Second, an office is created by the constitution or authorized by statute. State v. Conway, supra, 260 N.W. at 92; State v. Jacobson, supra, 370 P.2d at 485; cf. Hull v. City of Cleveland, 79 Ohio App. 87, 70 N.E.2d 137 (1946) (rejecting theory that relationship between public officer and municipality is contractual). Cf. Finley v. McNair, 317 Pa. 278, 176 A. 10 (1935) (chairman of traction conference board found not to be an officer where that position was created by contract between the city and traction company).
A public office is not a right of property or contract but a public trust created for the benefit of the public. Neither are the prospective emoluments of the office property of the incumbent in any sense. Smith v. Thompson, 219 Iowa 888, 893, 258 N.W. 190, and citations (overruled upon another point in Carlton v. Grimes, 237 Iowa 912, 952, 23 N.W.2d 883, 904); Clark v. Herring, 221 Iowa 1224, 1230, 260 N.W. 436; Hull v. City of Cleveland, 79 Ohio App. 87, 70 N.E.2d 137; 42 Am. Jur., Public Officers, section 3; 67 C.J.S., Officers, section 6, page 118: "* * * no individual has an indefeasible right therein beyond the constitutional tenure and the emoluments arising out of the actual rendition of services." (Italics added.)
People v. Mayor, etc. of New York, 25 Wend. 680, 685; Farwell v. Rockland, 62 Me. 296, 301; Jefferson County v. O'Gara, 239 Ala. 3, 4, 195 So. 277. The following cases directly support a conclusion that such an action is within a Statute of Limitations applicable to suits upon implied contracts. Hull v. Cleveland, 79 Ohio App. 87, 70 N.E.2d 137, 139, a case on all fours with the one before us; County of Lancaster v. Brinthall, 29 Pa. 38, 40; Baugh v. Prairie County, 66 Ark. 360, 50 S.W. 876; State ex rel. Bradford v. King County, 197 Wash. 393, 401, 85 P.2d 670; and see Metropolitan R. Co. v. District of Columbia, 132 U.S. 1, 13, 10 S.Ct. 19, 33 L.Ed. 231; McHenry v. Lawrence, 295 Mass. 119, 120, 3 N.E.2d 262. We are satisfied that both upon the basis of the true construction of our own statute and upon the weight of authority the claim of the plaintiff falls within 6005 of the General Statutes.
Although the law may not be ready to hold Facebook accountable in the instant case, from a moral point of view, it is hard to ignore "the principle that for every wrong a remedy must exist * * *." Hull v. Cleveland , 79 Ohio App. 87, 91, 70 N.E.2d 137 (8th Dist. 1946). Only when legal and moral duty diverge can courts hear a call for movement and reform.
" Wright v. City of Lorain, 70 Ohio App. 337, 341, 46 N.E.2d 325. See, also, Hull, Exrx., v. City of Cleveland, 79 Ohio App. 87, 70 N.E.2d 137. "1. A public officer or public general employee holds his position neither by grant nor contract, nor has any such officer or employee a vested interest or private right of property in his office or employment."