People ex rel. Kelly v. Raymond

• Decision Date: 21 June 1900
• Citation: 57 N.E. 1066,186 Ill. 407
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. KELLY v. RAYMOND, County Treasurer, et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

186 Ill. 407

57 N.E. 1066

PEOPLE ex rel. KELLY

v.RAYMOND, County Treasurer, et al.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 21, 1900.

Petition by the people, on relation of A. L. Kelly, against Samuel B. Raymond, county treasurer, and others, for mandamus to compel respondents to pay relator for services rendered by her as a court stenographer. Application granted.Frank Asbury Johnson and C. W. Greenfield, for petitioner.

Robert Iles, Co. Atty., and Frank L. Shepard, Asst. Co. Atty., for respondents.

This is a petition in the name of the people of the state of Illinois, on the relation of A. L. Kelly, for a mandamus. The petition was filed at the October term, 1899, of this court, but by leave of court an amended petition was subsequently filed. The amended petition shows that on or about the 18th day of January, 1898, and at the January term of the circuit court of Cook county, the petitioner, A. L. Kelly, under and by virtue of a certain act of the legislature of the state of Illinois, entitled ‘An act to authorize the judges of the circuit courts to appoint shorthand reporters for the taking and preservation of evidence, and to provide for their compensation,’ in force July 1, 1887, was duly appointed by Hon. M. F. Tuley, one of the judges of said court, as official shorthand reporter in and for the branch of said court presided over by said judge, which appointment was by an order entered of record in said court upon the date aforesaid, and was made for the term ending the first Tuesday of June, 1903, said office of official shorthand reporter to be held by petitioner during the pleasure of the judge by whom said order was entered, and not to extend beyond the term for which said judge by whom the said appointment was made was elected, and the petitioner's compensation as such reporter was then and there fixed, by the said judge by whom said appointment was made, at the sum of five dollars per day, as provided by the said statute; that, after the entry of the order as aforesaid, the said judge dictated to petitioner a certain form of oath, which form of oath was then and there written out in longhand by petitioner, and in petitioner's own handwriting, and was duly administered by Judge Tuley, but that relator's name was not at that time subscribed to the oath; that on the 20th day of March, 1898, another form of oath was dictated to relator by Judge Tuley, and was written down, and relator's name signed to the same, and this oath was thereupon administered to relator by Judge Tuley, as follows: ‘I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of shorthand reporter in and for the circuit court of Cook county, in the branch thereof held by Judge Murray F. Tuley, according to the best of my knowledge and ability.’ The petitioner further shows that on the 23d day of February, 1898, being the first day of the February term, the relator entered upon the discharge of the duties of the office of official shorthand reporter in said circuit court, and has continued to so perform the duties of such office during all the time mentioned in the petition, from the 18th day of January, 1898, when she was appointed, until January 1, 1899, with the exception of about 20 days, during which time, by reason or absence or disability, relator was unable to be in attendance upon the said court, but caused the work to be performed by a substitute designated by Judge Tuley, and the services of said substitute are included in the bills which have been presented for payment; that on the 21st day of March, 1898, being the first day of the March term of the said court, she prepared an itemized bill for services so rendered as shorthand reporter during the February term of said court, at the price per diem so fixed by Judge Tuley, and aggregating the sum of $100, and duly certified by the presiding judge, and presented the same to the county treasurer of Cook county, and demanded payment of the same out of any funds of said county in his hands; that at the close of each term of said court thereafter, and up to and including the April term, 1899, petitioner duly prepared a like itemized bill for all services so rendered as such official shorthand reporter, stating the aggregate amount due for such services for such term, to which were attached certificates of the judge presiding over said branch of the said court and of the minute clerk in attendance upon said court, and presented the said bills, and each of them, so certified, to the said county treasurer of Cook county, and duly demanded payment of the same out of any funds in his hands; that said bills aggregated the sum of $1,115; that said county treasurer declined and refused to pay said bills, and each of them still remains wholly unpaid; that after the presentation to the county treasurer of the said bill for services as shorthand reporter for the February term of the said court, 1898, the same were duly referred by said treasurer to the board of Cook county commissioners, and the same were by said board referred to the finance committee of said board to make report thereon; that subsequently, and at a meeting of said board of Cook county commissioners, on the 4th day of April, 1898, said finance committee reported and recommended that the bill be disallowed; that on the 9th of January, 1899, relator served a written notice upon the board of Cook county commissioners (a copy of which notice is set out in the petition), informing them that the relator had been appointed by Judge Tuley as official shorthand reporter of the branch of the circuit court presided over by him, and also attached to said notice the bills for services which had already accrued, and requested said board to include in their annual appropriation for the year 1899 a sum sufficient for the payment of said bill, and also for the payment of such future bills as might thereafter accrue for services to be rendered, under and by virtue of said appointment, during the balance of said fiscal year, and each year thereafter during the term of petitioner's appointment; that the said notice and demand were duly referred to the finance committee of the said board of commissioners, as appears from the minutes and records of the meeting of said board held Monday, January 9, 1899; that the said board have hitherto failed and refused to make any report upon said notice and demand of petitioner, and that said board of Cook county commissioners, in adopting a resolution to be termed the ‘annual appropriation bill’ for the said fiscalyear, have wholly failed and refused to include therein any appropriation for the payment of petitioner's bills which had theretofore accrued or which might accrue thereafter during the said fiscal year; that relator served upon Philip Knopf, the county clerk of Cook county, who is ex officio comptroller of the said county, a notice and demand in writing, wherein he was duly notified of the appointment of petitioner as official shorthand reporter, and of the amount due and unpaid for services rendered, and demand was therein made that he issue and sign and deliver a warrant or warrants to petitioner, duly drawn upon the treasurer of said Cook county, for the payment of said sum, pursuant to the statute, but said clerk and ex officio comptroller, upon the making of said demand, wholly refused to issue or to execute, or to sign and execute, any such warrant or warrants, and then and there pretended he had no authority so to do; that the said board of Cook county commissioners provided a sufficient fund for the fiscal year of 1898 to cause to be paid from said county funds any charge upon the said county imposed by law, without the action of the board of commissioners, including the fixed salaries of officers required by law to be paid from the county treasury, and to pay jurors' fees and other charges fixed by law; that the said board of Cook county commissioners provided a fund for the payment of like charges against the said county for the said fiscal year of 1899; and that the treasurer of Cook county, at all the various dates hereinbefore mentioned, had, and still has, in his hands, funds of said county for the payment of all charges aforesaid against the said county, and a fund sufficient to pay the bills and demands of petitioner aforesaid, which fact was at all times well known to the said county clerk and ex officio comptroller of said county, the president of said board of county commissioners, and said county treasurer. The prayer of the relator's petition is that this court award a writ of mandamus, directed to the county clerk of Cook county, of the board of county commissioners and ex officio comptroller of Cook county, to the president of the board of Cook county commissioners, and to the treasurer of Cook county, commanding the said county clerk and ex officio comptroller that he issue and sign a warrant or warrants, duly drawn upon the treasury of said Cook county, for the payment of said bills to the amount of $1,115, and commanding said president of said board of Cook county commissioners that he countersign any and all warrants upon said treasury of Cook county which may be necessary for the payment of said bills, and commanding the said treasurer of Cook county that he pay unto petitioner upon such warrants the said sums so due; and in case it is found that the said county clerk of Cook county is not authorized by law to sign, and the said president of the board of Cook county commissioners is not authorized by law to countersign, a warrant upon the treasury of said Cook county for the payment of said bills out of any funds now in the treasury, then the petitioner asks the court to award a writ of mandamus, directed to the board of Cook county commissioners of Cook county, the county clerk and ex officio comptroller of Cook...