Oregon Advisory Opinions May 29, 1967: OAG 67-94 (May 29, 1967)

Oregon Attorney General Opinions

1967.

OAG 67-94.

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277

A person elected to be justice of the peace has no office to assume where, subsequent to his election but prior to the time when his new term would begin, the board of county commissioners has abolished the justice district by an order effective as of the end of the term then expiring.

You ask whether a board of county commissioners, subsequent to the election of a justice of the peace but prior to the commencement of his term, may abolish his justice district, with the resulting effect that the person elected would have no office to assume when the new term would otherwise begin.

In our opinion No. 6259, dated March 15, 1967, we pointed out that a county board of commissioners has authority under ORS 51.020 to abolish a justice district. It is presumed here that the order abolishing the justice district is drafted so as to be effective only as of the end of the term of the justice holding office at the time the order is entered, because, as also pointed out in opinion No. 6259, a justice district cannot be abolished during the term of an incumbent for the reason that such action would contravene Article VII (Am.), § 1, Oregon Constitution. See State ex rel. Travis v. Imbler, (1964) 236 Or. 493, 389 P. 918; also see Opinions of the Attorney General, 1946-1948, p. 413; 1930-1932, p. 772.

We find a situation similar to that presented by your question in O'Connor v. Greene, (1940) 174 Misc. 597, 21 N.Y.S. (2d) 631, 634. In that case plaintiff had been elected village police justice and taken her oath of office, but three days prior to the time her term was to begin the village board adopted a resolution abolishing the office on the expiration of the present term. The court held that the plaintiff had no office to take, saying:

"The plaintiff urges that having been chosen at the polls, she has a right to hold the office for which she was elected. This conception is not in conformity with the American system. A person has no vested right in a public office. * * *"

In Opinions of the Attorney General, 1950-1952, pp. 81, 390, we said that under Oregon law a successful candidate for justice of the peace cannot assume that office where his justice district has been abolished subsequent to his election, by an order of the county governing body, effective as of the end of the justice term then expiring, "for the reason that a public officer has no contractual right or property interest in an office, and a certificate of election is not title, but mere muniment or evidence of title to office" (p. 391).

It is our conclusion, accordingly, that a board of county commissioners may abolish a justice district by an order effective as of the end of the justice's term then expiring, although a person has already been elected to be justice of such district, and that the person elected in such case has no office to assume when the new term would otherwise begin.