Moede v. County of Stearns

• Decision Date: 19 May 1890
• Citation: 43 Minn. 312
• Parties: HERMAN MOEDE <I>vs.</I> COUNTY OF STEARNS.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 312

43 Minn. 312

HERMAN MOEDE vs. COUNTY OF STEARNS.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

May 19, 1890.

Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the district court for Stearns county, Searle, J., presiding.

Oscar Taylor, for appellant.

Reynolds & Stewart, for respondent.

MITCHELL, J.

Upon certiorari, the district court reviewed and quashed the proceedings of the board of county commissioners in forming a new school-district, and from this action of the court the board appeals. The respondent moves to dismiss the appeal on the grounds — first, that in certiorari an appeal does not lie from the district to the supreme court; and, second, that, in any event, the board of commissioners have no such right. The first ground is not urged in the brief, and is clearly not well taken; for if certiorari be not a "civil action," within the meaning of the statute, it certainly is a special judicial proceeding, from a final order in which, affecting a substantial right, an appeal will lie. In support of the second ground, counsel urges that the county board is not a party to the certiorari, the writ being merely directed to them to bring up their proceedings for review; that the board is not a party aggrieved, having no interest in the subject involved, — likening the case to one where the judgment of a court is reviewed on certiorari, in which it is uniformly held that the court or judge whose judicial action is reviewed and reversed is not interested in the result, and hence cannot appeal, not being a party aggrieved. But, in our judgment, the cases are not at all analogous. The court or judge in the case supposed has no representative capacity, but is merely the tribunal by whom the rights of others have been determined. But the board of county commissioners is the representative of the county or public, to which is intrusted the matter of forming new school-districts, and uniting, dividing, or changing the boundaries of old ones, as public interests require. The public has a special interest in the establishment and preservation of these districts, and we think that the board of county commissioners, to whom that matter is intrusted, is, as the representative of the public in that regard, a party interested in and aggrieved by the order of the court reversing and setting aside their action, and therefore has the right of appeal.

The order appealed from must be reversed, unless we are to overrule former decisions in which we have held that the action of a board of county commissioners of this nature is merely legislative, and not...