Quo warranto
Prerogative writs |
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Administrative law |
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General principles |
Grounds for judicial review |
Administrative law in common law jurisdictions |
Administrative law in civil law jurisdictions |
Related topics |
In the English-American
Early history
With the spread of royal justice in the 12th and 13th centuries, private franchises and liberties were increasingly called upon to uphold the king's peace: to act against "malefactors and peace breakers, so that it may appear that you are a lover of our peace".
From one point of view this can be seen as an attempt to investigate and recover royal lands, rights, and franchises in
Statute of Quo Warranto | |
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Act of Parliament | |
A similar ambiguity surrounds the role of the justices that, from 1278 to 1294, Edward dispatched throughout the
Publication
The quo warranto pleas from the reigns of Edward I, Edward II and Edward III were published by the Record Commission in 1818.[13]
Later developments
The most famous historical instance of quo warranto was the action taken against the
But the remodelling of the City of London was only part of a wider remodelling of some forty chartered parliamentary boroughs by the Crown[15] – a policy taken up again in 1688 by James II, when some thirty-five new charters were issued after quo warranto produced the surrender of the old ones.[16] This Quo Warranto remodelling or 'dissolution' of the parliamentary corporations gave point to the claim by William III that "our expedition is intended for no other design but to have a free and lawful parliament assembled", and underpinned the charge in the Bill of Rights that James had been "violating the freedom of election by members to serve in parliament".[17]
Modern quo warranto
While quo warranto remains in use in the United States, the Philippines, and other jurisdictions, in some jurisdictions that have enacted judicial review statutes, the prerogative writ of quo warranto has been abolished.
Australia
Quo warranto writs have been abolished in the
England and Wales
The writ of quo warranto and its replacement, the information in the nature of a quo warranto are either obsolete or have been abolished. Section 30 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 grants to the High Court the power to issue an injunction to restrain persons from acting in offices in which they are not entitled to act and to declare the office vacant if necessary.
United States
Quo warranto could be brought against a corporation when it misuses its franchise. In 1890, the Supreme Court of Ohio wrote:
The corporation has received vitality from the state. It continues during its existence to be the creature of the state, must live subservient to its laws, and has such powers and franchises as those laws have bestowed upon it, and none others. As the state was not bound to create it in the first place, it is not bound to maintain it after having done so, if it violates the laws or public policy of the state, or misuses its franchises to oppress the citizens thereof.[20]
In 1876, the Pennsylvania senate passed a resolution instructing the Attorney General to begin quo warranto proceedings to revoke the charter of the Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York Railroad.[21]
In the modern United States, quo warranto usually arises in a civil case as a plaintiff's claim (and thus a "cause of action" instead of a writ) that some governmental or corporate official was not validly elected to that office or is wrongfully exercising powers beyond (or ultra vires) those authorized by statute or by the corporation's charter.
In New York State, the former writ of quo warranto has been codified. Per Executive Law § 63-b, only the Attorney General, at his or her discretion, "may maintain an action, upon his own information or upon the complaint of a private person, against a person who usurps, intrudes into, or unlawfully holds or exercises within the state a franchise or a public office, civil or military, or an office in a domestic corporation."[22]
Philippines
A quo warranto petition was, before the appointment of
It has come to be understood that it can be used in extraordinary cases to unseat judicial appointees, and impeachable officials, not only to challenge elections. Some, such as Ranhilio Aquino,
Quo warranto of non-elected appointees
Quo warranto petitions, when successful, do not "remove" someone from office—they declare the very appointment itself
Corporate franchise quo warranto
Quo warranto was also used, once again by Calida, to challenge the continued operation of ABS-CBN after the expiration of its Congressional franchise. This use of quo warranto in a dispute over
See also
References
- ^ Henry III, 1237, in Helen Cam Law-finders and Law-makers (London 1962), pp. 38–39.
- ^ Helen Cam, Law-finders and Law-makers (London 1962), p. 39.
- ^ S. H. Steinberg (ed.), A New Dictionary of British History (London 1963) p. 299.
- ^ Helen Cam, Law-finders and Law-makers (London 1962) pp. 39–40.
- ^ a b J. R. Tanner (ed.), The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol VII (Cambridge, 1932), p. 394.
- ^ a b Clanchy From Memory to Written Record, p. 3.
- ^ Harris, Nicholas; Charles Purton Cooper (1831). Public Records. p. 74.
- ISBN 978-1-85285-137-8.
- ^ Helen Cam, Law-finders and Law-makers (London, 1962), p. 41.
- ^ Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record, p. 7.
- ^ Clanchy From Memory to Written Record, p. 152.
- ^ S. H. Steinberg (ed.), A New Dictionary of British History (London, 1963), p. 299.
- ^ Illingworth 1818.
- ^ Shortt, John (1888), Informations (criminal and quo warranto) mandamus and prohibition, American law series, C. H. Edson and company, p. 137.
- ^ J. H. Plumb, The Growth of Political Stability in England (London 1986) pp. 55-6.
- ^ M. Ashley, The Glorious Revolution (London, 1966), p. 112.
- ^ M. Ashley, The Glorious Revolution (London, 1966) pp. 205–207.
- ^ Sn 12 Quo Warranto Supreme Court Act 1970, New South Wales Consolidated Acts.
- ^ Sn 42 Abolition of quo warranto, Judicial Review Act 1991, Queensland Consolidated Acts.
- ^ Lewis, Lawrence; Hamilton, Adelbert; Merrill, John Houston; McKinney, William Mark; Kerr, James Manford; Thomson, John Crawford (1890). The American and English Railroad Cases: A Collection of All the Railroad Cases in the Courts of Last Resort in America and England. Edward Thompson Company. pp. 332–334.
- ^ House, Pennsylvania General Assembly; Representatives, Pennsylvania General Assembly House of (1876). Journal of the ... of the ... House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. George Helmbold. p. 917.
- ^ "New York Consolidated Laws, Executive Law - EXC § 63-b. Action by attorney-general against usurper of office or franchise". FindLaw. 1 Jan 2021.
- California Attorney General's Office. p. 1.
- ^ Mack, William; Hale, William Benjamin (1920). Corpus Juris: Being a Complete and Systematic Statement of the Whole Body of the Law as Embodied in and Developed by All Reported Decisions. Vol. 20. New York: American Law Book Company. p. 210.
- ISBN 978-971-23-3252-4.
- ^ a b Aquino, Ranhilio (2018-04-13). "Much ado about quo warranto". Manila Standard. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
- ^ 2010 Rules of Presidential Electoral Tribunal (Resolution AM 10-04-29-SC, Rule 16). Supreme Court of the Philippines. May 4, 2010. p. 12.
- ^ Cabato, Regine (2018-06-20). "Lawyers: Supreme Court cases with tiebreaking Sereno vote can be questioned". CNN Philippines. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
Notes
- ^ Sometimes rendered as "by whose authority?", although quo literally means "where" or "why".
- associate dean of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines College of Law.
- ^ As of 2011, dean of the San Beda University College of Law. See Rex G. Rico (2011-11-24). "Value of a non-lawyer's opinion on purely legal issues". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
Sources
Edition of proceedings
- Illingworth, William, ed. (1818). Placita de Quo Warranto temporibus Edw. I. II. & III. in Curia Receptae Scaccarii Westm. Asservata. Record Commission. London.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-631-16857-7.
- ISBN 0-300-07209-0.)
- ISBN 0-297-77730-0.
- Sutherland, Donald W. (1963). Quo Warranto Proceedings in the Reign of Edward I, 1278–1294. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
External links
- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905. .