Opinion
No. 25126
February 20, 1934.
(Syllabus.)
1. Judges — Duty to Sit in Cause Unless Disqualified.
If a regularly elected judicial officer is not disqualified under the Constitution and laws to sit in a given cause, it is his duty to sit as such judicial officer therein, and such duty cannot be delegated or repudiated.
2. Same — Interest Disqualifying Judge.
In order to disqualify a judicial officer to sit in a given cause on the ground of interest in the result thereof, the interest of such judicial officer must be in the subject-matter of the cause, and not merely in a legal question involved.
3. Judges — Salaries of Judges of Criminal Court of Appeals Held Payable by State Though Sufficient Appropriation Therefor not Made by Legislature.
Under the Oklahoma Constitution, section 17 of the Schedule, declaring that such state officers as may be created shall receive such compensation for their services as may be provided by law, section 3481, O. S. 1931, and section 10, article 23, declaring that in no case shall the salary or emoluments of any public official be changed after his election, unless by operation of law enacted prior to such election, and section 55, article 5, declaring that no money shall ever be paid out of the treasury of the state, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law, the salaries of the Judges of the Criminal Court of Appeals are required to be paid though the Legislature has failed to make an appropriation in a sufficient amount therefor, as the appropriation is made by the Constitution, and notwithstanding the expiration of two and one-half years from the adoption of the Constitution, as that provision does not relate to appropriations made by the Constitution.
Appeal from District Court, Oklahoma County; Earl Foster, Special Judge.
Action by the State on relation of Wm. H. Murray against Ray O. Weems, State Treasurer, and Frank Carter, State Auditor. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
Ledbetter, Stuart, Bell Ledbetter, for plaintiff in error.
J. Berry King, Atty. Gen., and Randall S. Cobb, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendants in error.
The controlling issues in this case were determined by the decisions of this court in cause numbered 25073, Thomas A. Edwards et al. v. F.C. Carter, State Auditor, et al., promulgated on November 7, 1933, and January 30, 1934, 167 Okla. 282, 287, 29 P.2d 605, 610. The rules of law therein stated are applied herein.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.