Kedzie v. West Chicago Park Com'rs

• Decision Date: 13 June 1885
• Citation: 114 Ill. 280,2 N.E. 182
• Parties: KEDZIE and others v. WEST CHICAGO PARK COM'RS.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

114 Ill. 280

2 N.E. 182

KEDZIE and others

v.WEST CHICAGO PARK COM'RS.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed June 13, 1885.

Appeal from Cook.

Hutchinson & Luff and Judd & Whitehouse, for appellants, John H. Kedzie and others.

Geo. W. Smith, forappellees, West Chicago Park Com'rs.

PER CURIAM.

Circumstances that were unavoidable have prevented the preparation and filing of an opinion in this case at an earlier day. We are notified by counsel that longer delay in announcing a decision will be highly prejudicial to the rights of the parties, and, at their earnest solicitation, we have suspended the current business of the June term long enough to dispose of the case. But in consequence of the many duties pressing upon us, arising from the holding of daily sessions, we are constrained to be content with announcing the conclusions we have reached upon the questions discussed in the arguments submitted, without setting forth at length the reasons which have induced those conclusions.

We hold (1) that West Chicago park commissioners are a quasi municipal corporation for park purposes, and that they have power to take the steps to cause the property to be specially assessed for the cost of the boulevard that were here taken by them. (2) Section 12 of the act in regard to the completion, improvement, and management of public parks and boulevards, and to provide a more efficient remedy for the collection of delinquent assessments, approved May 2, 1873, (Rev. St. 1874, p. 747,) relates to a new and entirely different subject-matter, one not provided for in the original act relating to the West Chicago park, and invests the West Chicago park commissioners with a power they did not before have. The language therein, ‘and the cost and expense of acquiring title to such land shall be levied upon and collected by special assessment upon the property deemed specially benefited by the location of such boulevard or pleasure-way in the same manner as the cost of other lands for parks and boulevards is assessed under the several acts creating such boards,’ means that the same shall be done by and through the same agencies or instrumentalities, and so, as applied to the present cases, by and through the agencies or instrumentalities provided by section 13 of the act of February 27, 1869, creating these commissioners. We do not think section 4 of the act of May 2, 1873, compelled action in this proceeding, pursuant to its terms. And we hold section 13, supra,...