Ex parte Lawhorne
Supreme Court of Virginia
This was a petition to this court by James Lawhorne for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner stated in his petition, that he was confined in the penitentiary under a sentence of the county court of Nelson county, for grand larceny.
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This was a petition to this court by James Lawhorne for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner stated in his petition, that he was confined in the penitentiary under a sentence of the county court of Nelson county, for grand larceny. That on the 13th of January, 1868, Francis Peir-point, Governor of the State of Virginia, granted to him a full and immediate pardon; but that James E. Pendleton, Esq., the superintendent of the penitentiary, refused to release him, on the ground that the term for which Governor Peirpoint had been elected Governor had expired on the 1st day of January, 1868, or…
1Opinion of the Court
TMONCTTRE, P.,
delivered the opinion of the court:
This case depends upon the question, whether the Governor is an officer within the meaning of the twenty-second section of the sixth article of the constitution of the State, which declares, that “judges and all other officers, whether elected or appointed, shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices, after their terms of service have expired, until their successors are qualified.”
If this section stood alone, and unaffected by the context, there could not be two opinions as to its meaning. It uses the plainest possible…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Commonwealth v. DrewrySupreme Court of Virginia · 1858
3Cited by12 opinions
- State ex rel. Carson v. HarrisonIndiana Supreme Court · 1888
- Kimberlin v. State ex rel. TowIndiana Supreme Court · 1892
- State ex rel. Thayer v. BoydNebraska Supreme Court · 1891
- Johnson v. MannSupreme Court of Virginia · 1883
- Carr v. WilsonWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1889
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