State v. Daly

• Decision Date: 27 February 1888
• Citation: 13 A. 6,50 N.J.L. 356
• Parties: STATE (BERRY, Prosecutor) v. DALY, Mayor of Rahway.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

13 A. 6

50 N.J.L. 356

STATE (BERRY, Prosecutor)

v. DALY, Mayor of Rahway.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

February 27, 1888.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Application by Garret Berry for mandamus against John J. Daly, mayor of Rahway.

Argued November term, 1888, before Justices DEPUE, VAN SYCKEL, and KNAPP.

Garret Berry, for plaintiff. B. A. Vail, for defendant.

VAN SYCKEL, J. The relator holds a claim against the city of Rahway, which has been audited and approved by the common council of the city. A warrant was drawn by the city clerk requiring the city treasurer to pay the bill, and this warrant was presented to the mayor of the city for his signature, in accordance with the requirement of the city charter. The mayor refused to approve the bill, and thereupon this application for mandamus was made. An act passed April 4, 1871, (Revision 1371, pl. 70,) provides that it shall not be lawful for the common council of any city in this state to pay any claim out of the moneys of said city, unless the person claiming such moneys shall present a detailed bill of items verified by his affidavit that the same is correct. The case shows that the bill was properly itemized and sworn to before the city treasurer, but when it was passed by the common council, and when the mayor refused to sign it, the city treasurer had not signed the jurat. The jurat was afterwards signed, but the claim was not again presented to the common council. The action of the common council in passing was therefore irregular, and under the authority of Langstaff v. Daly, 49 N. J. Law, 403, 8 Atl. Rep. 526, imposed no duty on the mayor to sign the warrant. A mandamus must therefore be refused.