Perry v. Lawrence County Election Commission

Petition to Rehear

The appellant, Atlas Perry, et al., has filed a petition to rehear correctly insisting, in our original opinion,

*552we did not directly rule upon the following assignment of error.

Is the private act unconstitutional as being in violation of Article 11, Section 8, of the Constitution of Tennessee, which prohibits special legislation.

In LaFever v. Ware, 211 Tenn. 393, 365 S.W.2d 44 (1963), one of the issues was the constitutionality of Section 15, Chapter 35 of the Private Acts 1963, which required the judge of the General Sessions Court for White County to be a licensed attorney in this State. The court said:

We do not believe that either of said Acts (the private act and a public act) is violative of Article 11, Section 8 Avhich prohibits class legislation. Under the Acts every person who is authorized to practice or who may hereafter be authorized to practice in the Courts of Tennessee is eligible to serve as a Judge. There is nothing unreasonable or arbitrary about this classification of said Section 8 of Article 11 which prohibits only those classifications which are unreasonable and arbitrary. 211 Tenn. 408, 365 S.W.2d 51.

The petition to rehear is denied.

Burnett, Chief Justice, Chattin and Creson, Justices, and Harbison, Special Justice, concur.