Missouri ex rel. Carey v. Andriano

The controversy in this case arose from the conflicting claims of the relator and he respondent to the office of sheriff of Buchanan county, Mo. The proceeding was originally instituted by an information in the nature of a quo warranto, filed by the prosecuting attorney, in the circuit court of Buchanan county, to test the right of respondent, Andriano, to assume the duties of sheriff. The information was filed upon the relation of John H. Carey, who had been holding the office and discharging its duties for the two preceding years, and who, under the state law, had a right to hold it until his successor should be duly elected, commissioned, and qualified. It alleged, in substance, that while the relator was in office, having the right thereto, the respondent, without any legal warrant, ground, or right whatever, entered into and assumed to discharge part of the duties of such office; and further averred that he was to that extent an unlawful usurper of the rights belonging to relator, a sheriff of such county. Waiving the issue of a writ, respondent appeared, and by his answer, which by agreement was treated as a return, set up that he had received at the general election in November, 1886, the majority of the votes cast thereat for the office of sheriff of said county, and thereupon the governor of the state had issued to him his commission, and be had given bond and duly qualified as such sheriff. He further alleged that at the time of such election he was, and ever since had been, a citizen of the United States, a resident of the said county, and duly qualified, under the constitution and laws of the state, to hold the office. To this answer or return there was filed a reply, denying that respondent was, or ever had been, such citizen.

The case was tried upon the following stipulation of facts:

It was admitted by the parties that Joseph Andriano, the respondent, was born in Heidelberg, Baden, now in the German Empire, in October, 1841; that he came to the United States with his father and mother in 1849, and the family settled in Buchanan county, Mo., where respondent has ever since resided, and where his father and mother, who were, from a long time before respondent's birth, during their joint lives, husband and wife, resided up to the time of their deaths, respectively; that his father and mother both lived until long after the year 1855; that respondent and his father and mother were born citizens of Baden, and so continued up to the time they came to the United States; and that Albert Andriano, the respondent's said father, was, by proper proceeding in the circuit court of the state of Missouri, within and for Buchanan county, duly naturalized under and pursuant to the laws of the United States, and thereby became a citizen of the United States on the 4th day of October, A. D. 1854.

It was also admitted that all the statements contained in the information were true, and that respondent was guilty of the acts therein set forth, provided he (respondent) was not a citizen of the United States at the time of the general election, in November, 1886; but that, if he were such citizen, then, while said acts were admitted to have been performed by respondent, they were not unlawfully but rightfully performed by him. It was also admitted that the respondent himself never took any steps or did anything to wards becoming naturalized as a citizen of the United States.

Upon the issue thus formed by the pleadings and stipulation, the circuit court found the respondent guilty as charged in the information, and rendered a judgment ousting him from the office, so far as he had been exercising, or assuming to exercise, the duties thereof. From this judgment respondent appealed to the supreme court of the state, wherein the case was heard and the judgment reversed, and respondent restored to all things which he had lost by reason of the said judgment. To reverse this decision of the supreme court relator sued out this writ of error.

B. K. Vineyard and ''Alex. Porter Morse'', for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Justice BROWN, after stating the facts as above, delivered theopi nion of the court.