes legally cast elects the -candidate. The legal returns are the best evidence of the vote cast, but when lost or destroyed, or not made out, the evidence of those who held the election and those who witnessed or assisted in the count is good evidence to establish the result of the election.
C. E. McDonald and J. D. Watkins for Defendant and Appellee.

Opinion:
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Poohe, J.
This is a contested election case, growing out of the general election held in this State on the second of December, 1879, at which plaintiff and defendant were competing candidates for the office of Clerk of the District Court of Webster parish.
From a verdict and judgment rendered against him, decreeing that there had been no legal election for that office and ordering a new election, plaintiff has taken a suspensive appeal, which defendant moves to dismiss, on the ground that as this case involves the right to office, the appeal should have been made returnable in ten days after the rendition of the judgment, which was signed on January 7th of the present year. That the provisions of Section 7 of Act No. 45, .of 1870, requiring that all appeals in cases involving the right to offioe be made returnable in ten days after judgment, do not apply to, or govern, contested election cases, in which appeals are to be regulated as in all other civil cases, is no longer an open question in our jurisprudence. The distinction between the two classes of cases was clearly drawn in the two leading cases of 12 A. 825 and 13 A. 175 ; it was subsequently re-affirmed by the late Court in the case of the State ex rel. Young vs. the Judge of the District Court of the parish of Concordia, decided in 1879, and not reported ; and it was finally adjudicated upon by ourselves in the case of C. C. Duson vs. C. M. Thompson, recently decided at Opelousas, and not yet reported.
In a contested election case, the right to office is not necessarily or exclusively involved, because the investigation is directed to the legality or illegality of the election, and may result in recognizing neither of the contestants as entitled to the office, and in ordering a new election, as illustrated by the verdict of the jury in this very case.
The motion to dismiss is therefore overruled