Iowa News Co. v. Harris
| Citation | 62 Iowa 501,17 N.W. 745 |
| Parties | IOWA NEWS CO. v. HARRIS AND OTHERS. |
| Decision Date | 13 December 1883 |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Fremont circuit court.
The defendants constitute the board of supervisors of Fremont county. The plaintiff applied for a writ of certiorari to test the legality of the proceedings of the board in selecting the Sidney Union Advocate and Farragut News as the official papers of Fremont county. The plaintiff averred in its petition that it is a corporation, resident in Fremont county, and publishes the Iowa State News, a weekly paper, in said county; and that its paper has a larger circulation than the papers selected. The plaintiff also averred several acts which it alleges are illegal. The defendants demurred to the petition upon the ground, among others, that the petition showed no such interest on the part of the plaintiff as to entitle it to the writ. The court sustained the demurrer and rendered judgment against it for costs. The plaintiff appeals.Stow & Hammond, for appellant.
Draper & Thornell, for appellees.
The plaintiff does not aver that its paper is one of the two county papers having the largest circulation. It does, it is true, aver that its paper “by law was entitled to be selected.” But this is an averment of a legal conclusion. Besides, it appears to us that even if the plantiff had averred that its paper was one of the two papers having the largest circulation it would not have shown such interest in the matter that it could be held to be entitled to the writ. The public might suffer from the wrongful action of the board, but we are not able to see that the plaintiff would, unless we could presume that the compensation allowed would be over compensation, and that we could not do. The question presented appears to have been disposed of in Welch v. Bd. Sup'rs, 23 Iowa, 199, and Smith v. Yoran, 37 Iowa, 89.
In our opinion the court did not err in sustaining the demurrer. Affirmed.
To continue reading
Request your trial