106 CASES IN THE SUPREME COURT [27 Ark. McDiarmid v. Fitch et aL [DECEMBER McDIARMID v. FITGE. et " at REGISTRARS—Duties of, etc.—Registrars are required, by the act of July 15, 1868, so soon as their duties are closed, to deposit the original books with the clerks of their respective counties, and on failure to do so; mandamus will lie to compel them. PETITION FOR MANDAMUS. E. W. Gantt and Rice & Benjamin, for Petitioner. Montgoniery c Warwick, for Respondent. GREGG ; I have heretofore announced an opinion against the jurisdiction of this court in cases like this, which is an original petition filed in this court, December 26, 1870, in which it is alleged that the defendant was president of the Board of Registration, in said county, for the year 1870. That the board had registered, or pretended -to register, the voters of the county ; that, before the Sth day of Novem-ber, the registration was completed, and the books . closed, and that it was 'the duty of the defendant, as soon as possible, to deposit the original books with the clerfc of said county, and that he had frequently demanded said. , books of the defendant, but he willfully and maliciously neglected to deposit the Same, and a prayer for a mandamus, ordering and compelling him to deposit said books, etc. On the 9th of January, 1871, the defendant appeared here, and filed his response, in which he admits he was duly appointed and acting president of said Board of Registration, and that prior to the general election, held on the Sth day of November, the voters of said county were, by him and his associate members of the board, duly registered ; that he had delivered a certified copy of said books of registration, but the original books, so made by them, had not been d • elivered to the petitioner, but would be so delivered as soon as possible ; and that said books, at the time of filing the . petition
27 Ark.] OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS. 107 TERM, S 7 i.] McDiarm id v. Fitch et al. herein, were not ready for delivery. And concluded with ,a demurrer clause to the petition. The cause was not submitted until the 18th day of December, 1871. • The thirteenth section of the registration law, approved July 15, 1868, among other things, provides that, "the registrars shall, as soon as possible, deposit with the said clerk the original books of registfation,, which shall be kept and preserved among the records of the county," etc. Other sectiOns of that act provided that, upon the - close of the registration, the registrars, before the election, shall make certain copies of the registration books and furnish them to officers designated, and these provisions, being followed by the one quoted above, show the intention of the legislature to have been that, so soon as the registrar's duties were closed, they should deposit the original books with the clerk of the county, that they might be preserved with the other records of the county.• These duties had all been performed more than two months before the respondent filed his answer herein. He gives no excuse for having so long failed to comply with the law, but says he w ill file tilem as soon as possible, and moire than a year after the time his duty required him to file such books, he submits his case to this court, without giving any reason for having so long neglected to so file the books. The response is wholly insufficient and a peremptory man-damus is awarded.
You are being directed to the most recent version of the statute which may not be the version considered at the time of the judgment.