Pearce v. Mantachie Consol. School Dist
| Decision Date | 25 February 1924 |
| Docket Number | 23938 |
| Citation | 99 So. 134,134 Miss. 497 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | PEARCE et al. v. MANTACHIE CONSOL. SCHOOL DIST |
APPEAL from chancery court of Itawamba county, HON. A. J. MCINTYRE Chancellor.
Proceeding by the Mantachie Consolidated School District against Henry Pearce and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal. Reversed and remanded.
Judgment reversed, and cause remanded.
Mitchell & Clayton, for appellants.
The circuit court had jurisdiction of this matter on account of the appeal which was prosecuted from the order of the board selling the bonds. The question raised by that appeal was fundamental. If the district did not contain the amount of territory required by law, nor the assessed valuation required, then they could not sell the bonds, nor issue the same.
Appellants contended, and offered the proof, which was not controverted that the district contained only nine and one-third square miles, and had an assessed valuation of sixty-five thousand dollars. If these facts are true, then the board had no authority to sell the bonds for such district, and the order selling same is absolutely void. The circuit court has jurisdiction of this matter. The statute provides for an appeal to the circuit court and there is no provision of law to deprive the circuit court of its jurisdiction and vest it in the chancery court. Ricks v. Richardson, 70 Miss. 424.
It was not the intention of the validating act to vest jurisdiction in the chancery court of a cause which was pending in the circuit court. There must be a final order in bond matters before the jurisdiction of the chancery court may be invoked to have them validated.
J. H. Brown and A. T. Cleveland, for appellees.
The chancery court, by virtue of chapter 28, Laws Ex. Ses. 1917, chapter 252, Laws of 1922, has jurisdiction of this cause regardless of the appeal from the order of the board selling the bonds, as under this law the chancery court reviews the entire proceedings in the issuance of said bonds and determines whether or not the bonds are valid as issued, whether sold or not sold, and the only question to be determined by the appeal of petitioners to the circuit court is whether the law was complied with in the sale of the bonds after they had been issued at a former term of the board, from which order of issuing the bonds there was no appeal taken.
Appellants are not deprived of any rights by the chancery court taking jurisdiction of this cause, for the purpose of the validation act is to give any and all parties interested an opportunity to raise any question as to whether or not the board had the authority to issue said bonds, and if so, whether or not the board in all things complied with the law in the issuance of the bonds.
This court at this time has the entire matter before it, and we contend that the validation act bestowed upon the chancery court jurisdiction to draw all matters pertaining to the issuance of the bonds in question into one cause for a speedy determination as the public interest may appear, sanctioned by law. The order issuing the bonds is a final order or judgment of the board as to the validity of the bonds, upon which order or judgment a validation proceeding may be had, whether the bonds be legally sold or not, and as there is no appeal pending from the order issuing the bonds the question as to the validity of said bonds is now properly before this court for final determination.
Counsel for appellants contends that Chapter 207, Laws of 1920, only provides a remedy or method, and does not confer the authority to issue bonds.
We contend that this Act is complete within itself and grants the authority and provides the method. See Bacot et al. v. Board of Supervisors of Hinds County, 124 Miss. 231, 86 So. 765.
The board of trustees of the Mantachie consolidated school district filed a petition with the board of supervisors describing the territory composing the district as follows:
"Beginning at the southeast corner of section 8, Township 9, Range 8; thence west two and one-half miles to middle part of the south boundary line of section 12, Township 9, Range 7; thence due north two miles to the north boundary line of section 1, Township 9, Range 7; thence west to the southwest corner of section 35, Township 8, Range 7; thence north one and three-quarter miles to the middle part of the west boundary line of the northwest quarter of section 26, Township 8, Range 7; thence east one-half mile to the middle part of the west boundary line of the northeast quarter of said section 26; thence south one-quarter mile to the center of said section 26; thence east quarter mile to the middle part of the north boundary line of the southeast quarter of said section 26; thence south one-half mile to the middle part of the south boundary line of the said southeast quarter of said section 26; thence each two and one-quarter miles to the southwest corner of section 29, Township, 8, Range 8; thence north one-half mile to the middle part of the west boundary line of said section 29; thence east one mile to the middle part of the east boundary line of said section 29; thence south one and one-half miles to the southeast corner of section 32, Township 8, Range 8; thence west to the northeast corner of section 5, Township 9, Range 8; thence south two miles to the point of beginning, containing ten square miles or more."
The petition further alleged that the district was duly created and the site of the school building located by the county school board, and that the value of the property situated in the district was sixty-eight thousand four hundred eighty-five dollars and requested the board of supervisors to issue bonds under the provisions of chapter 207, Laws of 1920, to the amount of ten thousand dollars, being less than fifteen per cent. of the total assessed value of all the property in the district, said bonds to be used for the purpose of constructing buildings and equipment. And the board thereupon entered an order reciting the territory embraced in the said district, and that the total value of the real and personal property by the last assessment rolls was sixty-eight thousand four hundred eighty-five dollars and that there are no outstanding bonds or floating debts in the said district, and declaring their intention to issue the bonds in the sum of ten thousand dollars, as prayed for in the petition, for the purpose of erecting and...
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