Dickison v. Morris

P. E. Dickison, the Tax Assessor-Collector of Bexar County, has appealed from a peremptory writ of mandamus commanding him to forthwith issue voting poll tax receipts for the year 1947 to appellees, Burton W. Morris and his wife, Frances O. Morris.

It is elementary that mandamus will not lie to control a discretionary power or authority of a public official. The order appealed from is founded upon the theory that the tax assessor-collector had refused to perform a purely ministerial duty, and hence could be ordered to so perform by a judicial tribunal.

The statutory enactment involved in the…