Commissioners of Granville County v. Commissioners of Vance

• Decision Date: 28 October 1890
• Parties: COMMISSIONERS OF GRANVILLE v. COMMISSIONERS OF VANCE.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

12 S.E. 39

107 N.C. 291

COMMISSIONERS OF GRANVILLE v. COMMISSIONERS OF VANCE.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

October 28, 1890

Appeal from superior court, Vance county; BOYKIN, Judge.

The county of Vance was created by and organized under and in pursuance of the statute, (Acts 1881, c. 113,) and as to its territory it is composed of detached parts of the counties of Granville, Franklin, and Warren. The fifteenth section of that statute provides as follows: "That that portion of the citizens and taxable property taken from the counties of Franklin and Granville and attached to the county of Vance shall not be released from their proportion of the outstanding public debts of the said counties of Granville and Franklin contracted before the passage of this act; said proportions to be ascertained and determined by the county commissioners of Granville, Franklin, and Vance counties, in such manner and by such method as may be agreed upon." Soon after the election of commissioners for the county of Vance the board of commissioners of the county of Granville appointed a commissioner charged with authority to act conjointly with a like commissioner to be appointed by the board of commissioners of the county of Vance in settling the matters and things mentioned and referred to in the statutory provision above recited; but the latter board had not appointed such like commissioner, or suggested or proposed any manner or method of making such settlement, at the time this action was brought, on the 4th day of September, 1882. The statute above cited was ratified on the 5th of March 1881. The plaintiff board alleged in its complaint that the county of Granville owed an outstanding public debt, at and next before the enactment of the statute above cited; that it had appointed a commissioner as above stated; that the defendant had refused to appoint a like commissioner, or to take any action looking to a settlement of the matters and things mentioned in the above-recited section of the statute as therein contemplated; and it demanded judgment as follows "(1) That an account may be taken by and under the order and direction of the court, so as to ascertain and determine the true amount of the public debt of the said county of Granville contracted before and outstanding at the time of the passage of the said act, and of the interest thereof, and also the proper proportion thereof of that portion of the citizens and taxable property taken from the county of Granville and attached to the county of Vance as aforesaid within the meaning and intent of the said act, or that the same may be ascertained and determined in such other manner as the court may think proper to direct; (2) that the plaintiff may have judgment for the proportion aforesaid of the said public debt of said county of Granville, when ascertained and determined as aforesaid, and interest on the same, and for costs of suit; (3) that the defendant may be compelled by writ of mandamus to levy and collect, according to law, on the taxable polls and property of that portion of the said county of Vance which was taken from the said county of Granville and attached to the said county of Vance as aforesaid sufficient taxes for the payment of the said judgment, and to apply the said taxes, when collected, to the payment of the same; (4) that the plaintiff may have such further or other relief as the nature of the circumstances of this case may require and to the court shall seem meet." The defendant, in its answer, admitted the right of the plaintiff to have an account taken; denied that the outstanding debt was such or so much as alleged in the complaint; that it had refused to take proper action as contemplated by the statute; averred its readiness to take such action at all proper times, and submitted to the court its readiness and willingness to take such action as might be proper, etc.; and it alleged that it was entitled to have certain real estate, not necessary for public purposes of the plaintiff, sold, and the proceeds of sale applied in part payment of such outstanding debt, etc. The plaintiff filed its reply, denying the defense alleged. Afterwards, by consent of the parties, "all the matters of controversy in the action" were referred to referees. Their findings of fact were to be "final and conclusive," and reported; and they were to state separately their conclusions of law and all questions and issues of law raised,--these to be reviewed and affirmed or reversed by the court, etc. Afterwards the referees made an elaborate and detailed report, and with a view to present certain questions of law raised, among other things reported as follows: "By request of the counsel of defendants, in order to enable the defendants to raise and present the questions of law hereinafter mentioned, and with the consent of the counsel of the plaintiff, the undersigned report the following: (1) That during the month of May, 1881, the sheriff and treasurer of said county of Granville, under an order made by the board of commissioners of said county on the 7th day of December 1880, paid the sum of $3,450.42 out of the tax levy of 1880 upon the judgments rendered and docketed prior to March 5 1881, against the board of commissioners of said county of Granville, which judgments are charged in this account without credit for such amount, and the same was allowed him on the 17th day of May, 1881, upon an examination of his account at that date, by the finance committee of the board of commissioners of said county of Granville. (2) That the board of commissioners of said county of Granville expended out of the taxes collected on the tax-levy of the year 1880 the sum of $2,700 for the current expenses of said county from the 5th day of March, 1881, to September 1, 1881. (3) That on the settlement of the sheriff and treasurer of said county of Granville for the tax-levy of the year 1880, which settlement was made September 1, 1881, there was a balance of cash in his hands of $9,260.60, after deducting Schedules B and C, including $200 of the tax-levy of 1879." "(5) That on the 5th day of February, 1879, the justices of said county of Granville directed the commissioners of said county to make sale of a portion of the poor-house lands of Granville county unnecessary for pauper purposes; that in pursuance of this direction the said commissioners ordered such sale November 17, 1879, and the same was made and reported December 15, 1879, and ratified by said commissioners the 6th day of January, 1880; that the sale was reported to the justices, who refused to confirm the same; that no further steps were taken towards making sale prior to the 5th day of March, 1881, but that sale has since been made of a portion of said poorhouse lands under an order made since the 5th day of March, 1881, by justices of the peace and the commissioners of Granville county; that the land thus ordered to be sold November 17, 1879, was reasonably worth the sum of $5,000, and a copy of the order of the commissioners directing said sale is hereto annexed." "(7) That among the county orders herein before mentioned as issued after the 5th day of March, 1881, for debts contracted before the 5th day of March, 1881, and existing and outstanding against Granville county at that date, and which are included in the amount of indebtedness herein before mentioned as existing and outstanding against the county of Granville on said 5th day of March, 1881, was a county order, No. 196, for $158.89, issued to Robert Garner on the 5th day of July, 1881, for stationery furnished the county of Granville for the year 1880, and that said order was allowed said Garner as a credit in the settlement on 1st September, 1881, of his collections of taxes under the tax-levy of the year 1880. The counsel of the defendants insisted, as matter of law, that before estimating the said township's proportion of the public indebtedness aforesaid of the county of Granville, existing and outstanding on the 5th day of March, 1881, there ought to be deducted therefrom the said sum of $3,450.42 paid after the 5th day of March, 1881, upon judgments rendered and docketed before said 5th day of March, 1881, as...