Livingston County v. Evans

• Decision Date: 24 May 1927
• Citation: 220 Ky. 187
• Parties: Livingston County, et al. v. Evans, et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

220 Ky. 187

Livingston County, et al. v. Evans, et al.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Decided May 24, 1927.

Subscriptions. — Signers of subscription agreement to raise money to build road, which contained express condition that such road must first be built, where subscription was taken after road had

been designated by fiscal county court as one of inter-county seat roads to be constructed under state aid plan and after court had entered order that it would construct first that road to which most money should be subscribed, were not liable thereon where other roads were built first, regardless of fact that such other roads were not constructed under state aid plan, but were constructed from proceeds of bond issue by state highway commission under provisions of Act of 1920.

Appeal from Livingston Circuit Court.

J.R. WELLS for appellants.

CHARLES H. WILSON and CHARLES FERGUSON for appellees.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY COMMISSIONER SANDIDGE.

Affirming.

In 1918, a great many citizens of Livingston county, Ky., signed the following writing:

"We, whose names are signed below, hereby subscribe the amount set opposite our respective names, to a road fund to be used in the construction of the county seat connection road between Smithland and Iuka, to be paid under the order of the Livingston county fiscal court, provided said road should be the first one to be built under state aid, the said road to be located along or near the location of the public road leading directly between said places, as may be advisable, considering grades, etc., and to be known as the `Lyon County Connection Road' or the `Smithland and Eddyville Road.'"

The total amount subscribed by those who signed that subscription is $5,137.50. At that time our present system of constructing state highways had not been provided by the Legislature, and the road mentioned in the subscription paper above was one of several inter-county seat roads in Livingston county which had been designated by its fiscal court under the then existing state aid plan of constructing inter-county seat roads. At the time the various inter-county seat roads were designated by the fiscal court of Livingston county the order entered so designating them also provided that the fiscal court would construct first that one of them to which citizens interested would subscribe the most money. The subscription of $5,137.50 by the citizens interested in the road between Smithland and Iuka was the result of that competition between the various designated inter-county seat roads and was the largest subscription made to any of them. Shortly before this time the voters of Livingston county had voted a special 20-cent tax for road purposes to be used in the construction of the inter-county seat roads, the money derived from that source to be supplemented by such aid from the state road fund as was then available under the Statutes then regulating road building. The 20-cent road tax provided approximately $9,000 per year. On June 20, 1918, and after the subscription above had been made, the fiscal court of Livingston county entered an order reading:

"Be it resolved that the public interest demands the improvement and construction of the following road for about 12 miles, beginning at Smithland and running to Iuka, same being a portion of the inter-county seat road connecting Eddyville, the county seat of Lyon county, with Smithland, the county seat of Livingston county, on the most direct and practical route, and it is the sense of this...