Erwin v. St. Joseph Bd. Pub. Schools

• Citation: 12 F. 680
• Parties: ERWIN v. ST. JOSEPH BOARD OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. OSBORNE v. SAME.
• Decision Date: 01 November 1880
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

12 F. 680

ERWIN v. ST. JOSEPH BOARD OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

OSBORNE v. SAME.

United States Circuit Court, W.D. Missouri, Eastern Division.

November, 1880

Woodson & Crosby, for plaintiff.

Flanagan for defendant.

KREKEL D.J.

These suits are instituted on detached coupons of the same issue of bonds emitted by the St. Joseph Board of Public Schools.

The question to be determined is, had the board authority to issue them? The bonds declared on are in the following form:

'No . . . .

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

$1,000.

'State of Missouri, City of St. Joseph.

'The St. Joseph Board of Public Schools of the city of St. Joseph in the county of Buchanan, in the state of Missouri, being legally organized and assembled, do hereby acknowledge themselves indebted to . . . . . ., or order, in the sum of $1,000, which said sum they bind themselves, and their successors in office, to pay the said . . . . . ., or order, on or before the first day of April, 1888, at the National Bank of Commerce, in the city of New York, and interest thereon from April 1, 1868, at the rate of 10 per centum per annum, payable half yearly on the first days of April and October, on presentation of the proper coupons hereto annexed; reserving to themselves and their successors in office the right of paying this bond, with the interest thereon, at any time after the expiration of 10 years from the date hereof. This bond is secured by the real and personal estate owned and held by the said board of public schools in the city of St. Joseph in their corporate capacity, in conformity with the Revised Statutes of Missouri for the year 1865.

'In testimony whereof, the said board of public schools have caused their corporate seal to be hereto affixed, and their president and secretary of the said board to sign their names to the same, and also the treasurer to countersign the same, this first day of April, A.D. 1868.

(Signed) 'SAMUEL HAYS, President.

(Seal.) 'EDWARD B. NEELEY, Secretary

'JOHN CALHOUN, Treasurer.'

The petition is in the usual form, and alleges that the bonds were issued, 'with others, in accordance with and by virtue of the authority vested in the defendant by its charter of incorporation, and the acts of the general assembly of the state of Missouri amendatory thereto, for the purpose of raising money to build school-houses, and 20 instalments of interest have been paid thereon. ' It is not pretended that there is direct authority in any of the laws under which these bonds were issued, to which reference will hereafter be made, to issue the same; but it is claimed that, from the nature of the grant of power in the charter, implied power authorizing the issue can be deduced; that on account of the object and purposes of the corporation a liberal construction, in harmony with the tendencies of legislation in Missouri regarding schools, should be indulged in; that if any doubt regarding the proper construction of the law exists, the construction given to it by those whose duty it was to carry out the law should prevail; that the acquiescence of the people of St. Joseph for more than 10 years, indicated by the payment of the interest on the bonds, and the furtherance of honesty, should incline the court to uphold the bonds.

We proceed to examine the laws under which the bonds were issued. The St. Joseph Board of Public Schools was incorporated by an act of the legislature of Missouri, approved January 4, 1860, and from this act, its amendments and laws incorporated into it, we proceed to quote such portions as are relied on by the plaintiff, and citing other parts having a bearing on the case.

We are directed, in the first place, by plaintiff's counsel to that portion of the first section of the charter which provides that the board may 'do all other acts as natural persons. ' The first section, from which this quotation is taken, defines the boundaries of the corporation, gives it its corporate name, confers perpetual succession, authorizes it to sue for and be sued, and proceeds, 'may purchase, receive, and hold property, real and personal, may lease, sell, or dispose of the same, and do all other acts as natural persons. ' Very many acts must of necessity be done in connection with the execution of the powers here granted; and the natural construction of the language, 'and do all other acts as natural persons,' must be construed to mean the doing of the acts embraced within the powers granted, but not specified. Corporations obtain powers by grant exclusively, and from their thus limited character can claim such implied powers only as are necessary to carry out the obvious object and intention of the charter. Especially is this true in cases where the act of incorporation, when properly construed, provides for the very contingencies which are claimed to have existed, creating a necessity for the exercise of implied powers.

Upon another branch of the case something more will be said on this point.

The next point to which our attention is called by plaintiff's attorneys is the concluding portion of section 5, which reads as follows: 'And generally to do all lawful acts which may be proper and convenient to carry into effect the objects of said corporation.'

The fifth section, from which this quotation is extracted, grants the powers which the corporation is to...