Hasting v. Jasper County.

• Decision Date: 12 April 1926
• Docket Number: No. 25161.,25161.
• Citation: 282 S.W. 700
• Parties: HASTING v. JASPER COUNTY.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

282 S.W. 700

HASTING v. JASPER COUNTY.

No. 25161.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

April 12, 1926.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jasper County; S. W. Bates, Judge.

Action by C. E. Hasting against Jasper County. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed, with directions.

C. E. Hasting, of Joplin, pro se.

Roy Coyne, of Joplin, and Frank L. Forlow, of Webb City, for respondent.

OTTO, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment for Jasper county in an action appellant brought for a balance of salary he alleges is due him as probation officer of Jasper county, Mo.

There is no dispute about the facts. On the 23d day of November, 1922, the appellant was appointed probation officer of Jasper county by the judge of the circuit court, sitting as a juvenile court of that county, and his salary fixed at $100 per month. In January, 1923, the county court of Jasper county refused to pay the appellant the sum of $100 per month, as ordered by the said court, but paid appellant the sum of $83 per month. Appellant did not accept the salary as fixed by the county court, and instituted this suit to collect the difference between his salary as allowed and fixed by the juvenile court and the amount fixed by the county court. The amount thereof is $66.68.

The briefs present the single question whether or not section 11016, R. S. Mo. 1919, controls for the purpose of determining the population of Jasper county as a basis for ascertaining the salary of appellant.

The law fixing the salaries of probation officers is the act of 1921 (Laws of 1921, p. 255):

"Salaries of Probation Officers.—The probetion officer shall receive such salary as the circuit court, or the criminal court when constituted as a juvenile court under this act, may prescribe not exceeding $3,000 per annum in counties of 500,000 inhabitants and over; not exceeding $2,000 in counties of 110,000 and less than 500,000 inhabitants; and not exceeding $1,500 per annum in counties of 90,000 and less than 110,000 inhabitants; and not exceeding $1,000 in counties of 50,000 and less than 90,000 inhabitants. * * * The salaries of the probation officer and his deputies shall be payable monthly out of the funds of the county. Actual disbursements for necessary expense, exclusive of office expenses, made by probation officers while in the performance of their duties, shall be reimbursed to them out of the county funds after approval by the judge of the juvenile court; but no officer shall be allowed for such disbursements a greater sum than $200 in any one year."

This law classifies probation officers according to the population of their respective counties, and fixes the maximum amount that might be paid. It will be observed that the act does not provide a method by which the population of the respective counties might be ascertained, nor does it provide that the federal census be used. It is urged by plaintiff that section 11016, R. S. Mo. 1919, is applicable for the purpose of determining the population of the respective counties in this state and classifying the probation officers. Section 11016, R. S. Mo. 1919, provides:

"Salaries of County Officers—Population, How Determined.—For the purpose of determining the population of any county in this state, as a basis for ascertaining the salary of any county officer for any year, or the amount of fees he may retain, or the amount he shall be allowed to pay for deputies or assistants, the highest number of votes cast at the last previous general election, whether heretofore or hereafter held in such county, for any office, shall be multiplied by five, and the result shall be considered and held for the purpose aforesaid as the true population of such county."

We have held that the words "county officers" in their most general sense apply to officers whose territorial jurisdiction is co-extensive with the county for which they are elected or appointed. State ex rel. Buchanan County v. Imel, 146 S. W. 783, 242 Mo. 293 loc. cit. 300.

In 15 C. J. p. 481, the following language is used:

"Where the duties of an office created by law are to be wholly performed within the limits of a county and for the people of that county, the salary to be paid by the disbursing officer of the county from the funds of the county, the office is a county office and the person lawfully filling such office is necessarily a county officer."

The act (chapter 21, article 6, R. S. Mo. 1919) providing for probation officers provides for the care, custody, and maintenance of the dependent and delinquent children, defines such children, gives to the circuit court of the counties, when sitting as a juvenile court, jurisdiction to determine whether or not a child is delinquent or dependent, and to commit such children to a...