Miller v. Trustees of Sch. Twp. 15 North

• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: CRAIG
• Citation: Miller v. Trustees of Sch. Twp. 15 North, 88 Ill. 26, 1878 WL 9794 (Ill. 1878)
• Decision Date: 31 January 1878
• Parties: JOEL J. MILLER et al.v.TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS TOWNSHIP 15 NORTH, RANGE 6 EAST.

88 Ill. 26

1878 WL 9794 (Ill.)

JOEL J. MILLER et al.

v.TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS TOWNSHIP 15 NORTH, RANGE 6 EAST.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

January Term, 1878.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

WRIT OF ERROR to the Circuit Court of Moultrie county; the Hon. C. B. SMITH, Judge, presiding.

This was a petition for a common law writ of certiorari, in substance following:

Petitioners allege that school district No. 7, in town 15, range 6, was organized many years ago, and was composed of sections 25, 26, 35 and 36, of which said petitioners are actual residents and tax payers; that there was constructed a good, sufficient and comfortable school house at the center of said district, which location was just towards all the inhabitants of said district; that said district was in Moultrie county; that east and adjoining said school district, in Douglas county, was school district No. 7, in town 15, range 7, composed of sections 29, 30, 31 and 32, of which the remainder of said petitioners are actual residents and tax payers; that this district was, also, organized many years since, and a good, sufficient and comfortable school house constructed at the center of this district; that on or about April 3, 1876, certain of the inhabitants of the two school districts above mentioned became desirous of consolidating the same into one district, and, to accomplish this purpose, a petition was circulated in each of the said districts, and addressed to the trustees of schools of town 15, range 6, in Moultrie county, asking said districts to be united under the name of ‘Union District No. 7, in town No. 15, range 6, in Moultrie county, and town No. 15, range 7, in Douglas county, Illinois.’

Petitioners charge that the said board of trustees of town 15, range 6, in Moultrie county, took action solely on the petition to them coming from district No. 7, in town 15, range 7, and took no action upon the petition coming from district No. 7, in town 15, range 6, and that this fact appears from the records of said board of trustees of town 15, range 6, in Moultrie county; that these trustees failed to file such a transcript of their said proceedings in the county clerk's office as required by law to be so filed.

Petitioners further charge that said last named trustees possessed no authority of law to receive or consider a petition coming to them from a foreign township and county.

Petitioners aver that, by virtue of the statute, the various boards of trustees of schools in this State are created bodies corporate in law, and are required to appoint a clerk, and keep a full record of all their proceedings, in their record book, so that all their acts and doings as such trustees must appear upon their said record so required to be kept; that they possess no authority of law to act upon or consider any matter or thing outside and beyond the limits of their said township; that, by virtue of said statute, said clerk of said board of trustees is required, within ten days after any changes are made in school district boundaries, whether by division, consolidation or otherwise, to make a full record thereof in the record book of said board of trustees, and make out and certify a correct copy of such record, and file the same, together with a new map of the township, and also a list of the tax payers resident in the newly arranged district, in the office of the county clerk of the county; and that the filing of said copy of said record, list of tax payers and map of the newly arranged district, in said county clerk's office, within said period of ten days, is by law made essential to the validity of any such change or alteration in school district boundaries. Petitioners aver that said clerk of said board of trustees of town 15, range 6, in Moultrie county, wholly failed to keep and observe the above positive requirements of said statute, and utterly failed and neglected to file a copy of said record of the proceedings of said board of trustees, said new map and list of tax payers in the county clerk's office, in said Moultrie county, within said period of ten days, or at any other time, so that said pretended attempt at uniting said school districts became wholly inoperative and void.

Petitioners deny that any order or resolution was passed by said trustees consolidating the said school districts, or that the trustees of town 15, range 7, in Douglas county, passed any order or resolution concerning the same in any way, or that the clerk of said last named board filed in the office of the county clerk of Douglas county a copy of the proceedings of said board, or new map of the said pretended to be newly arranged school district, or list of tax payers resident in such pretended newly arranged district, as required by law to be so filed.

Petitioners aver that, as said proceedings were for the purpose of forming a school district, and of parts of two townships, and that as the statute requires the concurrence, on action, of both boards of trustees, such concurrent action can only be made manifest by resolutions, duly passed by each of said boards of trustees, and transmitted from the one to the other, and proper and full record made thereof.

Petitioners deny that any such order or resolution was considered or passed by either of said boards of trustees, or so transmitted from the one to the other, as above mentioned. They further state that, as the requirements of the statute are mandatory, in proceedings instituted for the purpose of consolidating school districts, that a copy of the record and action of the trustees, and an accurate, new map of the newly arranged district be made out, and a correct list of the tax payers resident in said district be filed, within a certain prescribed period of time, in the county clerk's office, it therefore becomes necessary, in this proceeding, in order to have a full and complete record of such attempted consolidation of said school districts, that transcripts of the records of each of said boards of trustees, and also true copies of all the papers and documents that appear on file or record in the county clerk's office of both the counties of Moultrie and Douglas, be certified and transmitted into said court for inspection in this cause; that all the documents aforesaid are necessary to be inspected by said court, in order to determine the validity of such consolidation.

Petitioners make each of said boards of trustees, and George Hetherington, county clerk of Moultrie county, and Daniel O. Root, county clerk of Douglas county, Illinois, parties defendant in this proceeding.

Petitioners further charge that the entire proceedings, in attempting to consolidate said two school districts, are irregular, illegal, and result in great damage and injustice to them, and to a large number of the inhabitants of said two school districts.

Petitioners state that they are not advised that the law provides an appeal or other process by which the records and proceedings aforesaid may be brought into court for inspection, save by the writ of certiorari.

Petitioners pray...