State ex rel. Town of La Valle v. Bd. of Sup'rs of Sauk

• Decision Date: 03 March 1885
• Parties: STATE EX REL. TOWN OF LA VALLE v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF COUNTY OF SAUK.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

62 Wis. 376

22 N.W. 572

STATE EX REL. TOWN OF LA VALLE

v.BOARD OF SUP'RS OF COUNTY OF SAUK.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Filed March 3, 1885.

Appeal from circuit court, Sauk county.

This is an appeal from an order denying a motion of the relator town for a writ of mandamus, and dismissing the proceedings in that behalf. The application was made under Rev. St. 412, § 1319, as amended, to compel the county of Sauk to aid in the construction of a certain bridge in that town. The motion was founded upon affidavit setting forth all the facts which, under that statute, are essential to the relator's right to the relief demanded. Section 1319 was first amended by chapter 126, Laws 1879, to read as follows: “Whenever it shall appear to the county board that any one of the towns in its county would be required to raise an amount equal to more than one-tenth of 1 per centum of all the taxable property in such town, according to the last equalized valuation, for the purpose of erecting or repairing any bridge or bridges upon the principally traveled highway of such town; or when it shall be made to appear that a bridge in any town is necessary for the use and convenience of the adjoining town rather than the town in which it shall be situated,--it shall cause such sum to be levied upon the taxable property of the county as will be sufficient to defray the expense of erecting or repairing the same, or such part of such expense as it may deem proper.” The remainder of the section contains no provision material to this case. Section 1319 was again amended in 1881 by chapter 315 of the Laws of that year. The material features of such amendment are that the town in which the bridge is situated should be required to raise one-fourth of one per cent. bridge tax, instead of one-tenth of one per cent., as required by the law of 1879, before the county could be compelled to furnish aid; and it takes away the discretion of the county board as to the portion of the expense which should be borne by the county, by requiring the county to defray the whole of the expense of erecting and repairing the bridges mentioned therein. It also contains the proviso that “this act shall not apply to the county of Grant.” Because it contained such proviso, the circuit court denied the relief demanded.G. Stevens, for appellant.

R. P. Perry and Philip Cheek, Jr., for respondent.

LYON, J.

The principal question to be determined on this appeal is whether chapter 315 of the Laws of 1881 violates section 23, art. 4, of the constitution, which ordains that “the legislature shall establish but one system of town and county government, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable.” It is maintained that the statute does violate that constitutional provision, and is therefore invalid, because of the proviso that it shall not apply to the county of Grant. The learned circuit judge held the statute invalid on the authority of McRae v. Hogan, 39 Wis. 529. In that case the court had under consideration chapter 458, P. & L. Laws 1869, which required the town treasurers of the several towns in the county of Chippewa to pay over to the county treasurer all moneys received by them for highway taxes on all lands lying north of a specified line running east and west across said county, and requiring such county treasurer to pay over the same to the board of supervisors of that county upon the order of the board. Such board was authorized and required to expend such moneys in building wagon roads, north of said line, up the Chippewa river and its tributaries. It was held that the act was in violation of the constitutional provision above quoted, and therefore invalid within the rule laid down in State v. Riordan, 24 Wis. 484;State v. Supervisors of Milwaukee Co. 25 Wis. 339;State v. Dousman, 28 Wis. 542. The general law provided that highway taxes raised in any town should be expended, by the proper town officers, for the construction and repair of highways within such town; but the statute of 1869...