Pennsylvania Advisory Opinions April 20, 1920: AGO 129

Advisory Opinion Text

MINE INSPECTOR.

It is a necessary qualification for a candidate for mine inspector to have a certificate of a successful examination, under the Act of June 1, 1901, P. L. 535, and an old certificate, or one used for the purpose of qualifying at a previous election is not sufficient.

Sir: This Department is in receipt of your recent letter, asking for an opinion as to whether one can be a candidate for the election of Mine Inspector, unless he has taken an examination within four years.

I understand that some persons who have taken the examination years ago intend to become candidates this year without taking the examination.

The term of Mine Inspectors was fixed by Section 11 of the Act of June 8, 1901, P. L. 535, at three years, but upon the amendment of the Constitution in 1909, the general Act of March 2, 1911, P. L. 8, extended the terms of all public officers fixed at an odd number of years, one year, so that now Mine Inspectors are elected for a term of four years.

The Act of June 8, 1901, P. L. 535, amended the Act of June 2, 1891. Section 5 of Article II of the first mentioned Act provides that notice of examinations of candidates for the office of Mine Inspector shall be published, that examiners shall be sworn, and that-

"at least four of them shall sign a certificate, setting forth the fact of the applicants having passed a successful examination, and who have answered ninety per centum of the questions; * * * and shall give such certificate to only such applicant as has passed the required examination."

Section 8 of Article II of the Act of 1901 provides that-

"Candidates for the office of Mine Inspector shall file with the county commissioners a certificate from the mine examining board, as above set forth, before their names shall be allowed to go upon the ballot * * * the name of no person shall be placed upon the official ballot except such as has filed the certificate as herein required; and no persons shall be qualified to act as such Mine Inspector unless such certificate has been previously filed with the county commissioner?, of his county."

The Act of 1901 has been variously amended, but no amendment has made any change in the qualification of candidates for Mine Inspectors nor in the character of the examination nor the certificate required to be given to the successful applicants.

In the case of Moore et al. vs. Durkin, in the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County, No. 1, November Term, 1911, the precise question which you present was before the Court. It arose on a motion for an injunction to restrain the County Commissioners from furnishing ballots for the election containing the name of one Evan C. Davis, for the office of Mine Inspector for the Second District. Davis had passed the examinations in April and May, 1902, and in the Fall of 1911 petitioned the County Commissioners to have the name placed upon the primary ballot as a candidate for the office of Mine Inspector without having passed an examination other than the one nine years before. The Court, on October 18, 1911, after hearing, continued the preliminary injunction. Davis, apparently, acquiesced in the decision because the case was not proceeded with further and is not listed.

I find no reported case upon this question, but Attorney General Carson, in an opinion dated February 13, 1903, reported in 12 Dist. Rep. 320, held that under the Act of 1901, supra, a Mine Inspector, in order to succeed himself, must be elected at the November election preceding the expiration of his term, and must qualify for such election by again passing the examination required by the Act.

Attorney General Carson therein said:

"* * * You were elected for a definite term, and the term expires by its own limitation. The examination by which you were qualified for your place relates solely to that term and to no other. The vacancy that will occur through the expiration of your term must be filled by election as prescribed in the Act of June 8, 1901, P" L. 535. A candidate must qualify in the manner prescribed by the Act. The fact that you Were qualified as a candidate for your present term does not dispense with the necessity of qualifying in like manner for a new election. A successful examination does not qualify for all time or for as many times as the successful incumbent sees fit to announce himself as a candidate. The examination hi each case is only for the term then to be filled,, and its efficacy extends no further."

We adopt the conclusion of Attorney General Carson, and advise you that it is a necessary qualification for a candidate to have a certificate of a successful examination under the provisions of the Act of June 1, 1901, P. L. 535, and that an old certificate, or one used for the purpose of qualifying as a candidate at a previous election, is not sufficient to entitle the holder to become a candidate for the office this year.

Very truly yours,

WM. M. HARGEST, Deputy Attorney General.