Carter v. Board of Sup'rs of Chickasaw County

• Decision Date: 26 February 1923
• Docket Number: 23193
• Citation: 95 So. 306,131 Miss. 127
• Parties: CARTER v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF CHICKASAW COUNTY
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

95 So. 306

131 Miss. 127

CARTER v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF CHICKASAW COUNTY

No. 23193

Supreme Court of Mississippi

February 26, 1923

September 1922

APPEAL from chancery court of Chickasaw county, HON. A. J. MCINTYRE Chancellor.

Suit by Mrs. Anna Carter against the board of supervisors of Chickasaw county. From a decree sustaining a motion to dissolve an injunction and awarding defendant damages for its wrongful issuance, complainant appeals. Affirmed and remanded.

Affirmed and remanded.

OPINION

ANDERSON, J.

Appellant, Mrs. Anna Carter, filed her bill in the chancery court of the first district of Chickasaw county to enjoin the appellee, the board of supervisors of said county, from issuing five thousand dollars of bonds of the Van Fleet consolidated school district. An injunction was issued and served in accordance with the prayer of the bill. The cause was heard on motion of appellant to dissolve the injunction on bill, answer, and proofs adduced at the hearing of said motion, and the court rendered a decree, sustaining the motion and dissolving the injunction and awarding appellee damages for its wrongful issuance. From that decree the court granted an appeal to settle the principles of the pause.

Appellee sought to issue bonds of the Van Vleet consolidated school district under chapter 207, Laws of 1920 (Hemingway's Supp, sections 6662B to 6666E, inclusive), and chapter 194, Laws of 1916 (Hemingway's Code, section 4004). The Van Vleet consolidated school district was composed of territory which prior to the organization of the said district constituted four rural school districts, one of which was known as the Van Vleet school district. After the consolidation of these four districts the consolidated district was designated as the Van Vleet consolidated school district.

The question involved in this case is whether the record kept by the school trustees and the board of supervisors were required to show affirmatively that the election for the issuance of the bonds in question was held at a place fixed by law.

Chapter 194, Laws of 1916 (Hemingway's Code, section 4004), provides that the election to be held in a consolidated school district to determine whether the bonds of such district shall issue "shall be held at the schoolhouse of said district, or, if there is no schoolhouse, the election shall be held at a convenient place designated by the trustees of the school."

There was no schoolhouse of the Van Vleet consolidated district. There was a schoolhouse of the Van Vleet school district which district had been taken into and formed a part of the Van Vleet consolidated school district. However, at the time the election was held this schoolhouse had been burned, and the school for the Van Vleet school district was being taught in a house near by in Van Vleet, which is a village. The school trustees testified that, there being no schoolhouse in the consolidated district they fixed, as the place for the election to be held, which was a convenient place for the voters, the schoolhouse where the Van Vleet school was being taught. The resolution of the board of supervisors ordering the election among other things provided:

"It is therefore ordered by the board of supervisors of Chickasaw county . . . that an election be held at Van Vleet school district house, the same being a convenient place for holding the same, which election shall be held on March 14, 1922, to determine, etc. . . . And it is further ordered that the clerk of this board shall make and certify a copy of this order to the election commissioners of Chickasaw county who shall forthwith give proper and legal notice of the time, place and manner of holding said election."

In pursuance of said order of the appellee the election commissioners gave notice of the proposed election, reciting, among other things:

"Notice is hereby given to the qualified electors of the Van Vleet consolidated school district composed of the following territory [describing territory] that an election will be held at the schoolhouse at Van Vleet in said district, . . . on March 14, 1922, to determine whether the bonds of said district shall be issued in the sum of five thousand dollars."

On the back of the ballots used in the election there was printed this:

"Special election held Tuesday, March 14, 1922, at the schoolhouse in Van Vleet consolidated school district," etc.

The return of the election commissioners among other things recited:

"We, the undersigned commissioners of election in and for said county, hereby certify that the following is the true and correct return of the special election held at Van Vleet Schoolhouse in Van Vleet consolidated school district on March 4, 1922," etc.

Appellee in its resolution...