Legal Opinion

Territory of New Mexico ex rel. Lester v. Suddith

New Mexico Supreme Court

Decided September 1, 1910No. Nos. 1339 and 1340PublishedCited by 2 opinions

Appeal from the District Court for Bernalillo County before I. A. Abbott, Associate Justice. Judges of election are not ministerial officers but quasi judicial officers vested with discretion and involving the •exercise of judgment in the counting of ballots, while the canvassing boards.is ministerial and has only to compute results from the returns as given to them.

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Appeal from the District Court for Bernalillo County before I. A. Abbott, Associate Justice. Judges of election are not ministerial officers but quasi judicial officers vested with discretion and involving the •exercise of judgment in the counting of ballots, while the canvassing boards.is ministerial and has only to compute results from the returns as given to them. C. L. 1897, secs. 2443, 2446, 2447, 692; Bull v. Southwick, 2 N. M. 321; Territory v. County Com., 5 N. M. 1; Re Sloan, 5 N. M. 590. The writ of mandamus does not lie to direct how judicial officers shall exercise their judgment…

1Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT.

POPE, C. J.

The present case involves the efficacy of the writ of mandamus to reach the conditions complained of. The utility of this writ was considered by this court in Delgado v. Chaves, 5 N. M. 646, 648, where, in an opinion written by Mr. Justice Freeman, the ends which the writ has accomplished were very lucidly exemplified and it was remarked that “it would be a vain and useless-exhibition of research to undertake to point out the almost inmrmerable instances in which this writ has been successfully invoked.” As applied to matters of elections this writ has been…

2Cases cited3 opinions

  1. State ex rel. Rice v. County JudgeSupreme Court of Iowa · 1858
  2. Lewis v. Comm'rs of Marshall Co.Supreme Court of Kansas · 1876
  3. People ex rel. Ryan v. NordheimIllinois Supreme Court · 1881

3Cited by2 opinions

  1. Brantley Farms v. Carlsbad Irrigation DistrictNew Mexico Court of Appeals · 1998
  2. Chavez v. BacaNew Mexico Supreme Court · 1943

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