People ex rel. Cant v. Crossley

• Decision Date: 17 December 1913
• Citation: 261 Ill. 78,103 N.E. 537
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. CANT et al. v. CROSSLEY et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

261 Ill. 78

103 N.E. 537

PEOPLE ex rel. CANT et al.

v.CROSSLEY et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 17, 1913.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Rock Island County; F. L. Ramsay, Judge.

Quo warranto by the People, on the relation of A. B. Cant and others, against H. S. Crossley and others, as president and as members of the board of education of an alleged high school district. From the circuit court's judgment of ouster involving the constitutionality of a statute, defendants appeal directly to the Supreme Court. Reversed and remanded, with directions.A. B. Johnson, of E. Moline, and J. T. & S. R. Kenworthy, of Rock Island, for appellants.

Floyd E. Thompson, State's Atty., and Searle & Marshall, both of Rock Island, for appellees.

VICKERS, J.

An information in the nature of quo warranto was filed in the circuit court of Rock Island county against H. S. Crossley, as president, and six other persons as members of the board of education of an alleged high school district which was organized under an act of the Legislature approved on June 5, 1911. Laws 1911, p. 505. The information describes the boundaries of the high school district in question, and avers that a petition was filed in the office of the county superintendent of schools of said county on or about March 21, 1912, signed by 56 persons who claim to be legal voters of said territory, which said petition asked for an election to be held in said territory for the purpose of voting for or against the proposition to establish a township high school for the benefit of the inhabitants of said territory; that on the 20th of April, 1912, an election was held in said territory for the purpose of voting on said proposition, and that it was publicly declared that as a result of said election a majority of the votes cast were in favor of the establishment of the said township high school; that thereafter the county superintendent of schools of the said county called another election, to be held on the 11th day of May, 1912, for the purpose of electing a township high school board of education; and that it was thereafter published and announced that at such election U. S. Crossley had been elected president, and A. B. Taft, William Nodden, George L. Walker. C. W. Hink, Lewis Haemer, and George Stange had been elected members of said board of education. The information alleges that another election was called for June 1, 1912, for the purpose of electing a board of education for said high school district, which said second election resulted in the selection of the same persons for the same positions to which they had been elected at the previous election. It is charged in the information that the said board organized and proceeded to take options upon certain real estate on which to erect a school building, and did, as such board, levy a tax on the people of said territory for high school purposes, and employed an attorney and a secretary. The information charges that the said president and members of said board of education are usurping, without warrant or lawful authority, the said offices of president and members of said board of education of a township high school district, that said high school district has no legal existence, and that the persons asserting the right to hold the offices aforesaid are doing so without any lawful right. The validity of the high school district is attacked on the ground that the law under which the organization was effected is unconstitutional because it conflicts with section 13 of article 4 of the Constitution of the state of Illinois. The information further alleges that if said act is constitutional its provisions have not been followed in organizing said district, in that the territory to be organized into said district is not contiguous and compact, as is required by said act of the Legislature. The information further charges that if said alleged township high school is legally organized under a valid law, out of territory which is contiguous and compact within the meaning of said law, respondents were not legally elected president and members of the board of education, respectively, for the reason that the said first election of the president and members of said board was illegal and void, and that the said second election held on June 1st was also void because it was not held within 30 days after the vote had been taken upon the organization of the district, as is contemplated by the act of the Legislature under which the organization was sought to be effected.

The respondents filed a plea setting out the petition for the organization of the high school district, which describes the territory as it is described in the information, and alleges that said petition was signed by 57 legal voters of said territory. The plea sets out in detail all of the proceedings up to and including the election held for president and members of the board on the 11th day of May. In respect to said election it is averred in the plea that the ballot failed to state the term of years for which the said members of said township high school board were to be elected, as required by section 4 of said act, and that, William Nodden, one of the members of said board, having resigned and refused to act, the county superintendent of schools called another election to be held in said territory on the 1st day of June, and posted 10 notices of said election in 10 of the most public places in said territory 10 days prior to the 1st day of June. The plea shows that at the election held on the 1st day of June H. S. Crossley was again elected president, and L. F. Haemer and William Nodden were elected members of the board for one year, George L. Walker and George Stange for two years, and C. W. Hink and A. B. Taft for three years. To this plea the plaintiffs filed a demurrer. The circuit court held that the act of the Legislature under which the high school district was organized was unconstitutional and void, and that the said high school district was not lawfully organized. The respondents elected to stand by their plea, whereupon a judgment of ouster was rendered against them. The constitutionality of a statute being involved, respondents have perfected an appeal direct to this court.

There are three questions presented by this record: (1) Is the act of the Legislature of June 5, 1911, under which this district was organized, unconstitutional? (2) If said act is a valid law, is the organization of the district in question void for want of compactness in the territory composing the same? (3) If both the foregoing questions are answered in the negative, then the further question is presented whether the plea shows that appellants have a legal right to exercise the functions of a board of education for said district.

The constitutionality of the act of June 5, 1911, is the first question which requires our consideration. If is contended by the appellees that the act violates that portion of section 13 of article 4 of the Constitution of 1870 which provides that ‘no law shall be revived or amended by reference to its title only, but the law revived, or the section amended, shall be inserted at length in the new act.’

The title of the act in question is ‘An act to authorize the organization of high school districts.’ Laws of 1911, p. 505. It contains seven sections. Section 1 provides that any school township which contains a school district having a population of 1,000 or more and not exceeding 100,000 inhabitants, whether operating under the General School Law or governed by virtue of a special act, may be organized into a high school district by submitting the proposition to a vote of the people at a general or special election. Section 2 provides for the presentation of a petition to the county superintendent, signed by 50 or more legal voters of the territory described in the petition, asking for an election to vote upon the question of the organization of a high school, and authorizes the county superintendent, upon the receipt of such petition, to forthwith order an election to be held for the purpose of voting for or against the proposition to establish a township high school, by posting notices for at least 10 days in 10 of the most public places throughout the township or territory, and prescribes the form of notice to be posted. Section 3 provides for the election to be conducted by the trustees of schools, boards of education, or boards of directors designated by the county superintendent of schools, and requires all returns to be made within 5 days, and the section prescribes the form of ballot, and directs how the voter shall mark the same. Section 4 provides for the calling of an election, to be held within 30 days after a favorable vote upon the organization of the high school district, to elect a board of education, to consist of a president and six members, and provides for the notices of said election and the form thereof. Said section provides that two of the members shall be elected for one year, two for two years, and two for three years, and each year thereafter two members shall be elected to serve for three years; that the president shall be elected annually; that all subsequent elections are to be held on the second Saturday of April, annually. Sections 5 and 6 are as follows:

‘Sec. 5. For the purpose of supporting a high school, the township or territory for the benefit of which a high school is established under the provisions of this act, shall be regarded as a school district, and the board of education thereof shall, in all respects, have the powers and discharge the duties of boards of education elected under the general school law.

‘Sec. 6. The inhabitants of any contiguous and compact territory, whether in the same or different townships, upon a petition signed by at least fifty legal voters and an affirmative vote in such territory, may establish, in the manner provided by this act, a township high school for...