Reynolds Land & Cattle Co. v. McCabe
| Decision Date | 20 November 1888 |
| Citation | 12 S.W. 165 |
| Parties | REYNOLDS LAND & CATTLE CO. <I>v.</I> McCABE <I>et al.</I> |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Appeal from district court, Throckmorton county; J. V. COCKRELL, Judge.
L. W. Campbell, for appellant. Miller & Carragan, for appellees.
This suit was brought by appellant, a private corporation, against appellees, to restrain the collection of a special school tax of 15 cents on the $100 worth of property, assessed and levied in school-district No. 1 of Throckmorton county. The legality of the tax is assailed on two grounds: First, that the commissioners' court exceeded their authority in dividing the county into school-districts; and, second, that the election for the special tax was not ordered in accordance with the law. The commissioners' court, in the exercise of their power to apportion the county into convenient school-districts, divided it into three, — No. 1, the district in question, containing about 400 square miles; No. 2 and No. 3 embracing each about 250 square miles. The twenty-ninth section of the etc., passed at the special session of the eighteenth legislature, held in 1884, provides that "it shall be the duty of the county commissioners' court of all counties not exempted from this section to subdivide their respective counties into convenient school-districts." Gen. Laws 18th Leg., Sp. Sess., p. 43, § 29. And it is contended that this requires a division into four districts at least. The argument is that in order to make a subdivision the court must first make a division, and that this must necessarily result in the creation of more than three districts.
The argument is not sound. It is based upon a misconception of the language used in the act. The word "subdivide" is clearly used with reference to the existing division of the state into counties, and therefore the section must be read as if the legislature had said, "The state being already divided into counties, the commissioners' courts shall subdivide their respective counties," etc. If it had been intended that it should be the duty of the commissioners to create more than three districts, that purpose would have been directly expressed by saying that at least four districts should be created, or by the use of equivalent terms. It is unreasonable to presume that, in order to convey an idea that could have been so definitely and briefly expressed, they made use of language from which the purpose could only be arrived at by implication. Besides, we see no reason why the court should first divide and then subdivide. On the contrary, it seems to us the duty could be more satisfactorily performed by making one original division into such districts as should be deemed convenient and proper. We also fail to see any reason why at least four districts should be created. In many of the sparsely settled counties of the state a less number might be quite sufficient.
Whether the commissioners' court in this particular case have acted wisely or not is not for us to decide. The statute...
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Dacus v. Parker
...submit [ ] the question ... with such definiteness and certainty that the voters are not misled.” Reynolds Land & Cattle Co. v. McCabe, 72 Tex. 57,12 S.W. 165, 165 (1888).5 Beyond summarizing parties' arguments about the standard in 1999, Blum v. Lanier, 997 S.W.2d 259, 262 (Tex.1999), and ......
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Brown v Blum
...such definiteness and certainty that the voters are not misled." Blum, 997 S.W.2d at 262; Reynolds Land & Cattle Co. v . McCabe, 72 Tex. 57, 12 S.W.165, 165-66 (1888); Bischoff, 656 S.W.2d at 212; Moore v. City of Corpus Christi, 542 S.W.2d 720, 723 (Tex. Civ. App.-Corpus Christi 1976, writ......
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Royalty v. Nicholson, 15034
...in which the question shall be submitted to the popular vote, the statute should be strictly complied with. Reynolds Land & Cattle Co. v. McCabe, 72 Tex. 57, 12 S.W. 165 (1888). The additional language was necessary only because of the straw vote feature of this There is yet another vice in......
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Dacus v. Parker
...See Brown v. Blum, 9 S.W.3d 840, 847 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1999, pet. dism'd w.o.j.) (citing Reynolds Land & Cattle Co. v. McCabe, 72 Tex. 57, 59–60, 12 S.W. 165, 165 (1888)). Instead, it has long been the rule that “the language of the proposition submitted is not material, provid......