Board of Sup'rs Presque Isle County v. Thompson

• Decision Date: 08 May 1894
• Docket Number: 136.
• Parties: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF PRESQUE ISLE COUNTY et al. v. THOMPSON.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

61 F. 914

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF PRESQUE ISLE COUNTY et al. v. THOMPSON.

No. 136.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

May 8, 1894

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Charles H. Thompson, the plaintiff below, filed his petition averring: That he had recovered in the court below three judgments, aggregating $8,297.08, against the Union school district of the township of Rogers, in the county of Presque Isle. That said judgments were recovered in 1889 and 1891 upon bonds issued in 1871 by said school district under the authority of the legislature of Michigan. That the said school district, in 1871, and at the time of filing the petition, embraced congressional townships, town 34, range 4 E.; town 34, range 5 E.; town 34, range 6 E.; town 35, range 4 E.; town 35, range 5 E. That when the bonds were issued these congressional townships were all included within the municipal township of Rogers, but that at the time of filing the petition they were parts of different municipal townships, as follows: Town 34 N., range 5 E., constituting Belknap township; town 34 N., range 4 E., constituting Bismarck township; town 35 N., range 4 E., constituting Moltke township; Town 35 N., range 5 E., constituting part of Rogers township; and town 34 N., of range 6 E., constituting a part of Posen township. That the judgments were wholly unpaid. That on August 12, 1892, duly-certified copies of the judgments were served personally upon the supervisors of the above-named townships, and upon the clerk of Presque Isle county. That according to law the board of supervisors of said county would meet on October 10, 1892, to levy taxes for the ensuing year, and that the petitioner was justly apprehensive that the board would meet and adjourn without making provision to satisfy the judgments. The prayer was for a writ against the board of supervisors of the county, the county clerk, and county treasurer, and against the supervisors and town treasurers of the above-named townships.

The various respondents filed different answers, but the defenses made were the same. They denied the validity of the judgments on the ground-- First, that the union school district named as defendant had no legal existence, because organized under an unconstitutional law; and, second, that the last of the three judgments was not based on any service upon any proper officer of said alleged district. Second. They averred that the effect of the acts of 1875 and 1879, which created the townships of Belknap, Moltke, Bismarck, Posen, and re-created the township of Rogers, was to remove all these townships from the jurisdiction of the union school district, and to relieve them from liability for its indebtedness, and that after their creation, school systems were organized in the townships of Belknap, Posen, and Moltke and Bismarck, under general laws, without interference by said union school district. Third. They averred that an act of the Michigan legislature, of 1885, purporting and attempting to re-create and reorganize the Union school district of the township of Rogers, to consist of all its original, and some additional, territory, was unconstitutional and void. Fourth. They averred that the assessed valuation of property in the different townships was not uniform, and that it would be unjust to apportion the tax in proportion to such valuation.

The case was heard on the petition and answers, and a peremptory writ was issued, 'commanding the board of supervisors to immediately convene and assemble, and charge against the townships of Rogers, Moltke, Bismarck, Posen, and Belknap, in said county, the sum of $8,297.08, with interest to the 30th day of November, and costs of this proceeding, said costs being fixed at the sum of . . . dollars and . . . cents, and levy said amount upon lands and personal property in the several townships.'

The act of 1871, establishing the Union school district of the township of Rogers, in its first section, provided that the congressional townships already specified above should 'constitute one school district which shall be a body corporate by the name and style of Union School District of the Township of Rogers and by that name may sue and be sued, and shall be subject to all the general laws of the state, relative to corporations, so far as the same may be applicable; and such district shall have all the powers and privileges conferred upon school districts by the general laws of this state, all the general provisions of which, relating to common or primary schools shall apply and be in force in said district, except such as shall be inconsistent with this act or with the by-laws and ordinances of the board of education hereinafter mentioned, made in pursuance of this act. ' The third section provided for the election of a board of education of three trustees, who should elect from their own number a president, secretary, and treasurer whose powers and duties should 'severally be the same as those of the moderator, assessor and director in school districts organized under the general laws of this state. ' By sections 11 and 12, the board, when authorized by a vote of a majority of the legal voters at a meeting called for the purpose, was given power to purchase sites for school houses, and to build them, and to issue bonds running for 20 years to pay for the same. A statement of the sum thus borrowed was required to be filed with the supervisor, showing the amount to be raised each year; and it was made the duty of the supervisor to cause such sum 'to be assessed on the real and personal property of said district on the first general tax roll thereafter made,' and the township treasurer was given the same power to collect this as other taxes.

By No. 80 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 1875 (page 118), the county of Presque Isle was organized, or rather recognized (see Ashley v. Board, 8 C.C.A. 455, 60 F. 55), and the townships of Presque Isle, Posen, Belknap, Moltke, and Rogers were created. The township of Rogers had been organized before 1871, but this act changed its territory by carving out of the original township the others above named.

By No. 387 of the Local Acts of Michigan of 1885 (page 572), the act of 1871, establishing the Union school district of the township of Rogers, was amended. By the amendment, all the original territory, and some additional congressional townships, were included in the district, and provisions were made for apportioning the indebtedness to new townships organized and detached from the school district. The substance and effect of the act are fully stated in the opinion.

In section 5109(3), How. Ann. St., under the general title of 'Primary Schools,' it is provided that no execution shall be issued against a school district, but that the judgment shall be collected as follows:

'Sec. 5110(4). Whenever any final judgment shall be obtained against a school district, if the same shall not be removed to any other court, the assessor of the district shall certify to the supervisor of the township and to the director of the district the date and amount of each judgment with the name of the person in whose favor the same was rendered and if the judgment shall be removed to another court, the assessor shall certify the same as aforesaid, immediately after the final determination thereof against the district.

'Sec. 5111(5). If the assessor shall fail to certify the judgment as required in the preceding section, it shall be lawful for the party obtaining the same, his executors, administrators, or assigns, to file with the supervisor the certificate of the justice or clerk of the court rendering the judgment, showing the facts which should have been certified by the assessor.

'Sec. 5112(6). If the district against whom any such judgment shall be rendered, is situated in part in two or more townships, a certificate thereof shall be delivered as aforesaid to the supervisor of each township in which such district is in part situated.

'Sec. 5113(7). The supervisor or supervisors receiving either of the certificates of a judgment as aforesaid shall proceed to assess the amount thereof, with interest from the date of the judgment to the time when the warrant for the collection thereof will expire, upon the next township assessment roll in the column for school taxes; and the same proceedings shall be had, and the same shall be collected and returned in the same manner as other district taxes.'

Section 22 of Act No. 200 of the Session Laws of 1891, which prescribes the mode of levying and collecting all taxes in Michigan, requires the board of supervisors, at their October session in each year, to examine the assessment rolls in each township of the county, and adjust and equalize the valuations of real estate in each township so that they shall be upon a uniform and equal estimate; and then the rolls are to be delivered to the supervisor, to be filed in his office. By section 24, the supervisor of each township is required to file with the county clerk all certificates showing taxes to be raised for township, school, highway, drain, and other purposes before the annual October meeting of the supervisors. By section 25, the board of supervisors is required to examine the certificates showing the moneys to be raised for township, school, and other purposes, and determine whether the same are in proper form, and legal. They are required to direct that such amounts proposed to be raised as are authorized by law shall be spread on the assessment rolls of the proper townships.

Section 27 requires each supervisor to proceed and assess the taxes apportioned to his township in proportion to the valuation entered by the board of supervisors in the assessment roll of the township of the year. By ...