Page:State v. Johnson.pdf/19

26 Ark.]  1870.]   made to appear that the fence viewer, in question, had been duly notified of his election, as required by statute, and had neglected to take the oath of office, as therein stated, the selectmen might, perhaps, have treated his conduct as a refusal to accept the office, and appointed another in his stead. But nothing of the kind appears, and, in the absence of any time being fixed in which a vacancy is declared to exist, or of any one being appointed in his stead, we see no objection to his taking the oath at the time he did, and of his entering upon the duties of his Office." (He was elected in March, and did not take the oath until the 26th of July following.)

In case where a sheriff, by statute, was required to file bond within twenty days after notice of his election, the Supreme Court of New York held "that the statute may be considered in that respect, directory to the sheriff merely, and not as imposing an absolute limitation upon him" 12 Wend. 483.

In the case of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company, the Supreme Court of New York, said: "The statute requiring inspectors of corporate elections to take an oath, is simply directory in its terms, and without any nullifying clause, on account of omission," etc. 19 Wend. 143. Nor is there any nullifying clause in the schedule under consideration.

The court of appeals, in New Jersey, in the case of Kearney v. Andrews, 2 Stockton's Ch. 24, under a statute that required the officers of a town to take an oath of office within ten days after an election, say "it was directory, only, and that the alderman and member duly elected did not forfeit their offices by their neglect of being sworn in within ten days after their election. The counsel, in my judgment, are right in this construction; the neglect to take the oath of office did not, ipso facto, vacate the office.

"The officers elected would have been legally qualified to discharge their duties of office had they been sworn in after the expiration of ten days, but an officer may resign his office, or he may refuse to act; and, in either case, his office may be declared vacant, and his place supplied. If,