School Dist. No. 4 v. Gage
| Decision Date | 29 October 1878 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | School District No. 4 of the Township of Marathon v. Frank W. Gage |
Submitted October 17, 1878
Error to Lapeer.
Assumpsit. Defendant brings error.
Judgment affirmed with costs.
Geer & Williams for plaintiff in error. Where usage does not allow a teacher wages for holidays, and his contract is silent as to them, he will not be allowed pay if he does not teach on the holidays, Smith v. Wilson, 3 B. & Ad., 728; Hinton v. Locke, 5 Hill 437; Ford v Tirrell, 9 Gray 401; Lowe v. Lehman, 15 Ohio St., 179; Walls v. Bailey, 49 N. Y., 464; Sewall v. Gibbs, 1 Hall 602; 1 Greenl. Ev., § 294; municipal corporations may waive their exemption from garnishment, Clapp v. Walker, 25 Ia. 315; Drake on Attachment, (4th ed.) § 516 a; 1 Dillon Mun. Corp., 187 n.
W. W & M. N. Stickney for defendant in error. Municipal corporations cannot be garnished, Comp. L., § 6463; Hebel v. Amazon Ins. Co., 33 Mich. 407; Wallace v. Lawyer, 54 Ind. 501: 23 Amer. 661; Merwin v Chicago, 45 Ill. 133; Chicago v. Hasley, 25 Ill. 595; school directors are public officers and cannot be adjudged garnishees, Comp. L., § 6503 subd. 2; Thayer v. Tyler, 5 Allen 95; Colby v. Coates, 6 Cush. 559; school districts are not subject to garnishment, Clark v. Mobile School Com'rs, 36 Ala. 621; a school teacher's salary cannot be garnished, Hightower v. Slaton, 54 Ga. 108; McLellan v. Young, 54 Ga. 399: 21 Amer. 276; Hadley v. Peabody, 13 Gray 200.
Gage sued for his compensation as teacher in school district No. 4 of Marathon. Two defenses were set up; first, of garnishee proceedings in which the district appeared and submitted to garnishment of the money due to Gage; and second, that deduction should be made for holidays when there was no school kept open.
The garnishee statute relating to justices does not allow garnishee proceedings against municipal corporations. Comp. L., § 6463. A school district is very clearly such a corporation under our laws, as we decided in Seeley v. Board of Education, October term, 1876. [*] There is also a further prohibition against such process against public officers for money due by them officially. § 6503. It is not consistent with public policy to subject the stipends of persons in public employments to be suspended or reached in that way, or to allow public corporations to be brought needlessly into private litigation.
There is no force to the waiver of objection to the jurisdiction. The exemption really belongs to the person whose debt is garnished, and not to the debtor. Johnson v. Dexter, 38 Mich. 695. The garnishee cannot without the debtor's consent subject his rights to any unlawful burden.
In regard to deductions for holidays we are of opinion that school management should always conform to those decent usages which recognize the propriety of omitting to hold public exercises on recognized holidays; and that it is not lawful to impose forfeitures or deductions for such proper suspension of labor. Schools should conform to what may fairly be expected of all institutions in civilized communities. All contracts for teaching during periods mentioned must be construed of necessity as subject to such days of vacation, and public policy as well as usage requires that there should be no penalty laid upon such observances.
The judgment must be affirmed with costs.
The other Justices concurred.
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Notes:
[*]Edwin R. Seeley v. The Board of Education of the City of Port Huron.--Error to St. Clair. Submitted and decided October 25, 1876.
Chadwick & Voorheis for plaintiff in error.
W. T. Mitchell for defendant in error.
Assumpsit by Seeley on appeal from the judgment of a justice of...
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