Title: State Ex Rel. Treadaway v. Louisiana State Board of Health
Citation: 221 La. 1048, 61 So. 2d 735
Docket Number: N/A
State: Louisiana
Issuer: Louisiana Supreme Court
Date: November 10, 1952

61 So. 2d 735 (1952) 221 La. 1048 STATE ex rel. TREADAWAY v. LOUISIANA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. No. 40715. Supreme Court of Louisiana. November 10, 1952. *736 George Piazza, New Orleans, for relator. Edmond G. Miranne, George Sladovich, Jr., and Charles L. Stiffell, New Orleans, for respondent-appellant. MOISE, Justice. Mandamus proceedings were instituted by Grant T. Treadaway to compel the Louisiana State Board of Health to change its records as to relator's mother, Anna Treadaway, from "colored" to "white". The State Board of Health filed an answer in which it stood on all of the grounds covered by its certificate and pleaded that the registration was correct. The district court, after overruling exceptions filed by the defendant Board, held a trial on the merits and thereafter rendered judgment making peremptory the writ of mandamus. The State Board of Health prosecuted an appeal to this Court and we, in turn, referred the matter to the Court of Appeal for the Parish of Orleans, because of our lack of jurisdiction. 218 La. 752, 51 So. 2d 41. The appellate court reversed the judgment of the district court and dismissed relator's suit. We granted a writ of certiorari and this matter is now before us for review. We have examined the record, the testimony and the documentary evidence presented in this case, and, after careful consideration, having satisfied ourselves that the Court of Appeal's conclusions on the law and the evidence are correct, we quote approvingly from its findings: The relator contends that the appellate court cannot reverse the judgment of the district court unless there is shown manifest error, because, the rule is, the district judge seeing and hearing the witnesses is in a better position to judge of their credibility. The statement of fact in the appellate court's decision is predicated in the main on documentary evidence registered at an unsuspicious time and thereafter persisted in under different recorders. The certificates of registration show that the information given was on documentary evidence of prior registrations by members of the relator's family. On such evidence, the district court is in no better position to judge than the appellate court. The relator further contends that it is the duty of the State Board of Health to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that relator's mother was colored. Relator must show that he has a clear legal right to have the correction made. The legal certainty of the proof submitted must be such as to compel the Registrar of Vital Statistics to perform the ministerial duty of changing the recordation from "Colored" to "White". The proof of record falls far short of any such assumption. As the name indicates, the records kept by the Registrar are vital to the general public welfare. The registration of a birthright must be given as much sanctity in the law as the registration of a property right. The writ heretofore issued is recalled and set aside, and the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Parish of Orleans, dismissing relator's suit, is affirmed at relator's cost.