Keggin v. Hillsborough County

• Decision Date: 28 March 1916
• Citation: 71 Fla. 356,71 So. 372
• Parties: KEGGIN v. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

71 So. 372

71 Fla. 356

KEGGIN v. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY.

Florida Supreme Court

March 28, 1916

Error to Circuit Court, Hillsborough County; F. M. Robles, Judge.

Action by James W. Keggin against the County of Hillsborough. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

A county is a political subdivision of the state, created for administrative purposes, is representative of the sovereignty of the state and auxiliary to it. Its functions are of a public nature; it is political in character, and constitutes the machinery by and through which many of the powers of the state are exercised.

The building of roads and bridges and the maintenance of the same are none the less powers and duties of the state because it delegates the performance of these duties to officers of the different political subdivisions who, in discharging such duties, act as agents for the public at large.

A 'county' of this state, being a mere governmental agency through which many of the functions and powers of the state are exercised, partakes of the immunity of the state from liability, and may not be sued in an action exdelicto by one who, in ignorance of the unsafe condition of a county bridge, sustains a damage to his vehicle in crossing the bridge, which the county has permitted to become unsafe and unfit for use.

COUNSEL H. P. Macfarlane, of Tampa, for plaintiff in error.

C. C Whitaker, of Tampa, for defendant in error.

OPINION

ELLIS J.

The plaintiff in error brought suit against the county of Hillsborough, to recover damages for injury to a motor truck which, being driven by the plaintiff over a county bridge in Hillsborough county, was injured by falling through the bridge which spanned a broad and deep creek. The declaration alleged that the plaintiff was not negligent in driving the machine, which was an automobile truck with a rated carrying capacity of five tons and was at the time of the injury loaded with a burden of three tons approximately; that the bridge, by reason of age, decay, and unsafe condition, gave way with the weight of the truck and burden, precipitating the truck into the creek and damaging the machine.

A demurrer to the declaration challenged the right of the plaintiff to maintain such an action against the county. The demurrer was sustained, and final judgment entered in favor of the defendant. To this judgment the plaintiff applied for and obtained a writ of error.

May a county in this state be sued in an action ex delicto by an individual who, in ignorance of the unsafe condition of a county bridge, sustains a damage to his vehicle in crossing the bridge, which by reason of negligence the county commissioners have permitted to become decayed, unsafe, and unfit for use?

A county is a political subdivision of the state. Article 8, §§ 1, 2, Const. 1885.

It is not a corporation. It may be created by the state without the solicitation, consent, or concurrence of the inhabitants of the territory thus set apart; it is created for administrative purposes; it is the representative of the sovereignty of the state, auxiliary to it, an aid to the more convenient administration of the government. It is purely political in character; its functions are of a public nature constituting the machinery and essential agency by and through which many of the powers of the state are exercised. 7 R. C. L. 'Counties,' p. 922; 11 Cyc. 325.

The administration of the criminal laws, the execution of the policy of public education, the construction and maintenance of public roads and bridges, and the collection of taxes are some of the powers of the state government which are exercised through the agency of county organizations. Atkin v. Kansas, 191 U.S. 207, 24 S.Ct. 124, 48 L.Ed. 148; State ex rel. Bell v Cummings, 130 Tenn. 566, 172 S.W. 290, L. R. A. 1915D, 274. Counties, being but political divisions of the state, organized as a part of the machinery of the government for the performance of functions of a public nature, partake of the state's immunity from liability, and may not be sued except in such transactions as the statute designates.

The building of roads and bridges and maintenance of the same is a function or duty of the state. It delegates the performance of it to the officers of the particular political division, and in exercising this power these agents act for the public at large. The payment of taxes by the people of the county for road and bridge construction in the particular county is merely a convenient and just method of distributing the burden which the construction and maintenance of highways necessarily creates. The building of roads and bridges, thus becomes a county purpose, the same as the building of courthouses, jails, and schoolhouses are county purposes within the meaning of the Constitution. These powers and duties are none the less the powers and duties of the state, the exercise and discharge of which become and are the purpose of county organization. The power and authority which the county exercises in reference to roads and bridges is, in its character and nature, governmental rather than corporate. In this respect counties are distinguished from municipal corporations charged with the duty of keeping streets in safe and suitable condition for passage.

By the common law of England, a county, although sometimes regarded as a quasi corporation,...