The English case and the Yost case will thus be seen to be in harmony with the holdings of the courts of other States which have constitutions similar to ours. As the legislatures of other States had assumed, and been permitted to assume under the educational article of their constitutions, the right to determine who should vote for district school officers and what the qualifications of such officers should be, so the right of our legislature, by the holding in the Yost case, as I construe it, to assume the same power under the educational article of our constitution was recognized.

In none of the States having constitutions similar to ours has the right of suffrage been extended to women otherwise than in respect to school district meetings or elections. In Michigan, where it was claimed that the legislature had the same power that it is now claimed our legislature has and where the same cases were relied upon as authority, the right was denied. In Kansas the legislature never presumed to extend the doctrine announced in Wheeler v. Brady beyond elections for district school officers, but when it was desired to further extend the franchise to women it was done by amendment to the constitution.

The majority opinion cites State v. Dillon, 32 Fla. 545, Buckner v. Gordon, 81 Ky. 665, and Hanna v. Young, 84 Md. 179, in support of the conclusion reached. The suffrage clause of the constitution of Florida provides that certain male persons therein described shall, under the conditions there indicated, be deemed qualified electors "at all elections under this constitution." In reading State v. Dillon, supra, this provision of the Florida constitution must be borne in mind, and a reason can be readily perceived for the holding of the Florida court that municipal elections are not elections under the constitution, but, as that case holds, are expressly exempted therefrom. In Buckner v. Gordon, supra, the holding of the Kentucky court is based upon the fact that "long prior to and ever since the adop

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tion of the constitution it has been the legislative rule, rather than the exception, to fix in the charters of towns and cities a qualification for electors different from that prescribed in the constitution for State, county and district electors," and the court holds that "the fact that such governments were at the time of the adoption of the constitution, and have ever since been, controlled by the legislature, taken in connection with the sixth section of the sixth article, clearly shows the intention of the framers of the constitution to leave all these matters to the legislative will." It will thus be seen that the two cases last mentioned can not be relied upon in support of the holding of the majority, but, on the contrary, are in accord with the construction that I have placed upon the English and Yost cases. I concede that Hanna v. Young, supra, is clearly against my view and I make no attempt to distinguish it, but merely content myself with saying that I disagree with the view therein expressed.

A pioneer case on the question whether the legislature has the power to prescribe different qualifications for voters for statutory offices than is prescribed in the constitution for electors is People v. Canady, 73 N. C. 198, decided in 1875. The constitution of North Carolina prescribed, among other qualifications, that to be an elector one must reside in the county thirty days. The legislature attempted to prescribe, as one of the qualifications for a voter for statutory city offices, that he must have resided ninety days. in the lot, block and ward in which he resides at the time of applying for registration. In passing on the validity of this statute the court said: "The constitution provides that every male person twenty-one years old, resident in the State twelve months and in the county thirty days, shall be an elector. (Art. 6, sec. 1.) An elector for what? The constitution does not say for what. Does it mean elector for president, or for members of Congress, or for Governors, or for judges, or for members of the General As

sembly, or for county officers, or for township or town officers, or for what else? There it stands by itself, without explanation: that every such person shall be an elector-a voter. It evidently means to designate those persons as a class, to vote generally whenever the polls are opened and elections held for anything connected with the general government or the State or local governments,— just as a class of persons are designated as qualified for jurors. * * But cities and towns, like counties and townships, are parts and parcels of the State, organized for the convenience of local self-government, and the qualifications of their voters are the same. It follows that the General Assembly cannot in any way change the qualifications of voters in State, county, township, city or town elections."

The majority opinion notes that under the doctrine of contemporaneous, long continued and uniform legislative construction, the courts of New York, Michigan and Oregon have recognized the right of the legislature to fix different qualifications for district school officers from those prescribed by the constitution for electors in other cases, and states that this doctrine has no application in Illinois. I have attempted to point out wherein it does have an application in this State. Whether or not it may be properly said to have such an application, the courts of New York, Michigan, Oregon and Ohio have experienced no difficulty in construing the English and Yost cases in harmony with the true intent and meaning of our own constitution. It would seem that this court should have no great difficulty in construing the English and Yost cases as the courts of other States have construed them, and especially should this be true when we consider the fact that by so construing these cases the integrity of our constitution can be preserved.

The majority opinion makes no defense of the English and Yost cases as having been properly decided as it construes them. If, by placing the construction on those cases.

It

which has been placed upon them by the majority, violence will be done to our constitution, this court should not hesitate to adopt the construction which has been universally placed upon these cases by courts of other jurisdictions. is pointed out that the English case and the Yost case have been followed in a number of other cases by this court. While this is true, the basis of the holdings of the English and Yost cases has never been questioned or explained in any of the later cases. The later cases are therefore of no assistance in determining this question and are of no weight as authority. The most casual reading of the Yost case should be convincing that the court did not consider the question here involved but that the theory of the Michigan case controlled the conclusion there reached. It is highly improbable that the court there meant to hold as the majority finds it did, without any discussion of the many important points involved. An opinion making a holding of such importance and fraught with such consequences should certainly state the basis of its conclusions with such clearness that it would leave no doubt in the mind of the reader. This the court evidently failed to do, and we should now place that construction upon the Yost case which is in harmony with the plain language of the constitution.

In my opinion the legislature is without power to prescribe any different qualifications for electors for political offices than those prescribed by the constitution. If it is desired by the people of the State to prescribe different qualifications for electors and to extend the right of suffrage it must be done by way of an amendment to the constitution.

In my opinion the legislature clearly exceeded its authority in the passage of the act in question, and the decree of the superior court should be reversed.

Mr. JUSTICE CRAIG, dissenting:

As a republican form of government is based upon the right of suffrage it is essential that the exercise of that right be fixed by the fundamental law, which in this State

is the constitution. When the constitution has determined who shall exercise the elective franchise there is no power to change it except the people themselves by the adoption. of a new constitution or amending the old one. This proposition is fully supported by the authorities on constitutional law, (Cooley on Const. Lim.—7th ed.-58; Black on Const. Law, 649;) and it seems to me to be self-evident, for the reason that the only way in which a government by the people can exist is that at stated elections the power to change the laws and officers of government shall return to the people. If the legislative branch of the government can change the qualifications of the electors who vote for a large and important number of officers, even though the offices held by such officers are created by legislative authority, by enlarging or restricting the class of those who are declared to be voters by the constitution, it amounts to depriving the people of the power they have expressly reserved to themselves.

The decisions in the cases of People v. English and Plummer v. Yost, cited in the opinion of the majority of the court, are based largely, if not solely, upon the fact that the subject of education was made a matter of special constitutional regulation, and its officers, therefore, with the exception of those mentioned in the constitution, might be considered an exception to those included within the constitutional provision prescribing the qualifications of electors. While the court did not so hold in People v. English, supra, it intimated that such might be the case. In the subsequent case of Plummer v. Yost, supra, the court adopted the suggestion made in People v. English and held that such a distinction did exist. But in neither of the above cases did the court hold that as to any other officers than school officers such a distinction might be made. In neither of these cases did the court lay down the broad rule that as to statutory officers, or offices of statutory creation, the will of the legislature was supreme and it could prescribe and fix such