State ex rel. Douglas v. Village of Reads

• Decision Date: 21 April 1899
• Docket Number: 11,649 - (26)
• Citation: 78 N.W. 883,76 Minn. 69
• Parties: STATE ex rel. WALLACE B. DOUGLAS v. VILLAGE OF READS and Others
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

78 N.W. 883

76 Minn. 69

STATE ex rel. WALLACE B. DOUGLAS v. VILLAGE OF READS and Others

Nos. 11,649 - (26)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

April 21, 1899

Writ of quo warranto issued from the supreme court against the village of Reads, Albert Gauger and others, requiring respondents to show by what right they claimed to exercise the franchises and rights of such municipal corporation and the rights, powers, and duties of the offices of trustees of said village, and why they should not be decreed to have usurped said franchises and offices, and why said corporation should not be annulled. Judgment of ouster.

SYLLABUS

Repeal of Statute -- Village of Reads.

The express repeal of the then existing charter of the village of Reads (Sp. Laws 1891, c. 51) by Laws 1895, C. 390, did not revive the village c. 390, did not revive the village charter originally enacted by Sp. Laws 1868, c. 34. The act of 1895 took effect February 6, 1896, and on that day the village of Reads ceased to exist.

W. B Douglas, Attorney General, and Geo. H. Selover, for relator.

Campbell & Campbell, for respondents.

OPINION

COLLINS, J.

Writ of quo warranto, issued upon the relation of the attorney general, against the village of Reads, and several persons alleged to be acting as village trustees, to obtain a decree declaring and adjudging that said village has ceased to exist, and, as a consequence, that there are no trustees thereof. The question involved was attempted to be presented in Trautmann v. McLeod, 74 Minn. 110, 76 N.W. 964, and is referred to in the third subdivision of the opinion.

The original charter of the village of Reads is Sp. Laws 1868, c 34. Slight amendments, of no consequence here, were made at different legislative sessions thereafter. Later, an act to amend the charter was passed (Sp. Laws 1891, c. 51), the first section of which provided that the 1868 statute incorporating the village, and the several acts amendatory thereof, should be amended "so as to read as follows." Then followed a full and complete village charter, somewhat different in form, but not materially differing from the one then existing. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with its provisions were expressly repealed, but all ordinances, resolutions, and by-laws of the village then in existence were continued in force. The boundaries of the village were extended, and a change was made as to the day on which the village election was...