HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.gao/gaobabjlz0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
a
COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548
('I4 INflEPY 1-193637
, V JO-nUiay 25, 1979
313 Windover Avenue ~
Colonel Francis X. Lillis, US1A . O O -CC +f1
Vienna, Virginia 22180 , CViL
Dear Colonel Lillis:
Reference is made to your letter dated November 29, 1978, con-
cerning whether, if you were to accept an appointment to the Town
of Vienna, Virginia, Board of Zoning Appeals, you would be accepting
a civil office and thus lose your Regul.ar Army commission pursuant
to 10 U.S. C. 973(b) (1976).
You say that it is your opinion, and that of the Town of Vienna
Attorney, that membership on the 3oard would not constitute holding
''civil office. The Town Attorney offers the view that civil officers
would be those who carry statlutory au-hority to perform executive
or adtrinistrative type duties and this definition does not encompass
Board members since none perform duties of this nature. I-owe\er,
to avoid any potential conflict between your holding the Board position
and your status as a Regular Army officer on active duty, you request
an advisory opinion from this Office on the matter.
Section 973(b) of title 10, United States Code, which was derived
from section 18 of the act of July ].5, 1870, ch. 294, 16 Stat. 319,
Section 1222, Revised Statutes, provides in pertinent part:
(b) - no officer on the active list of the
Regular Army :may hold a civil office by
election or appointni.ent, wh, ether under 1he United
States, a Territory or possession, or a State.
'rhe acceptance of such a civil office or the exe.cise
of its functions by such an officer termainates his
military appointment.
The term civil office' as used in section 973(b) has never been
statutorily defined. However, in 1 .Aty. Gen. 310 (1370), an
opinion rendered shortly after enactn~eni: of the act of July. 15,
1870, supra, the Attorney General of the United States held that
GenerYal'Tc--orge G. '\ieade could not exercise the functions of a park
conmissioner of the City of ]Philadelphia without vacating his military
appointment. The Attorney Ceneral pointed out that: the office of
park conmi ssioner had been established by an act of the State ]egis-
lature, which ac, desi-nat cl the rnode, of ar)poinnient, the te in of
e e233 Z5-f 7.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobabjlz0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)