Person aggrieved requirement limits appellate standing in election petitions; non-contesting respondent cannot appeal without legal injury.

A right of appeal under election law is confined to a party who is both involved in the controversy and adversely affected by the final determination. The Court held that the statutory scheme for election petitions and appeals does not give a general appellate right to every impleaded respondent, and the representative character of such proceedings does not extend to a non-participating respondent. Because the appellant had not contested the petition and suffered no legal grievance from its dismissal, he lacked the status of a person aggrieved and had no locus standi to maintain the appeal.

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Issues: Whether a respondent in an election petition, who did not contest the proceedings and was not prejudicially affected by the dismissal of the petition, could maintain an appeal to the Supreme Court as a "person aggrieved".

Analysis: The appeal right under the election law was held to depend on a conclusive determination of the matters in controversy and on the appellant being a party who had been adversely affected by that determination. The statutory scheme governing election petitions and appeals, read with the procedural principles of the civil code, did not confer a general right on every impleaded respondent to appeal. The Court also held that the limited representative character of an election petition, embodied in the provisions for withdrawal, abatement and substitution, did not extend so as to permit a non-participating respondent to file an appeal when the actual aggrieved party had not done so. Since the appellant had taken no part in the contest and suffered no legal grievance from dismissal of the petition, he lacked the necessary status.

Conclusion: The appellant was not a person aggrieved and had no locus standi to maintain the appeal.

Ratio Decidendi: A right of appeal under the election law lies only to a party who is both a participant in the controversy and adversely affected by the final determination; the representative character of an election petition does not, by itself, confer appellate standing on a non-contesting respondent.

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