Opinion ID: 1128517
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: expiration of the prior trustees' terms of office

Text: In fulfilling our duty to interpret this constitutional provision, we do not write on a blank slate. The majority holds that the phrase until their successors shall be appointed and qualified allows a trustee to remain in office indefinitely after his specified term expires, unless and until the Governor and the Senate agree on a replacement trustee. Although the majority's interpretation is superficially appealing, it contradicts nearly a century of consistent jurisprudence that the framers of Amendment No. 161 had before them when they adopted the legal term of art until their successors are appointed and qualified. [4] More than a century ago, in City Council of Montgomery v. Hughes, 65 Ala. 201, 203 (1880), this Court interpreted the phrase until their successors are duly elected and qualified as it applied to elected city officials. Chief Justice Brickell adopted the already long-established rule of the English judges that such a holdover period was provided merely to allow a reasonable time for the newly elected officials to confirm their qualifications and assume office. Id. at 206-07 (citations omitted). He stated: We are not without some experience, in this State, of the temptations such a construction offers defeated candidates for re-election to municipal offices, by vexatious litigation to prolong their official terms. The manifest object of the clause is, to prevent a misconstruction of the charter, possible if there was not express provision for the interval elapsing of necessity between an election and the qualification of the officer. This interval may vary in length, under particular circumstances; but it was never within the legislative contemplation, that, under this clause, an official term could be prolonged beyond a reasonable time for the newly elected officer to qualify. If for such time he failed to qualify, there would be a vacancy, to be filled as the charter directs. Id. at 207 (emphasis added). A quarter century later, in Prowell v. State ex rel. Hasty, 142 Ala. 80, 83, 39 So. 164, 166 (1905), this Court stated in unmistakable language: We regard it as the settled law of this State that the words `until his successor is elected and qualified' [were] never intended to prolong the term of office beyond a reasonable time, after the election, to enable the newly elected officer to qualify. (Emphasis added.) [5] Just 10 years before the proposal of Amendment No. 161, this Court reiterated: It is now the settled law of this state that the words `until his successor is elected and qualified' were never intended to prolong the term of office beyond a reasonable time.... (Emphasis added.) State ex rel. Benefield v. Cottle, 254 Ala. 520, 521, 49 So.2d 224, 225 (1950). [6] These repeated precedents spanning almost a century prior to the adoption of Amendment No. 161 are the best evidence of what the framers of the words until their successors shall be appointed and qualified intended. See generally Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1, 26-30, 111 S.Ct. 1032, 1042, 113 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991) (Scalia, J., dissenting) ([R]epeated judicial decisions for more than a century are to be received as the best exposition of what the law is ....) (quoting Day v. Woodworth, 13 How. 363, 371, 14 L.Ed. 181 (1851)). [7] The choice of these time-honored words reflects the Legislature's intent not to experiment with a newly crafted phrase, but to embrace the security of the consistent interpretation adhered to by this Court. See Fox v. McDonald, 101 Ala. 51, 66-67, 13 So. 416, 419-20 (1893) (stating that constitutional provisions should be interpreted in light of the history before their ratification). I conclude, therefore, that the legitimate holdover periods of the prior trustees in this case expired a reasonable time after their specified terms ended. I would further hold that a reasonable time expired when the Legislature met from April 18 to July 31, 1995, and had the opportunity to confirm the Governor's nominees to fill the new 12-year terms that began on January 19, 1995. See Hughes, 65 Ala. at 203. [8]