Bd. of Supervisors of Livingston County v. Weider

• Decision Date: 30 September 1872
• Citation: 1872 WL 8345,64 Ill. 427
• Parties: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF LIVINGSTON COUNTYv.AARON WEIDER.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

64 Ill. 427

1872 WL 8345 (Ill.)

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

v.AARON WEIDER.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September Term, 1872.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Livingston county; the Hon. CHARLES H. WOOD, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. INGERSOLL & MCCUNE, and Mr. C. BEATTIE, for the appellant.

Mr. L. E. PAYSON, for the appellee. Mr. JUSTICE BREESE delivered the opinion of the Court:

This was a bill in chancery, in the Livingston circuit court, filed by the board of supervisors of that county, to which the county treasurer was made defendant, praying to enjoin him from paying certain moneys in his hands on bonds alleged to have been fraudulently and illegally issued to aid in the erection of the State Reform School, in the township of Pontiac, in that county.

The county treasurer put in his answer, admitting he had five thousand dollars in his hands collected of the tax-payers of the county to pay the annual interest on one hundred bonds of five hundred dollars each, bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum, with coupons attached thereto, which the county of Livingston had issued and sold, and were now in the hands of certain non-resident parties; that the bonds were issued on the 15th of July, 1869, and the amount in his hands was to be applied to the interest then due upon them. He denied all fraud and combination, and alleged that the interest for one year had been paid on these bonds by order of the board of supervisors.

On the hearing, the court dissolved the injunction and dismissed the bill.

To reverse that decree, the complainants appeal.

It appears the general assembly of this State, on the 5th of March, 1867, passed an act entitled, “An act for the reformation of juvenile offenders and vagrants,” by the first section of which it was provided that an institution, to be known as the “State Reform School,” should be established for the discipline, education, employment and reformation of juvenile offenders and vagrants in this State, between the ages of eight and eighteen years. The management of this school was vested in a board of trustees, to consist of seven male citizens of the State, five of whom constituted a quorum to do business. The trustees were to be appointed by the Governor of the State, by and with the consent of the Senate. A president, vice-president, and other officers were to be elected by the board out of their own number.

By section 5, it was provided, after the organization of the board, they should proceed to select a suitable site, on which should be erected this school, and the trustees were required, within four weeks from the time of their appointment, to proceed to examine and determine upon the site, and locate the same at some suitable place in or near the central portion of the State; and that, in determining such location, the trustees should take into consideration any proposition which might be made to them, and of the performance of which they should have satisfactory assurance, to give to the State the lands necessary for the site, or any materials or money to aid in the erection of the building; and it was provided that any bond or other obligation executed to the people of the State and delivered to the trustees to secure any such site, money or materials for this purpose, should be valid and binding upon the parties executing the same. It was further provided, if a site had to be purchased, the deed was to be executed to the people of the State and delivered to the auditor of public accounts--the cost of the site being limited to five thousand dollars. Laws of 1867, p. 38.

This act, evidently contemplating arrangements with private parties for cessions of land, donations of money and materials, was not satisfactory to those who were on the “look out” for chances of speculation, and having full knowledge of the great advantages resulting from the establishment of the State “Normal School” at a certain locality, and in their eagerness to promote expenditures of public money, failing to observe and appreciate the immeasurable difference between an “Infant Penitentiary” and a “Normal School,” measures were taken to enlist other aids in the great enterprise.

Accordingly, in 1869, the general assembly, by an act passed on the second day of April of that year, provided that any township, county, town or city might make any subscription in aid of this school, in money, bonds or lands, as it might deem proper, for the purpose of securing the location within its limits.

Here occurs an instance of legislative action which, to say the least, is singular, and the reason for which is difficult of conjecture, except upon one hypothesis unnecessary to be stated.

Section 3 of this act provides that the subscription provided for in the preceding section, if made by a county, should be made by resolution to be adopted by a majority vote of the board of supervisors of such county at a regular or special meeting thereof; if made by a township, by resolution of the supervisors, town clerk and assessor, acting as a board for the township; if by a town, by a resolution or ordinance of the board of trustees; if by a city, by a resolution or ordinance thereof passed in the usual manner of resolutions or ordinances by such town or city; to which is added this singular proviso: Provided, that no such subscription shall be made by any township, town or city until the proposition to make it shall have been submitted to a vote and adopted by the legal voters of such township, town or city by a majority of all the votes cast at an election to be held for that purpose.

Counties being omitted from this proviso, their taxables to have no voice in the matter, are restored to favor by the next section. By that it is...