Commissioners of Highways of Town of Dayton v. Commissioners of Highways of Town of Rutland.
| Decision Date | 30 September 1876 |
| Citation | 84 Ill. 279,25 Am.Rep. 457,1876 WL 10495 |
| Parties | COMMISSIONERS OF HIGHWAYS OF TOWN OF DAYTONv.COMMISSIONERS OF HIGHWAYS OF TOWN OF RUTLAND. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
APPEAL from the Circuit Court of La Salle county; the Hon. EDWIN S. LELAND, Judge, presiding.
This was an action, by the commissioners of highways of the town of Dayton, against the commissioners of highways of the town of Rutland, under section 21 of the Township Organization Law of 1861, to recover one-half of the expense of repairing a bridge over Fox river, which is the boundary between the two towns, both being organized under the Township Organization Law.
Under an act of the legislature, passed in 1837, a State road was located from Ottawa to Naperville, across Fox river, and through the towns of Dayton and Rutland.
In 1853, a free bridge was built, by private subscription, at the place where the State road was located across the river, and was used by the public as a part of the highway until in 1857, when it was carried away by the ice. Before the erection of the bridge, the travel on the State road crossed the river at a ford about one-quarter of a mile above the site of the bridge, but, after it was built, fences were constructed, a short distance above the bridge, across the road, and also above the ford, whereby the travel was thrown upon the bridge, and a road laid out by the commissioners of highways of the town of Rutland. The bridge was rebuilt in 1857, at the same place, with funds raised by taxes levied by the towns of Dayton and Rutland, by an appropriation made by the board of supervisors, and by private subscriptions.
In 1868, the bridge being out of repair and unsafe, one of the commissioners of highways of the town of Rutland, with the approval of the others, nailed a plank across the end of it in their town, to prevent travel over it and injury arising from its unsafe condition.
Afterwards, in July, 1868, the commissioners of highways of the town of Dayton served a notice on the commissioners of the town of Rutland to aid in repairing the bridge, and that, unless they did so in twenty days, the commissioners of Dayton would proceed to make the repairs and claim of the town of Rutland their due proportion of the expense. The authorities of Rutland having failed to aid, the plaintiffs made the necessary repairs, and brought this suit to recover one-half of the expense. A trial was had, resulting in a verdict and judgment in favor of the defendants, and plaintiffs appealed.
Mr. D. P. JONES, and Mr. L. W. BREWER, for the appellants.
Mr. E. F. BULL, for the appellees.
This case was before us at a former term (see 60 Ill. 58), and it is conceded that the facts, in all material particulars, are the same in this record as they were in that case. The bridge was, at first, built by private donations, in whole or in part, and the questions then, as now, presented were, whether the bridge had been donated to, and whether it had been accepted by, the public. That it had been donated, there can be no doubt, nor is that seriously controverted, and the evidence of acceptance by appellees is almost, if not quite, conclusive The road commissioners, on a petition of a majority of the voters of their town, recommended to the board of supervisors that a tax be levied of sixty cents on the one hundred dollars of the taxable property of their town, to aid in rebuilding the former bridge at this place. The road commissioners then opened a road from the mouth of that bridge to intersect with the State road, and beyond and through the town, that had crossed at a ford...
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