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152 So. 2d 167

Docket No. 32617.

English v. Bryant

Charles P. ENGLISH, Petitioner, v. Honorable Farris BRYANT, Governor of Florida, and Board of Canvassers, et al., Respondents.

Supreme Court of Florida

Decided April 15, 1963.

Supreme Court of Florida · decided 1963-04-15

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“Each house shall judge of the qualifications, elections, and returns of its own members... .”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 483 So. 2d 409 - Harden v. Garrett

Relies on Alderman v. Puritan Dairy, Inc. · State Ex Rel. Rigby v. Junkin

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1963-04-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently December 1985

6 state decisions

40196319701980decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1*168 Charles P. English, in pro. per.

¶2Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and Joseph C. Jacobs, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents.

¶3CALDWELL, Justice.

¶4This cause is here on petition for writ of mandamus questioning the right of the incumbent State Senator, George L. Hollahan, Jr., to hold that office. We take judicial notice of the Journal of the Florida Senate of April 2, 1963, disclosing that the incumbent was administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of this Court, and of the journal subsequent thereto showing the active participation of the said George L. Hollahan, Jr. in said Senate as a member thereof.

¶5The Constitution of Florida, Art. III, Sec. 6, F.S.A., provides inter alia as follows:

"Each house shall judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its own members, …."

¶6This Court in State ex rel. Rigby v. Junkin, 146 Fla. 347, 1 So.2d 177 (1941), construed the quoted provision to mean that:

"This Court is without jurisdiction to determine the rights of one who has been elected a member of the Legislature to hold such office. That question is one which only the Legislature may determine."

¶7Inasmuch as this Court is without jurisdiction of this cause, the application for alternative writ is denied and the petition dismissed.

¶8It is so ordered.

¶9ROBERTS, C.J., and DREW, THORNAL and O'CONNELL, JJ., concur.

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