People ex rel. Patterson v. New York Cent. R. Co.
| Decision Date | 19 December 1917 |
| Docket Number | No. 11765.,11765. |
| Citation | 282 Ill. 19,118 N.E. 481 |
| Parties | PEOPLE ex rel. PATTERSON, County Collector, v. NEW YORK CENT. R. CO. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Livingston County Court; B. R. Thompson, Judge.
Proceeding by the People, on the relation of W. A. Patterson, County Collector, against the New York Central Railroad Company, for judgment and order of sale of lands for delinquent township high school taxes. From judgment and order of sale, the Railroad Company appeals. Judgment affirmed.
Robert J. Cary, of Chicago, and F. A. Ortman and L. M. Shelly, both of Pontiac, for appellant.
Boys, Osborn & Griggs, of Streator, for appellee.
This was an application by W. A. Patterson, county treasurer and ex officio county collector of Livingston county, for judgment and order of sale against the lands of the appellant, the New York Central Railroad Company, for delinquent township high school taxes levied and assessed against its property for the year 1916. The tax returned delinquent is that of township high school district No. 230, amounting to $619.45. Appellant appeared and filed written objections to the application for judgment. The substance of the objections is that the township high school district was attempted to be organized under section 6 of the act of June 5, 1911 (Laws 1911, p. 505), which was held unconstitutional in People v. Weis, 275 Ill. 581, 114 N. E. 331; that at the time the tax in question was levied there was no such township high school district, either de jure or de facto, or a board of education of such district, authorized to levy such tax. A hearing was had on the objections on July 9, 1917, and an order entered overruling the objections, and judgment and order of sale were entered against the lands of appellant. This appeal followed.
It was stipulated that township high school district No. 230 embraced lands in the counties of Livingston and Grundy, and was organized on May 4, 1915, under the provisions of section 6 of the act of June 5, 1911; that the tax in question was levied by persons acting as school officers of such high school district; that the directors were elected, and duly qualified as such, for the district in the years 1915, 1916, and 1917, and were performing their duties as directors of such district; that no school site has been purchased or contracted for or bonds issued, but the district has rented a building for the purpose of conducting a high school for the years 1915-16 and 1916-17, and levied taxes for the year 1915, all of which were collected, and for the year 1916, of which between 70 and 80 per cent. has been paid; that the district has employed and paid teachers for the years 1915-16 and 1916-17 and employed teachers for the year 1917-18, and has purchased the necessary school apparatus for conducting a high school.
No point is made but that the people made out a prima facie case in the first instance. The principal grounds urged for a reversal of the judgment are that the attempted organization of the township high school district under section 6 of the act of June 5, 1911, which has been held unconstitutional, was illegal, and that there was no warrant, in law, for the persons acting as officers of such high school district to levy a tax, and that the curative act of June 14, 1917, by which the organization of such high school district is validated, is unconstitutional and void. Laws 1917, p. 744. At the time this appeal was perfected the constitutionality of that act had not been passed upon by this court. Its constitutionality has since been considered and sustained in People v. Madison, 280 Ill. 96, 117 N. E. 493,People v. Dix, 280 Ill. 158, 117 N. E. 496,People v. Stitt, 117 N. E. 784 (No. 11530), People v. Howell, 117 N. E. 793 (No. 11488), ...
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