The Territory, ex rel. McKinnis, v. Hand.
A very cursory examination of the statutes under consideration will conclusively show that they are in pari materia, and that the Legislature had the provisions of the general law (chap. 21) in view all the time when framing this special act. By section 6 of the act last referred to, the governor is authorized to appoint the officers for these counties, "without the petition of voters otherwise required;" where and by what law required ? The answer is to be found in section 1, chapter 21, "whenever the voters of any unorganized county * * shall be equal to fifty or upwards, and they shall desire to have said county organized, they may petition the governor, etc. Why were the Black Hills counties made, an exception to this rule? The Legislature took notice of the fact, which was notorious, that there were several thousand voters in these counties, without county government, without courts, and without any of the machinery of the law for the protection of life and property, and the various, vast and valuable interests that had sprung up like magic in that new country; the distance from the capital of the Territory, and there being no United States mail carried into the Hills, communication was slow and uncertain; the desire of the people for county organization was well known, and to have waited for petitions could have served no practical purpose, and would only have prolonged the rule of anarchy and confusion; therefore to save time and hasten the consummation of the purposes of the act, this provision was inserted and the petition dispensed with. And for the same good and cogent reasons, we apprehend, the governor was empowered to appoint all the other officers, except justices of the peace, for these counties. This, we think, is a satisfactory answer to the somewhat specious argument of counsel, contending that the provision authorizing these appointees to "hold their offices respectively until their successors are elected and qualified according to law," must refer to section 15 of chapter 21, and not to section 3, same chapter; and that unless their construction is adopted, "all the legislation in chapter 42, outside of naming and defining the boundaries of said counties, was an idle exercise of power."Vol. i-—58.
