Opinion ID: 1287520
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Removal for Malpractice

Text: Appellant also contends the present Act violates the provision of the Georgia Constitution which provides that county officers shall be removed upon conviction for malpractice in office. Art. XI, Sec. II, Par. I (Code Ann. § 2-7901). Appellees admit that appellant was not removed for malpractice under this section but contend that § 2-7901 does not apply to county commissioners as they are not county officers within the meaning of this section. See Rhodes v. Jernigan, 155 Ga. 523 (117 SE 432) (1923) relating to a portion of the predecessor provision to Code Ann. § 2-7901. See also Wilson v. Harris, 170 Ga. 800 (154 SE 388) (1930), and the apparently conflicting decision in Sweat v. Barnhill, 171 Ga. 294 (155 SE 18) (1930), and Marshall v. Walker, 183 Ga. 44 (187 SE 81) (1936) which held that if any part of Sweat conflicted with Wilson v. Harris, supra, it must yield to the latter decision. For examples of cases decided after Marshall, which reaffirm the holding in Sweat that a county commissioner is a county officer, see Hulgan v. Thornton, 205 Ga. 753, 757 (55 SE2d 115) (1949), and Employees Retirement System v. Lewis, 109 Ga. App. 476, 479 (136 SE2d 518) (1964). Even if we assume that Code Ann. § 2-7901 is applicable to county commissioners, it does not follow that this constitutional requirement that county officers shall be removed upon conviction for malpractice in office is an exclusive removal section which prohibits the General Assembly from legislating other valid means for removal of county officers. The removal section of § 2-7901 is a mandatory rather than a limiting section. It merely specifies that malpractice in office requires automatic removal from office of the officeholder. It does not otherwise deal with removal and does not prohibit the General Assembly from enacting otherwise valid removal statutes. For cases upholding the removal provisions of other local Acts which were decided prior to the 1945 Constitution, see, e.g., Robitzsch v. State, 189 Ga. 637 (7 SE2d 387) (1940), and Smith v. Duggan, supra.