Holloway v. Ogden School Dist. No. 9
| Decision Date | 24 June 1886 |
| Citation | 62 Mich. 153,28 N.W. 764 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | HOLLOWAY |
Error to Lenawee.
Westerman & Westerman, for plaintiff and appellant.
Bean & Lane, for defendant.
Plaintiff sued defendant for a balance of wages as teacher, his contract, as he claims, being for $104, and the amount paid him being $52. A preliminary question was raised concerning jurisdiction. The case was begun before a justice upon a summons, which laid the damages within the sum authorized for his jurisdiction. The special count in the declaration was for the sum due under the contract, but the common counts laid damages at $500. No objection was made before the justice, and he gave judgment on the merits. In the circuit court no objection was made until the trial had progressed, showing the amount in controversy to be less than $100. Upon objection made, an amendment was allowed reducing the ad damnum clause. We have no doubt this was proper. The chief controversy was upon the validity of the contract, and the right to recover at all. The circuit court took the case from the jury, and ordered a verdict for the defendant.
Under our previous decisions, we think several errors were committed. The plaintiff showed a contract entered in a book kept by the district, signed by the director and assessor but not by the moderator. The handwriting of both officers was shown, but it appeared they did not sign at the same time. It was held in Everett v. Fractional School-dist No. 2 of Cannon Tp., 30 Mich. 249, that simultaneous signing was not necessary, and the contract, therefore, was sufficient on its face, and was admissible in evidence. We do not think any stronger testimony is required in school matters than in other corporate agreements, where a contract within the ordinary powers of the corporation is always presumed valid when regularly signed. We are also of opinion that, as there is no law restricting the books of school boards to any particular number or kind, there is no reason why such a book as the one shown here should not have the same value as any other corporation record, as, at least presumptively, a corporate transaction. Had the court, as it should have done, received this record, the trial would, no doubt, have been abbreviated.
It appeared, further, that the teacher had taught the full time provided by the contract, except upon certain holidays, which, as ...
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