Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1902 — Town Clerk Not a Justice. [ARTICLE]

Town Clerk Not a Justice.

The act passed by the last legislature, conferring the powers of a justice of the peace on the clerks of all incorporated towns, has been held unconstitutional by Judge Hiram S. Biggs in Kosciusko Circuit Court. The decision was based on the ground that, while under the constitution the general assembly has the power to create new courts, it has not the power to confer judicial powers on persons or on tribunals already established. The opinion 01 the court was based on the further ground that a section creating and establishing a new court could not be incorporated in an act governing the election and tenure of ministerial officers, and that the establishment of the court is not properly expressed in the title which reads: “An Act Concerning Town Officers.” The first section of the act in question provides for the election and tenure of town officers, while . the second provides that the town clerk shall have all the powers of a justice of the peaoe.