December 10, 2007
Dear City Attorney:
Your city has the following question: What does the word Acitizen@ in ' 6 of the City
Charter mean with respect to the eligibility of a person to be selected by the board of mayor and
aldermen to fill a vacancy on that board? Section 6 provides as follows:
No person shall be eligible for the office of mayor or aldermen
unless he is a citizen of the City as hereunder incorporated. In case
of death, removal or resignation of any of the offices of such
corporation, the mayor and aldermen shall have the power to fill
such vacancy for the unexpired term.
It is said in 14 C.J.S., Citizens, ' 2, that:
The term Acitizen@ is derived from the Latin word civis and is not
a term of exact meaning. It is, therefore, a term capable of more
meanings than one, and has been variously defined.
In a larger sense, the term Acitizen@ denotes a person who, as a
member of a nation or of the body politic of a sovereign state owes
allegiance to, and may claim reciprocal protection from its
government. It is also sometimes defined as a person who is
domiciled in a country, and who is citizen, although neither native
or naturalized, in the sense that he or she takes his or her legal
status from such country.
Pursuant to English law, a citizen may be defined as an inhabitant
of a city. A citizen, pursuant to American law is, on the other
hand, variously defined as a person who has a right to vote for
representatives in Congress and other public officers, and who is
qualified to fill offices....
The particular meaning of the word Acitizen@ is frequently
dependent on the context in which it is found and must always be
taken in the sense which best harmonizes with the subject matter in
which it is used. A person may be considered a citizen for some
December 10, 2007
Page 2
purposes and not a citizen for other purposes.
It is further said in Greenough v. Board of Police Commissioners of Town of Tiverton, 30
R.I. 212, 74 A. 785 (1909), that
The noun Acitizen@ has been defined to be one who enjoys the
freedom and privileges of a city; a freeman of a city, as
distinguished from a foreigner, or one not entitled to its franchises;
an inhabitant of a city; a townsman...In English law, the term
means an inhabitant of a city; the representative of a city...[At 74
A. 787]
The word Acitizen@ in the context of ' 6 undoubtedly means a citizen in the English law
context: an inhabitant of a city. Indeed, there is nothing else it could mean. In fact, Section 6
requires that a person eligible for the office of mayor or aldermen be a citizen of the city Aas
hereunder incorporated.@ That language clearly indicates that citizenship means that the mayor
or an alderman must reside in the incorporated city.
The question of whether a person was a Acitizen@ of the Middle District of Tennessee
arose in Gruetter v Cumberland Telephone & Telegraph Co., 181 F. 248 (W.D. Tenn. 1909).
Although that case arose under the Diversity Clause of the U.S. Constitution under which cases
involving diverse citizenship can be removed to federal courts, what the court said about the
meaning of citizenship appears to apply to citizenship in the context of the law governing
eligibility for public office. In that case the defendant alleged that the plaintiff=s claim of
diversity of citizenship was faulty. The court rejected that allegation, declaring that:
I am of the opinion, however, that the fact that the plaintiff was a
resident of the Middle District of Tennessee at the time the petition
for removal was filed, affirmatively appears from the declaration
which he filed in the state court on the same day, December 17,
1908, in which he is described as >a citizen of Franklin county,
Tenn.= a phrase which, in my opinion, giving to the words their
natural and obvious meaning, sufficiently describes the plaintiff as
a citizen of Tennessee and a resident of Franklin county. To
describe a person as being of a certain county can only mean, as
words are ordinarily used, that he is a resident of that county... [At
255]
Section 6 does not expressly say that persons selected to fill vacancies in the office of
mayor or aldermen must be Acitizens@ of the City, but it does expressly say that ANo person
December 10, 2007
Page 3
shall be eligible for [those offices] unless he is a citizen of the City...@ For that reason, ' 6
appears to unambiguously require that both persons elected to the board of mayor and aldermen,
and persons appointed by that board to fill vacancies in such offices must be residents of the city.
Sincerely,
Sidney D. Hemsley
Senior Law Consultant
SDH/