Gemmer v. State, ex rel. on January 1, 1906, said Fleming will have served two full terms, to wit, four calendar years, continuously as the lawfully elected treasurer of said county, and that at the expiration of said period his eligibility to hold said office will cease, and said office will become vacant by virtue of article 6, 82, of the Constitution of this State; that at said voting convention held February 6, 1904, the persons participating therein proceeded to nominate a successor to the said Peter W. Fleming in said office of county treasurer, to be voted for at the general election to be held November 8, 1904, and that the relator received a majority of all the votes cast at all the voting precincts, and was duly nominated as the Republican candidate for treasurer of said county to succeed the said Fleming in said office, and to be voted for at said general election on November 8, 1904, and that after a canvass of all the votes cast at said convention he was declared to be the nominee thereof for said office; that Frederick L. Gemmer is the chairman of the Republican central committee of said Warren county, and that Chester G. Rossiter is the secretary of said committee; that said relator being such nominee for said office, he did, before bringing this suit, to wit, on March 12, 1904, in proper manner and form demand of the said chairman and secretary that they place the relator's name on the certificate of nomination made by said county convention, setting forth his said nomination, together with the other facts required to be stated in said certificate, so that relator's name could be printed on the ballot, and he could be voted for at the said next general election; that thereupon the said chairman and secretary, admitting that the relator was duly nominated as a candidate for said office of county treasurer by the Republican party of said county, refused to insert his name in the said certificate for the sole reason that by the act of the General Assembly of said State, approved February 11, 1903, it was provided in substance and effect that no successor to the said Fleming as county Gemmer v. State, ex rel. treasurer of said county could or should be elected at the election of 1904, nor until the general election to be held in the year 1906; that the said act is unconstitutional and void; that unless the court will, by its mandate and judgment, compel the said chairman and secretary to insert the name of the relator in the said certificate, his name can not be presented to the electors of said county as a candidate for said office of treasurer to be voted for at said election, and that thereby he will be greatly injured; that he has no other remedy; that if his name is properly certified and printed on the ballots as aforesaid he will receive at said election a majority of all the votes to be cast for county treasurer of said county, and will thereby be entitled to have said office, and enter upon its duties immediately upon the expiration of the said second term of the said Peter W. Fleming. The alternative writ required the said chairman and secretary to insert the relator's name in the proper certificate as such nominee for the office of county treasurer, and to appear before the court on March 26, 1904, to show cause, if any they had, why the same should not be done. The ground of the demurrer was that the alternative writ did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The only question presented and argued by counsel is the constitutionality of the act of February 11, 1903 (Acts 1903, p. 24). Omitting the preamble, that act is as follows: "Section 1. That the terms of office of all judges of circuit, superior and criminal courts in this State, of all prosecuting attorneys and of all county auditors, county treasurers, clerks of the circuit court, county sheriffs, county recorders, county assessors, county coroners and county surveyors, hereafter elected in this State, shall begin on the 1st day of January next succeeding their election: Provided, that, in all cases where persons were elected to any of said offices at the general election in November, 1900, for a term of four years, whose term of office did not Gemmer v. State, ex rel. gen begin until after January 1, 1901, and in all cases where persons were elected to any of said offices at the general election in November, 1902, for a term of two years, whose terms of office did not begin until after January 1, 1903, no successors to such officers shall be elected until the general election in the year 1906. In all cases where persons were elected to any of said offices at the general election in November, 1900, for a term of six years, whose terms of office did not begin until after January 1, 1901, and in all cases where persons were elected to any of said offices at the general election in November, 1902, for a term of four years, whose terms of office did not begin until after January 1, 1903, no successors to such officers shall be elected until the general election in the year 1908. In all cases where persons were elected to any of said offices at the eral election in November, 1902, for a term of six years, whose terms of office did not begin until after January 1, 1903, no successors to such officers shall be elected until the general election in the year 1910. Section 2. In all cases where vacancies occur in any of said offices by reason of the death or resignation of any such officer, or by reason of the expiration of his term of office, or in any other manner, before January 1, 1904, and a successor is appointed to fill such vacancy, such appointee shall hold his office by virtue of such appointment only until January 1, 1904, and if any vacancies should occur in any of said offices after January 1, 1904, and such vacancies are filled by appointment, such appointees shall hold until the 1st day of January next succeeding the next general election held after such appointment. Section 3. All laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed." The preamble of the act declares that it will promote the public interests to have the terms of all the officers named in the act begin and end at a uniform time, and to have their official year and the calendar year begin at the same time; and that it will also promote the public interests to have the official terms of all Gemmer v. State, ex rel. of said officers begin with the beginning of the calendar year next succeeding their election, instead of at long and irregular intervals as at present: Therefore, for the purpose of securing the desired uniformity, the statute is enacted. Fleming, the present incumbent of the office of county treasurer of Warren county, was elected for his second term at the general election held in November, 1902, for a term of two years. As the law stood when he was elected, this term began January 1, 1904, and will expire by its constitutional limitation January 1, 1906. Acts 1897, p. 288, $7989a Burns 1901. The act before us postpones the election of a successor to Fleming until the general election in November, 1906, and provides that such successor shall not take the office until January 1, 1907. The effect of the act is to continue Fleming, the present treasurer of Warren county, in that office for one year after the expiration of his present term. It also permits the general election in November, 1904, at which a successor to the treasurer might be elected, to pass, and fixes the time for the election of such successor at the November election in 1906. Out of 736 county offices, 185 will be affected by the act; 137 officers will hold over, and forty-eight vacancies will occur to be filled by appointment. Out of the offices and officers so affected, forty-seven circuit judges will have their terms extended an average of forty-seven days each, and eight will have their terms extended an average of fourteen months each; thirteen prosecuting attorneys will hold over for one year; thirty-seven county auditors will hold over for one year; twenty-nine clerks of the circuit courts will hold over for one year; twenty-seven recorders, thirty-one treasurers, eight sheriffs, and four coroners will be continued in office for one year after the expiration of the terms for which they were elected. The remainder of the officers affected by the act will each hold over from thirty days to seventy-three days. In twenty-two cases the elec Gemmer v. State, ex rel. tion of successors to the persons holding the several offices embraced in the act will be postponed. Was it competent for the legislature to enact a statute having this effect upon public offices, public officers, and the election of such officers by the people? The validity of the act of February 11, 1903, is contested in this case on the grounds (1) that it prevents the election of the county treasurer by the voters of the county at the general election next preceding the expiration of the term of office of the present incumbent; (2) that it continues the treasurer now in office in that position more than two years; (3) that it continues the present treasurer in office for one year after the expiration of his present term, although he will be ineligible to said office by reason of his having held the office by election four years in a period of six years; (4) many other offices and officers, judicial and county, will be affected in the same manner. On the other hand, to sustain the act, it is contended. that: "(1) The legislative authority is supreme and subject to no restrictions except those which the Constitution expressly or impliedly imposes. (2) The postponement of an election, so as to continue incumbents in office longer than four years, is not violative of the constitutional prohibition that the legislature shall not create any office the tenure of which shall be longer than four years. Const., Art. 15, §2. Under such a law the terms of officers who hold longer than four years are not extended by the law, but the officers are continued in office by the Constitution itself (article 15, §3); or, if ineligible, successors are appointed under a statute by express constitutional authority. Const., Art. 6, §9. (3) The postponement by statute of the time when the term of one elected, or to be elected, to a constitutional office shall commence is not violative of article 6, 82, of the Constitution. (4) The Constitution does not prescribe a time for the commencement official terms except those of the executive and mem of any |