# State ex rel. Barlow v. Benfield

> Supreme Court of North Carolina · March 29, 1950 · 231 N.C. 663

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6699117

## Case

- **Full name:** STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA ex rel. RALPH BARLOW and JACK MOORE v. C. O. BENFIELD
- **Court:** Supreme Court of North Carolina
- **Decided:** March 29, 1950
- **Citations:** 231 N.C. 663; 58 S.E.2d 637; 1950 N.C. LEXIS 367
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion of the court by Devin
- **Judges:** Devin
- **Cited by:** 3 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6699117

## Opinion text

Devin, J.
The judgment of nonsuit was improvidently entered. It was made to appear from the admissions in the answer and the evidence offered by the relators that 1 July, 1949, the defendant was elected by the Board of Commissioners of Granite Falls as chief of police of that town, which office he is now holding, and that defendant is not a qualified voter therein. It was also admitted that relators are residents, qualified voters, and taxpayers of Granite Falls.
The office of chief of police of an incorporated town, as Granite Falls is admitted to be, is a public office. Foard v. Hall, 111 N.C. 369 , 16 S.E. 420 . The relators had a right to institute this action for the cause set out in the complaint. Bouldin v. Davis, 197 N.C. 731 , 150 S.E. 507 ; Midgett v. Gray, 158 N.C. 133 , 73 S.E. 791 . The statute (G.S. 160-25) provides that “No person shall be mayor, commissioner, intendant of police, alderman or other chief officer of any city or town unless he shall be a qualified voter therein.” This statute, said Chief Justice Clark in Foard v. Hall, supra, “embraces the office of chief of police.”
The judgment of nonsuit must be vacated.
Reversed.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6699117. Public record. Not legal advice.