CopyCited 9 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida
...general law consistent with sections 1 through 19 of this article: (11) A county court judge in any county having a population of 40,000 or less according to the last decennial census, shall not be required to be a member of the bar of Florida." Cf. Section 34.021, Florida Statutes (1975)....
...e within a given city and within cities of the same size are treated equally." Id. at 2714. With the applicable standard having been thus enunciated, we have no difficulty concluding that the division of county courts into two classes effectuated by Section 34.021, Florida Statutes, and Article V, Section 20(c)(11), Florida Constitution, does not violate the equal protection guarantee of the United States Constitution....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2000 WL 33258310
...With regard to another qualification of a county court judge, Section 8 provides: Unless otherwise provided by general law, no person is eligible for the office of county court judge unless the person is, and has been for the preceding five years, a member of the bar of Florida. Section 34.021(1), Florida Statutes (1999), makes it clear that the time for measuring the five-year bar membership is prior to qualifying for election: No person is eligible for election or appointment to the office of county court judge unless the...
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1992 Fla. App. LEXIS 8072, 1992 WL 175076
COPE, Judge. Edward Newman appeals an order of the trial court which held that section 34.021, Florida Statutes (1991), is constitutional....
...cial Circuit, Group 33. Appellee Leonard J. Cooperman is another candidate for the same position. After the qualifying period ended, a question arose regarding whether Newman meets the eligibility requirements for the position of county judge. Under section 34.021, Florida Statutes (1991), a candidate for county court judge must have been a member of the Florida Bar in good standing for five years “prior to qualifying for election to said office....” Newman was admitted to the Florida Bar in October, 1987, and concededly had not been a member of the Florida Bar for five years prior *1352 to the date he filed his qualifying papers. If section 34.021 is controlling, then Newman is not eligible to be a candidate for county court judge....
...By that standard, Newman is qualified to stand for election, since if elected he will have been a Bar member for over five years at the time of assuming office in January, 1993. Newman filed his declaratory judgment action on an emergency basis in the circuit court. The court gave an expedited ruling, holding that section 34.021 is constitutional....
...— In 1972 the judicial article of the Florida Constitution was revised. The new article V, section 8, provided in part: “Unless otherwise provided by law, a county court judge must be a member of the bar of Florida.” 1972 Legislation. — Contemporaneously, the Legislature enacted the initial version of section 34.021, Florida Statutes, to be effective upon ratification of the revised judicial article....
...He argues that the Legislature exceeded its powers under the 1972 Constitution, thus rendering the 1984 enactment void ab ini-tio. He also contends that the 1984 Constitutional amendment, which did not become effective until 1985, failed to breathe life into section 34.021....
...and county school superintendent, where that Constitution did not specifically confer authority on the Legislature to do so. In the present case we find that the constitutional language did expressly confer such authority. IV. Alternatively, even if section 34.021 was invalid as enacted in 1984, we conclude that its later reenactment after the effective date of the 1984 constitutional amendment renders the statute constitutional at the present time....
...county court judge unless he is, and has been for the preceding five years, a member of the bar of Florida.” Art. V, § 8, Fla. Const. (July 1, 1985). The latter constitutional amendment very clearly authorizes a general law like that set forth in section 34.021....
...at incumbent nonlawyer county court judges would be eligible to seek election as county court judges in their respective counties. Fla. Const, art. V, § 20(c)(1), (d)(7) (1972). .For simplicity, other provisions of this and subsequent amendments to section 34.021 have been eliminated....
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 21778
...Appellees, defendants charged with misdemeanor crimes in Marion County, obtained a writ from the circuit court in Marion County prohibiting Judge Damron from presiding over appellees’ pending criminal trials and Judge Damron seeks review of the prohibition. The writ of prohibition was based on the fact that section 34.021(3), Florida Statutes (1981), provides that persons who were county court judges prior to July 1,1978, in any county having a population of 40,000 or less who have successfully completed a supreme court approved three year law training program are entitled to seek election and to serve as a county court judge in any county having a population of 40,000 or less. We find it unnecessary to determine whether a non-lawyer county court judge who is elected pursuant to section 34.021(3), Florida Statutes (1981), is qualified to sit on temporary assignment in a county having a population greater than 40,000 because we find that Judge Damron is qualified for office under section 34.021(2), Florida Statutes (1981), which permits a county court judge to seek reelection if he was actively serving in such office on the first day of the qualification period for reelection. Subsection (2) of section 34.021 contains no limitation or qualification as to county population. We realize that except for the reference in subsection (3) of section 34.021, all of section 34.021 relates to qualifications for election or reelection and does not specifically relate to qualifications to serve as county court judge. However, we assume that if a person is qualified for election or reelection to an office he is qualified to serve in that office. Judge Damron was qualified to seek reelection as county court judge under section 34.021(2) and that subsection contains no population restriction as to the service of such a judge once duly reelected....
