v.
Independent School District of Earlham
Lead Opinion
I. The petition alleges: (1) That a pretended consolidated district has no legal existence, because the proposal to create it failed to receive the sanction of a legal majority of the voters; (2) that, despite this, a pretended election was held to name school directors for said pretended district; (3) that defendants claim, on account of said pretended elections, to be directors and officers of said pretended district; (4) that these are threatening and proceeding to discontinue the use of schoolhouses and the maintenance of schools heretofore and now existing and being maintained in an independent district now claimed to be a part of the consolidated district; (5) that they are threatening to sell, dispose of and remove said schoolhouses and to discontinue the schools heretofore and now maintained in each of named subdistricts located near the homes of the plaintiffs, and thereby to deprive plaintiffs of convenient and valuable school privileges for their school children, and require plaintiffs to send such children many miles away for their school privileges; (6) that they are about to proceed to erect extensive and expensive school buildings, at great cost to these plaintiffs and other electors residing within the territory attempted to be included within the pretended consolidated independent district; (7) that they will cause taxes to be levied [*548] to pay therefor, and these plaintiffs and all other property OAvners within the pretended district will sustain great and irreparable loss by being compelled to pay a heavy tax to support and nxaintain the proposed school: and that this Avill all be done unless defendants are restrained by injuxxction. Plaintiffs pray an injunction and decree restraining defendants from assuming to act as a board of directors of the pretended consolidated district; from taking any further steps in the organizatioxx of the pretended school corporation; restraining them from tearing doxvn or disposing of the school buildixxgs aforesaid; froxn erecting any buildixxgs or directing the levy of any taxes in favor of the pretended consolidated district; froxn interfering in any Avay xvith the property or the maintaining of schools in described territory pretended to be included in the consolidation; axxd that the court “adjudge all proceedings in Avhich it was attempted by a pretended election to organize' said Consolidated Independent Distract of Earlham to be void axxd of no effect.” General equitable additional relief is prayed. A decree was entered substantially as prayed, and which holds, among other things, that the election upon Avhich the defendants claim to be directors was illegal axxd without authority of law, that all steps taken axxd proceedings had were and should be set aside and held for naught. The consolidated district itself was perpetually enjoixxed and restrained from assuming to act as such district, and, as said, there is a restraining order granting, in substance, all that was prayed.
1-a
In Nelson v. Consolidated Ind. School Dist., 181 Iowa 424, it is settled that quo warranto alone affords a remedy where the sole question is whether a municipal corporation was legally formed. But it does not hold that this goes to jurisdiction or may be raised for the first time on appeal. It does hold, and we do now, that, when the formation is merely emergent or incidental, a court of equity may pass upon its legality. We hold further and now that the point is purely modal, and that it may not be raised first on appeal that the court of chancery acted and that quo warranto is the exclusive proceduré. See Hogueland v. Arts, 113 Iowa 634; In re Receivership of Magner, 173 Iowa 299, at 313.
The right to vote is a' political and not a natural one, and if it is not conferred by law, it does not exist. The denial of it is completely justified if the Constitution requires a stated qualification, or the statute imposes one which is not in conflict with the Constitution, and the citizen lacks that qualification. Paine, Elections, Secs. 57, 58; Morrison v. Springer, 15 Iowa 304, 342; 10 Am. & Eng. Encyc. of Law, 568, 596-607; In re Denny, (Ind.) 59 N. E. 359; Greenough v. Board, (R. I.) 74 Atl. 785; State v. Blaisdell, (N. D.) 119 N. W. 360; 29 Am. & Eng. Encyc. of Law, 1075. Section 1, Article 2, of the Constitution provides:
“Every male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of this state six months next preceding the election, and of the [*551] county in which he claims his vote, sixty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or hereafter may be authorized by law.”
Assuming, for the purposes of present discussion, that the vote taken on this proposed consolidation was an election, and we. have the question whether the residence for 60 days is merely a direction to avoid fraudulent voting, facilitated by lack of personal acquaintance with those tendering a vote, or whether a residence for at least 60 days before the day of election in some county is one of the qualifications for voting at all — whether the lack of such residence is akin to the requirement as to age. Is the residence requirement merely -a precautionary direction, or is it an essential qualification? Does it do no more than work that one who has not lived in the county the stated length of time ought not to vote, or should not be allowed to on challenge, or is the true construction that, if one does not have such residence, he can no more vote in any place in the state or for any purpose than if he were less than 21, or not a resident of the state for the prescribed length of time? Langhammer v. Munter, (Md.) 31 Atl. 300, Fry’s Election Case, 71 Pa. 302, 306, and Dicey, Law of Domicil, page 55, declare it to be obvious that state residence and district residence are of the same nature, and whatever is necessary to constitute the one is essential to define the others. Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, (Ill.) 17 N. E. 232, 253, holds if a voter abandon his residence in a voting district at a date too near the election for the requisite intervening time of the residence to be a voter in the new district to which he has removed, he will be entitled to vote in neither district. The required residence seems to be precisely equal to requirements like that as to age and being a male. State v. School District, (Neb.) 7 N. W. 315, 316; State v. Boyd, (Neb.) 48 N. W. 739. One must be an “inhabitant” to be a voter. Baldwin v. Town of N. Branford, 32 Conn. [*552] 47, 53; Walnut v. Wade, 103 U. S. 683, 693. Similar holdings there are as to qualifications by residence to render one competent to sign a petition to change the boundaries of a school district, and as to what constitutes a patron of a school with reference to signing a petition for relocation of the school. School District v. School District, (Ark.) 39 S. W. 850; Willan v. Richardson, (Ind. App.) 98 N. E. 1094. He is not a voter Avithout having the prescribed residence. Langhammer v. Munter, (Md.) 31 Atl. 300, at 301; Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, (Ill.) 17 N. E. 232, 253; Carter v. Putnam, (Ill.) 30 N. E. 681. We said, in State v. Savre, 129 Iowa 122, at 124, in approval of Vanderpoel v. O’Hanlon, 53 Iowa 246:
“He is entitled to vote only in the county Avhere his home is, where his fixed place of residence is for the time being.”
And in State v. Minnick, 15 Iowa 123, at 125:
“But a person may be a qualified voter, so far as age, residence in the state or county are concerned, and yet if he simply votes in the wrong township, he is clearly guilty of illegal voting, under Section 1337. It was the intention of the statute to confine voters to the toAAuiship of their residence, and the disability attaches when they offer to vote in any other, as much as if they Avere not tAventy-one years of age.”
The words of the Constitution, that he “shall have been a resident * * of the county in which he claims his vote,” may have been written in oversight of the fact that, as to some elections and some voting, it should be immaterial that one claim a vote in a particular county. But though there Avas this oversight, it does not alter that, so far as the Constitution goes, it gives no right to vote at'any election unless one claim the right to vote in a particular county, and has resided in that county for the specified time. It is no answer that one who lives in [*553] either of several counties to be affected by an election has the same interest in the general result, no matter in which of the counties he lives. There are some senatorial districts within this state composed of two or more counties. It will hardly be claimed that, if an inhabitant of the district should move from one county therein to another, and not reside within the county into which he removes 60 days before an election for senator is held, he might vote because he had been a resident of the senatorial district for more than 60 days prior to his voting. So of one who has always lived in one county in Iowa up to his first removal, and who moves to another and distant county in the state. Whether or no he shall have resided 60 days before election in the county to which he is moving or shall be in transit on the day of election, he is as much interested in who shall be elected governor as though he had never initiated a removal. So far as his interest in the matter and natural right is concerned, there is no good reason why he should not vote at any polling place en route, or vote in the county to which he is removing, though he has lived therein only 59 days before election is held. The only reason why he cannot vote is that the only grant of power has, with or without good reason, a limitation requiring the 60 days’ residence; that there are no equitable principles that can be applied; that the sole inquiry permitted is whether law has granted authority; and that the law is not obliged to see to it that all citizens have the right to vote somewhere at all elections. Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, (Ill.) 17 N. E. 232.
3-a
[*558] In our judgment, the court rightly held said three votes cast for consolidation to be void.
[*560] Arriving in Madison County on January 23d, in the circumstances described, and doing what he did then, if he had in addition obtained board and lodging from the occupant'of that house, or of someone else in Madison County living in the territory occupied by the alleged consolidated district, and in course of a week had found the lodging and board unsatisfactory, then, going to Dallas County and all that occurred until he returned to Madison County would not have made his vote illegal. He- arrived on January 23d without a residence. He came there to carry out an intention to remain there and live and work there. He carried out this intention with every physical act that he had power to do. His going to board with his brother-in-law while waiting to get possession, intending to return and in fact returning as soon as he could get possession and go to work, involves to a certainty no change of intention that he had on January 23d, namely, to live and work in Madison County. His absence from Madison County was temporary, and for a temporary purpose, and with unchanged intent to return. Why, then, did he not gain a residence in Madison County as soon as he deposited his goods? An abandonment for the shortest time losés a residence, if there be no intent to return. Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, (Ill.) 17 N. E. 232. On the other hand, a moving in may effect a residence in the first hour. State v. Minnick, 15 Iowa 123, at 126. If the purpose to remain is clearly proved, it is not fatal that a particular home is not occupied. Wharton, Conflict of Laws, Sec. 58; Story, Conflict of Laws, Sec. 46. It is of great materiality that there be a purpose to return. Hinds v. Hinds, 1 Iowa 36; Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, (Ill.) 17 N. E. 232; Love v. Cherry, 24 Iowa 204; State v. Savre, 129 Iowa 122. Can there be question that Cook, who went to Dallas County so he might have board and lodging while waiting to take possession, intended to return? Naturally, it is not easy to find cases exactly in point on facts, but it [*561] does seem as if there are cases which rule this. In Kellogg v. Hickman, (Colo.) 21 Pac. 325, one voter located on a pre-emption claim May 3d, and boarded with a relative, while building his house. He had left his home in Missouri some time before, and his family arrived in Colorado later in May, the exact date being uncertain, and they continued to reside on the claim from that time — and his residence was held to have begun on May 3d. And an unmarried man was held to have six months’ residence, entitling him to vote at the November election, who sold out his business and left his former home, arrived in Colorado on the 3d of May,-with intent to remain if he found a business to suit him. He examined different locations and selected one on the 15th of June, being all that time at different places in Colorado, where all the property he owned was, after May 3d, excepting some debts due him at his old home, he registering at first as from his former home and afterwards as from a place in Colorado. In White v. Tennant, (W Va.) 8 S. E. 596, it is held that, where a person entirely abandons his former residence in one state with no intention of resuming it, and goes with his family to another residence which he has rented in another state, with the intention of making the latter his residence for an indefinite time, the latter state is his domicile, notwithstanding that, after he and his family arrived' at the new residence, which is only about half a mile from the state line, they go on the same day on a visit to spend the night with a neighbor in their former state, intending to return in .the morning of the next day, but he is detained by sickness until he dies, and never does in fact return to his new home.
4-a
Some cases that, on surface consideration, seem to sustain the ruling of the trial judge, upon careful examination rather militate against it. It is said in State v. Minnick, 15 Iowa 123, at 126, that one does not gain a residence [*562] by coming to a place if he have no intention of remaining and has the purpose of returning as soon as some temporary object is accomplished. And so of Carter v. Putnam, (Ill.) 30 N. E. 681. It holds that one who rents a farm in a township more than 30 days before election, but does not move thereon at least 30 days before, does not become qualified by the fact that, more than 30 days before, he moved his corn plows, chickens, and a cupboard to the farm, remaining a resident where he had resided. But it is also said that, had he rented the farm 30 days before election, and “gone upon it himself with a part of his goods, and removed there, occupying the house as a residence until his family joined him on the 9th (less than 30 days before election), then he might with propriety claim a residence from the date he went upon the place.”
4-b
We come nearer to having the question of whether Cook abandoned his residence in Madison County than whether he gained a residence there on January 23d. Much already said demonstrates that he did not abandon such residence if he ever had it. An absence for months, or even years, is not an abandonment if qll the while intended to be a temporary absence for some temporary purpose, to be followed by a resumption of residence. Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, (Ill.) 17 N. E. 232. We say, in State v. Savre, 129 Iowa 122, that “mere bodily presence or absence cannot have controlling effect in determining residence when once established,” and that “persons who travel for business or pleasure for long or short periods do not lose their residence by such absence;” that “the vital inquiry, then, in determining the residence of a person always is, Where is his home, the home where he lives, and to which he intends to return when absent, or when sick, or when his present engagement ends.” It was held, in Carter v. Putnam, (Ill.) 30 N. E. 681, that, where a man moved from Illinois to an [*563] other state in the spring of one year and returns to Illinois with his family in April of the following year, if he has not voted or done any act in the other state from which it might be inferred he acquired a residence there, and he declares he had no intention of staying there, he does not thereby lose his residence in Illinois. Surely, what Cook did in Dallas County is, under this pronouncement, no change of his rights in Madison’ County. And see, as. having more or less bearing, Langhammer v. Munter, (Md.) 31 Atl. 300; Faires v. Young, (Tex.) 6 S. W. 800; and Smith v. Thomas, (Calif.) 52 Pac. 1079. There is nothing in Church v. Crossman, 49 Iowa 444, 447, that affects what we have said. Crossman was a resident of St. Lawrence County, New York, up to February 1, 1872. From the middle to the last of January of that year, he sold off his household effects, preparatory to removing to Michigan. Before February 10th, he shipped all his goods, except clothing, which he intended to carry in a trunk. On February 10th, he and his family went to his father’s in Jefferson County, New York, to stay until ready to go to Michigan, and stayed there until February 13th, at which time Crossman did remove to Michigan. It was held that, on February 2d, when • he had not yet departed from St. Lawrence County, he had not lost his residence therein, and that, therefore, summons then and there served was effective. In other Avords, the mere shipping of goods to Michigan, and a visit to his father for a temporary purpose, did not cause an abandonment of his residence in St. Lawrence County.
In Love v. Cherry, 24 Iowa 204, residence in Iowa was held not to be lost where a woman left Iowa to make a visit or visits and transact some business, intending to return in a convenient but uncertain time. This intention was never relinquished or abandoned, though subsequent developments rendered it necessary for her to remain longer absent than she had expected. In State v. Deniston, (Kans.) [*564] 26 Pac. 742, one who filed a homestead claim in Oklahoma and made a settlement and improvéments thereon did not regain his former residence in Kansas by going there for a temporary purpose, intending to return to Oklahoma.
We do not disagree with the holding of State v. Savre, 129 Iowa 122, that, as to an unmarried man, “between the place where one rooms and sleeps and the place where he obtains his meals, without other facts indicating the contrary, the former must be regarded as his residence.” But, sell-evidently, the fact that Cook and his family ate and slept in Dallas County temporarily, and during the period that must elapse before they could return to the house in Madison County and get possession of same under existing agreement, does not bring this case within the rule announced in the Savre case.
If, on January 23 d, inquiry had been made on the instant after the deposit of the goods by Cook, and while he and his family were still physically present in Madison County, as to where Cook intended to live, and then had a residence, and why he was going into Dallas County, it would surely have been found that he was presently to become a resident of Madison County, and would return and work there just as soon as the room provided for under existing agreement was available, and that he was leaving for the temporary purpose of obtaining a lodging until he could return. Clearly, a going into Dallas County in these circumstances was not an abandonment of his status in Madison County.
We think the court was in error in holding that Cook was disqualified.
VI. Appellee challenges two more votes for consolidation which the court held to be legal. It would be moot to decide this contention. If we should reach the conclusion the trial judge did, we must still affirm. If we did not, it would but accomplish, that, to illegal votes enough to work an affirmance, more illegal votes would be added.
VII. Appellant presents a motion to strike some four pages of the argument for appellee from the files. The burden was on appellee, and he should have made, or at least had the right to make, the opening argument. He did not make it, and appellant did. Appellant invokes Section 44 [*567] of Bule 10 in this court, which provides that, in answering an opening argument made in these circumstances, the appellee must strictly confine his argument to matters in reply, and appellant asserts that these four pages were not strictly reply argument. We do not believe there was sufficient departure from essential reply argument to justify sustaining this motion to strike, and the same is overruled.
The decree must be and is — Affirmed.
Dissent
dissenting. — The authorities agree that two things must concur in order to constitute residence under the election laws: the fact of residence, and the intent that it be such. State v. Savre, 129 Iowa 122. As so employed, the word-means “home” or “domicile;” a permanent abode or habitation, to which a party, when absent, intends to return. Vanderpoel v. O’Hanlon, 53 Iowa 246; State v. Savre, supra; Hinds v. Hinds, 1 Iowa 36. There must be a residence, and, in addition thereto, it must be permanent; that is, in the sense that the party, when absent, has the animms revertendi. Before one can be said to be a resident, he must have taken up his abode or dwelling somewhere, and abiding or dwelling is essential to constitute residence. Cook had abandoned his home in Union County, but his residence is presumed to have continued there until established elsewhere. No one claims that he became a resident of Dallas County, as his stay there was temporary. He hád entered into an agreement to begin work in Madison County March 1st following. All claimed is that he, with hjs family and goods, went to the house he was to occupy, on January 23d, and found it occupied by a former employe. Bearing in mind that Cook was not entitled to possession or to his home there until over a month later, did his ar [*568] rangement with his predecessor to store his goods in a room of the house occupied by said predecessor, and so storing them, render him a resident at that place? He went away, and did not return with his family until February 29 th, and, as I think, then, and not until then, established his residence there. Cook, as a witness, did not pretend to have been living in Madison' County until February 29th. That he intended to move there in time to perform his contract, no one doubts, but I insist that there is nothing in the record before us warranting the inference that he ever became a resident, or that he ever • took up his abode or dwelt in Madison County prior to February 29th, and, therefore, that he was not a qualified voter at the school election. Surely, the holding to the contrary renders easy the colonization of voters, and ought not to receive the approval of this court.
I dissent from the conclusion reached in the fourth division of the opinion.