President v. Block
| Decision Date | 31 January 1865 |
| Citation | 36 Ill. 507,1865 WL 2778 |
| Parties | PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES OF THE TOWN OF JACKSONVILLEv.SOLOMON BLOCK AND AUGUST CONE. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
ERROR to Circuit Court of Morgan County.
Debt for the recovery of a penalty for violating a town ordinance prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, brought in justice's court on June 27, 1862, by plaintiffs in error against defendants in error.
The action was commenced upon complaint in writing, and an account filed with the justice; and, a summons having been issued and served, the cause was by agreement successively continued till July 3, 1862, and July 14, 1862, at the latter of which days, a motion to quash the summons and dismiss the cause on the ground of the uncertainty and insufficiency of the complaint, having been made by defendants and overruled by the court, a trial was had before a jury, who found a verdict for the plaintiffs, upon which the court rendered judgment. An appeal therefrom having been taken to the circuit court by defendants, and an appeal bond filed, a motion was made by defendants for the dismissal of the cause, on the grounds:
(1) That the suit was not based upon a complaint under oath, filed in the cause.
(2) That the complaint on file was uncertain and vague.
(3) That plaintiffs had not filed a bond for costs.
This motion was sustained and the cause dismissed with costs; and it is insisted that the court erred:
(1) In granting said motion on said grounds, and in dismissing the cause.
(2) In rendering judgment against the plaintiffs and in favor of the defendants for costs, and in not denying said motion.
Morrison & Epler, and William Brown, for plaintiffs in error.
M. McConnell, for defendants in error.
The board of trustees of the town of Jacksonville, by the charter of the town, had power to pass ordinances and impose penalties for any violation of the same. Private Laws of 1849, p. 124.
Jurisdiction was conferred upon justices of the peace of the town in all cases arising under the charter, and growing out of by-laws made in pursuance of the same; and appeals and writs of certiorari were allowed from their judgments, in the same manner as they were allowed from judgments of justices of the peace in other cases.
At common law, when a penalty was incurred for a violation of a by-law of a corporation, it might be recovered by an action of debt or assumpsit in any court of general jurisdiction. Com. Dig. “By-Law” D., 1; Barber Surgeon's Co. v. Pelson, 2 Levinz, 252; City of London v. Goree, 1 Ventris, 298; Same Case, 2 Levinz, 174; Grant on Corporations, 88; ...
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...106 A.L.R. 789. A suit by a city to recover a penalty for violation of a city ordinance is a civil suit. President, etc., of Town of Jacksonville v. Block, 36 Ill. 507; City of Chicago v. Knobel, 232 Ill. 112, 83 N.E. 459. The fact that the offense charged is also a criminal offense (assaul......
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...166 N.E.2d 29 (1960); Village of Maywood v. Houston, 10 Ill.2d 117, 119, 139 N.E.2d 233 (1956); President, etc., of Town of Jacksonville v. Block, 36 Ill. 507, 509, 510 (1865); Ewbanks v. President, etc., of Town of Ashley, 36 Ill. 177, 180 (1864). In such cases, the proceeding being civil ......
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