Page:Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Georgia 1849.djvu/83

80 I feel it my duty to refuse my assent to the bill to alter fluid amend an act to organize the Lunatic Asylum of Georgia, and for other purposes, on several grounds, but one of which will be mentioned, as that in my judgment made it my duty not to approve the bill. By the fourth section, it is provided that the present incumbent, Dr. Thomas T. Green, be, and he is hereby appointed Superintendent and Resident Physician of the State Lunatic Asylum, for and during the term of six years from the passage of this act. If the Legislature had the power to appoint in this mode the officer at the head of the Asylum, the same thing might be done in reference to the Principal Keeper of the Penitentiary, or Engineer of our Rail Road, or any other officer, and hence all election by ballot, as required by the Constitution, would be dispensed with. It is the first instance where this mode of filling an office, has been attempted; and if there was no other objection, it is believed the example would be productive of great mischief, independent of a violation of the Constitutional requir sition in filling offices by the Legislature. GEO. W. TOWNS.

An act entitled an act to prohibit lessors in ejectment being made parties plaintiff without their consent, and the use of fictitious names in ejectment suits, passed on the 28th day of December, 1847, and presented at the office on the day of the adjournment of the last Legislature, was not approved by me, and is now returned to the House in which it originated, with my objections. By the first section of this act, it is made unlawful for a person serving in ejectment, to make use of any names, lessors, except the granter or demiser through whom he immediately claims title, without the written authority of the person whose name is so used, attested by two witnesses, one of whom shall be a judicial officer or Justice or Notary Public, and which authority shall be filed in Court at the time of filing the writ of ejectment. The change of the law contemplated by this act, would work great hardships on our citizens, in the prosecution of suits for the recovery of lands. It is a right, and one of great convenience, for plaintiffs in ejectments, to use the names of as many persons as the title to the land in dispute may have passed through.—The act itself contemplates the necessity of using those names, and permits the use of those where the consent of the persons is obtained in the manner therein prescribed.