quired and often residence within the official district, especially in the case of city officers. § 12. Age. Statutory provision is usually made excluding those under age from holding office, and for the more important offices the constitutions frequently require a greater age than a bare majority. At the common law it would seem that one under age could hold a ministerial office, but not one requiring the exercise of discretion, and it has been held that in the absence of statute a minor can hold such an office as that of notary. § 13. Sex. The common provision that only voters shall be eligible to office excludes women from office where male suffrage prevails. By the common law it would seem that women were generally ineligible to office except that of queen, unless the duties of the office could be performed by a deputy. The tendency at the present time, however, is to extend their right to hold offices, especially those of a local nature; and the less important offices in the Federal government, such as postmaster and pension agent, have frequently been held by women. § 14. Property. Property qualifications, although common in England and of frequent occurrence in the earlier history of this country, are now uncommon here. A number of constitutions forbid them altogether, but where there are no constitutional restrictions they are occasionally to be found. Thus in the case of State v. McAllister (11) it was urged that the section in the state constitution providing that no person except a citizen entitled to vote should be elected or appointed to any office, (11) 38 W. Va. 485. by implication prevented the legislature from requiring councilmen to be freeholders, but the court held that the section in question merely restricted officeholders to a certain class and did not in any way prevent the legislature from requiring other qualifications as well. § 15. Religious or political belief. Most of the constitutions forbid "tests" for the holding of office, and these have been construed to forbid political or religious qualifications. The attempt to secure the nonpartisan character of certain boards has given rise to the interesting cases of Attorney General v. Board of Councilmen (12) and Rogers v. Buffalo (13). In the first case a law of Michigan had provided for the appointment of a board of commissioners of registration and election, two members whereof were to be from each of the two leading political parties in the city. The court held that the effect of the statute was to make party adhesion a condition of office and that, if obeyed, it would put all but the two favored parties beyond the possibility of representation, and accordingly held it unconstitutional. In the second case the civil service law of New York provided for the appointment of three persons as civil service commissioners, not more than two of whom should be adherents of the same party. The attempt was made to apply the reasoning of the preceding case on the ground that, after two appointments were made from one party, the political faith of members of the same party would prevent their appointment to the third office, but the court (12) 58 Mich. 213. held, as long as there was no discrimination against those not party members, nor against any party, and all within the same party were treated alike, that the statute could not be considered to impose a political test and was constitutional. § 16. Crime. A common punishment for crime is disqualification for office and in a Pennsylvania case (14) it was held that the article of the Pennsylvania Constitution providing that a candidate for office "guilty" of bribery, fraud, or wilful violation of any election law should be forever disqualified from office, did not require a convic tion by regular criminal proceedings to work the disqualification, but that the fact of guilt could be determined in a quo warranto proceeding to try the title to the office. Bad character alone is not sufficient to disqualify one for office, although the civil service laws very generally make provision against the appointment of persons who habitually use intoxicating liquors to excess or are guilty of notoriously disgraceful or infamous conduct and often provide for a certificate of good moral character (15). § 17. Holding other office. Where two offices exist under the same government and are incompatible, the holding of the first does not usually render the holder ineligible to the second, but the acceptance of the second vacates the first. Incompatible offices are therefore properly treated elsewhere (§§ 67-68, below). But where the law provides, for instance, that one person shall not hold more than one lucrative office and a person (14) Commonwealth v. Walter, 83 Pa. St. 105. (15) Goodnow, Administrative Law of United States, 263. already holds a lucrative office under another government, the law cannot operate on the first office and, to be given effect, must act as a disqualification for the second office. Thus it is often the case that the holding of a Federal office will render the holder ineligible to state office. It is also frequently provided that members of a legislature shall be ineligible to hold an office created or the emoluments whereof have been increased during the term for which they shall have been elected. Nor may an officer appoint himself to office. Thus in the case of People v. Thomas (16) the law devolved upon three justices of the peace the power of making an appointment to the office of supervisor and they proceeded to do so by appointing one of their own number, but the court said: "These three justices are the depositories of a public trust, and it is a principle of universal application, as well as of public decency, that neither of them should be permitted to discharge it for his own benefit or to promote his private interest," and so held the appointment invalid. § 18. Civil service requirements. Educational requirements such as the ability to read and write are sometimes requirements for the holding of office, and in the case of offices such as that of judge or engineer, professional or technical training and experience are common qualifications. The most important intellectual requirements, however, are those of the civil service. The act of Congress of 1883 has been the model of much of the state legislation. The President may require the taking of examinations by applicants for almost any position in the serv (16) 33 Barbour (N. Y.) 287. ice of the government except laborers, and the rules laid down by him have gradually been extended so that there are now over 120,000 positions subject thereto. There are three general classes of examinations, those designed to test merely the general intelligence and adaptability of the competitors; those designed to test, in addition, the technical training of the applicants, as in the case of stenographers, draftsmen, etc.; and those designed to test technical skill, as in the case of mechanics, but without tests of an intellectual character. Neither the application nor the certificate required of the candidate shall contain any information with regard to his religious belief or political affiliations and, unless honorably discharged from the military or naval service of the United States, every applicant must be within the age limitations fixed for the positon desired. If the position belongs to one of the recognized mechanical trades, he must show that he has worked as apprentice or journeyman for such period as the commission may prescribe. The commission may refuse to examine or certify those physically unfit for the particular service, or who have been guilty of a crime or infamous or notorious and disgraceful conduct, or who have been dismissed from the service for delinquency or misconduct within one year preceding the date of the application, or who have intentionally made false statements as to any material fact, or been guilty of any deception or fraud in securing registration or appointment. Except in certain cases where extremely technical qualifications are required, a registration list is kept on which are placed the names of those attaining an average of seventy, in the order of their averages, except that those |