Pennock v. State
| Decision Date | 07 March 1911 |
| Citation | 54 So. 1004,61 Fla. 383 |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
| Parties | PENNOCK et al. v. STATE ex rel. HOOD et al. |
Rehearing Denied April 18, 1911.
Error to Circuit Court, Palm Beach County; Minor S. Jones, Judge.
Mandamus by the State, on the relation of H. C. Hood and others, as Trustees of Special Tax School District No. 1 of Palm Beach County, against Herbert A. Pennock and others. Decree for relators, and defendants bring error. Reversed and remanded with directions.
Syllabus by the Court
Mandamus will not lie to compel action upon the part of public officers, when it is apparent that the relator has no direct interest in the action sought to be coerced, and that no benefit can accrue to him from its performance. To authorize the relief, it must clearly appear that there is a specific ministerial duty, in the performance of which the applicant for relief is directly interested. The writ will not be granted merely for the purpose of defining the powers and duties of public officers, independent of any direct personal interest upon the part of him who seeks the relief.
The school fund being under our institutions regarded as a sacred trust, the provisions of law safeguarding its expenditure should be strictly construed. Held, that under the provisions of section 414, Gen. St. 1906, forbidding the creation of any debt by the trustees of any special tax school district without the approval of the county board of public instruction, no debt or claim against such funds should be enforced by mandamus, unless such precedent approval by such county board of public instruction of the creation of such debt or claim be first shown.
C. C. Chilingworth, for plaintiffs in error.
Hudson & Boggs, for defendants in error.
On the relation of the defendants in error in the circuit court of Palm Beach county the following alternative writ of mandamus was issued by order of the circuit judge:
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