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Legislating The Incumbent Out Of Office, W. Gordon Stoner

Michigan Law Review

Under the English common law the officer's right or interest in the office which he held was regarded as a property right, an incorporeal hereditament. Largely because of the inherent difference between the nature and incidents of the public office at common law and those of the public office in this country, this conception never gained general acceptance here. In a few cases, and particularly in the decisions of the courts of North Carolina, offices have been asserted to be the property of the rightful incumbent. In these decisions the officer's right has been regarded as less absolute, perhaps, than …