Syllabus
by the Court.
Courts
of record in any county will take judicial notice of the
county seat of such county, and, if the seat of public
business in any county is the county seat de facto, such
courts will take notice thereof, and the validity of the
proceedings of such court transacted at the county seat de
facto cannot thereafter be questioned in a collateral
proceeding.
[Ed
Note.-For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 20, Evidence, §
31.]
A
person interested in the proceedings of a court of record may
appear before the court at any time and ask to have the
journal of the court made correct and complete as of the date
such record should have been made, and the court should
entertain and hear such motion upon notice given to those
adversely interested. Where the default was that of the court
or its officers, it is the duty of the court to make its
record complete at any subsequent date when the default is
called to its attention without the formality of a motion.
Where a
court of competent jurisdiction has determined the validity
of the bonds involved in a proceeding provided by the
statute, and has decreed that the bonds were valid
obligations and issued in strict conformity with the laws of
the territory, and no objection or exception was taken
therefrom, the decree and judgment of the court is final and
conclusive upon all matters put directly in issue, tried, and
determined in that proceeding. Following Territory v
Hopkins, 9 Okl. 133, 59 P. 976.
[Ed
Note.-For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 30, Judgment, §
1251.]
Error
from District Court, Day County; before Justice J. L
Pancoast.
Action
by the state of Kansas against the board of county
commissioners of Day county. Judgment for plaintiff, and
defendant brings error. Affirmed.
This
action was originally commenced in the district court of Day
county, Okl., by the defendant in error filing therein its
petition, which, with exhibits attached and referred to in
the petition, is as follows:
"The
state of Kansas, the plaintiff herein, complains of the
board of county commissioners of Day county, the defendant
herein, and for its causes of action against said defendant
says: That the state of Kansas is one of the states of the
United States of America, and was admitted into the Union
on January 29, 1861. That the defendant, the board of
county commissioners of Day county, is the lawful executive
and administrative body of Day county, Okl., and that said
Day county was organized on or about _____, 1902, and is
now, and at all times hereinafter mentioned was, one of the
duly organized counties of the territory of Oklahoma. That
by various acts of Congress the state of Kansas, plaintiff
herein, was granted large tracts of land out of the public
domain for the purpose of creating a fund, to be known as
the agricultural college endowment fund of the state of
Kansas, and providing that the said fund realized from the
sale of said lands should never be diminished, but should
be perpetual, and the principal sum of the said fund should
be invested, and the interest money derived from such
investments should be for the support of the Kansas State
Agricultural College. That, in pursuance of said acts of
Congress, the state of Kansas has accumulated a large fund,
to wit, five hundred thousand dollars, which is invested
from time to time in municipal bonds, and interest thereon
is devoted to the support of said college. That the
defendant, the board of county commissioners of Day county,
on July 10, 1900, in open court in the district court of
said Day county, Okl., at the lawful sitting of said court,
ordered by the Supreme Court of the territory of Oklahoma
to be held at Grand, Day county, Okl., for the issue of
county bonds, July 10, 1900, before the judge of said
court, executed certain judgment funding bonds of said
county, as more fully hereinafter appears, and the said
bonds were then and there signed by the duly qualified and
acting chairman of the board of county commissioners of
said county, and the said bonds were then and there
attested and signed by the duly qualified and acting county
clerk of said court, and the said bonds were then and there
signed by the duly qualified and acting judge of the
district court of said county, and were then and there duly
attested and signed by the duly qualified and acting deputy
clerk of the district court of said county.
"Thereafter
the bonds so executed as aforesaid were duly registered by
the auditor of the territory of Oklahoma, and said auditor
certified on the back of each bond aforesaid, under the
seal of his office, that the said bonds were legal and
regularly issued according to law. True copies of the said
auditor's certificate of registration and of the
legality and regularity of the issue of the bonds aforesaid
are hereinafter set out in Exhibits B and C, attached
hereto and made a part hereof. That the defendant issued
the said judgment funding bonds as aforesaid, and said
bonds were made payable to bearer, and thereafter divers
and certain of said bonds of said judgment issue of July
10, 1900, aforesaid, more fully hereinafter set forth, were
bought in good faith in the open market by the loan
commissioner of the State Agricultural College of the state
of Kansas as an investment for the endowment fund of said
college, for a valuable consideration; and out of an
abundance of prudence and caution on the part of the said
loan commissioner, before purchasing said bonds, the said
loan commissioner required to be furnished to him a
certified copy of all the papers on file in the office of
the auditor of the territory of Oklahoma containing the
history of the issue of said judgment funding bonds, and
particularly showing the journal entry of the judgment upon
which this issue of bonds was based, and particularly
showing the amount of said issue, and particularly showing
the total outstanding indebtedness of said Day county, and
particularly showing the assessed valuation of said Day
county, which copy of all the papers on file as aforesaid,
in the office of the auditor aforesaid, was duly certified
by the auditor of Oklahoma under the seal of his office, a
true copy of which is hereto attached, marked Exhibit A,
and made a part of this petition. That the bonds of this
judgment funding issue so purchased as aforesaid by the
loan commissioner as aforesaid are bonds numbered 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, and 16, for $1,000.00 each, and bond numbered
18 for $100.00, and all of said bonds so purchased as
aforesaid are issued as of the date of July 10, 1900, and
due July 10, 1910. A true copy of bond No. 11 is attached
hereto, marked Exhibit B, except as to numbering. A true
copy of bond No. 18 is attached hereto, marked Exhibit C,
and made a part of this petition. That the bonds so
purchased as aforesaid are the property of this plaintiff,
and the plaintiff is entitled to the interest thereon. The
said bonds were issued with interest coupons attached,
payable semiannually, bearing 6 per cent. interest, and the
defendant has paid with reasonable promptness to this
plaintiff all interest coupons on the aforesaid bonds so
purchased for its agricultural college endowment fund up to
and including the interest coupons pertaining to the
aforesaid bonds 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 18 which
matured on July 10, 1902; and the defendant has made
default in payment of all the interest coupons of said
bonds numbered 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 18 aforesaid,
which have matured since July 10, 1902, and the defendant
has refused, and still refuses, to pay the same.
"First
Cause of Action.
"Plaintiff
refers to the allegations of this petition herein above set
forth, and makes them all a part of this its first cause of
action, and says: That on January 10, 1903, the interest
coupon, No. 5, of the aforesaid bond No. 11, the same being
the property of the plaintiff, became due, and defendant
made default; and demand was duly made for its payment, and
defendant refused and still refuses to pay the said coupon.
A true copy of said coupon is in words and figures as
follows:
$30.00.
Day County,
Oklahoma
Territory.
Day
County. Oklahoma Territory, will pay to bearer the sum of
thirty ($30) Dollars, on the 10th of January, 1903, at the
Fiscal Agency of the territory of Oklahoma, in the city and
state of New York. In the event of the discontinuance of said
place, then at the Chemical National Bank in said city and
state, for semi-annual interest, due on that date, on its
judgment funding bond. Dated July 10, 1900.
No. 5.
Edson
L. Mead, County Clerk.
Cosmo
Falconer, Ch'm B'd Co. Com.
"Wherefore,
there is due this plaintiff from the defendant, on this cause
of action, the sum of thirty dollars on said coupon, and
interest thereon at seven per cent. per annum since the
maturity of said coupon set out in this cause of
action."
Here
follow causes of action numbered from second to forty-second,
inclusive, of the same general character as the first cause
of action, and the petition continues thus:
"That
the aggregate sum of all the interest coupons due and
unpaid as aforesaid in plaintiff's several causes of
action above set forth against this defendant is $1,098.00.
Wherefore, plaintiff prays judgment against said defendant
in the sum of one thousand ninety-eight dollars, with
interest on $183.00 thereof at the rate of 7 per cent. per
annum from January 10, 1903, with interest on $183.00
thereof at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum from July 10,
1903, with interest on $183.00 thereof at the rate of 7 per
cent. per annum from January 10, 1904, with interest on
$183.00 thereof at the rate of 7 per cent.
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