State ex rel. Allen v. Vaughan

• Decision Date: 02 December 1889
• Citation: 12 S.W. 507,99 Mo. 332
• Parties: The State ex rel. Allen v. Vaughan, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

12 S.W. 507

99 Mo. 332

The State ex rel. Allen v. Vaughan, Appellant

Supreme Court of Missouri

December 2, 1889

Appeal from St. Louis County Circuit Court. -- Hon. W. W. Edwards Judge.

Affirmed.

Jas. A Henderson for appellant.

(1) Bridgeton Academy is a private corporation and the act of March 16, 1870, authorizing the board of trustees of the town of Bridgeton to levy a tax for its support is in contravention of section 3, article 10, of the constitution of the state, which says: "Taxes may be levied and collected for public purposes only." Allen v McKeen, 1 Sumner, 314; College v. Woodward, 4 Wheat. 518; Cleveland v. Stewart, 3 Georgia, 283; Perryman v. Bethune, 89 Mo. 159. (2) Bridgeton Academy, if not a private corporation, was a part and parcel of the common school system of the state at the time of the adoption of the constitution of 1865, and its charter has since been repealed. R. S. 1865, sec. 1, chap. 46; R. S. 1865, sec. 1, chap. 47; Laws, 1870, p. 127, secs. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15; Laws, 1877, p. 407; State ex rel. v. Dallas County, 72 Mo. 330; State ex rel. v. Matthews, 94 Mo. 117; State ex rel. v. Francis, 89 Mo. 291.

John W. McElhinney for respondent.

(1) Bridgeton Academy is a public corporation. In it, the inhabitants of the town and commons are organized for the purpose of maintaining a public school. A public corporation is one formed for public purposes, and the whole interest in which belongs to the public, and not to private individuals as such. Such are incorporated school districts and many colleges and academies. 1 Dillon Municipal Corp. [3 Ed.] secs. 22, 24, 52, 53, 56; College v. Woodward, 4 Wheat. 518; Dart v. Houston, 22 Ga. 506, 529; Cleveland v. Stewart, 3 Ga. 283; University v. Maultsby, 8 Ired. Eq. 257, 263; Trustees of University v. Winston, 5 Stew. & Port. (Ala.) 17, 22; Regents of University v. McConnell, 5 Neb. 423, 427. (2) Even if the academy were regarded as, technically, a private corporation, the tax in question was levied for a "public purpose," and, therefore, not prohibited by the constitution. (3) The special school system of Bridgeton, under its charter and the amendment thereto, has not been repealed.

Black J. Ray, C. J., and Barclay, J., absent.

OPINION

Black, J.

-- This is a suit by the collector of St. Louis county to recover school taxes levied for the years 1882 and 1883, upon the lands of the defendant lying in the commons adjacent to the town of Bridgeton in that county.

The agreed facts upon which the case was tried are these: The Bridgeton school, mentioned in the petition, and for the benefit of which the taxes were levied, is the "Bridgeton Academy," incorporated by the act of February 12, 1864. The taxes were duly and properly levied by the trustees of the town of Bridgeton, provided the said trustees had authority to levy the same for such purposes upon the lands described in the petition. Opposition was made in 1876, by the tax payers of Bridgeton and the Bridgeton commons, to the levy of a tax for the support of the Bridgeton Academy on the ground that there was no authority for the levy of such tax, and no such tax was thereafter levied until the year 1882. The academy was however kept in operation during that time. Defendant's lands do not lie in the corporate limits of the town but in the commons adjacent thereto. It is conceded that if the board of trustees of the town of Bridgeton have authority to levy the taxes in question, then the judgment should be affirmed, and this is the only question presented by the record.

By the act of congress of March 13, 1812, certain outlots and commons were reserved for the support of schools. The legislature passed acts for the sale of these lands and the investment of the proceeds and the appropriation of the income to the support of schools. By the act of March 21, 1863 (Acts of 1863, p. 246), all the commons, with the inhabitants thereof, belonging to the corporation known as "The Inhabitants of the town of Bridgeton" were attached to the town for school purposes. By the second section, the inhabitants of the common lands have conferred upon them all the rights of the inhabitants of the town in educating their children at the public schools. The school funds belonging to the town and to the inhabitants of the commons are consolidated, and put under the management of the trustees of the town. The act says: "And the said inhabitants of said commons, and their property within the limits of said commons, shall no longer be under the jurisdiction and control of the trustees or directors of any other school district for school purposes."

The legislature, by the act of February 12, 1864 (Acts of 1863 and 1864, p. 650), created a corporation by the name of "The Trustees of the Bridgeton Academy," to be under the management of nine trustees, six of whom are to be residents of the town of Bridgeton, and three residents of the commons. The act says: The trustees of the academy "are authorized to receive all the school moneys, township school moneys, and the county school moneys that may be due and coming to the inhabitants of the town of Bridgeton, or to the residents of the commons thereto attached." The eleventh section enacts: "In addition to the branches taught in the common schools of the state, the Latin language and the higher branches of mathematics shall be taught in said academy."

The act of March 16, 1870 (Acts of 1870, p. 167), amending the charter of the school, gives the trustees of the town of Bridgeton power "to levy a tax, not exceeding one per centum annually on all taxable property of the town of Bridgeton and the common lands attached to said town * * * for the...