State v. Gordon

• Decision Date: 20 March 1912
• Citation: 147 S.W. 795
• Parties: STATE ex rel. MERCER COUNTY et al. v. GORDON, State Auditor.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

147 S.W. 795

STATE ex rel. MERCER COUNTY et al. v. GORDON, State Auditor.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

March 20, 1912.

1. COUNTIES (§ 178)—BONDS FOR COURTHOUSE —ISSUANCE—SPECIAL ELECTION—NOTICE.

Rev. St. 1909, § 1261, simply prescribing that notice of a special election to authorize issue of county bonds for a courthouse shall be given, without directing by whom it shall be signed, is satisfied by publication of a copy of the order of the county court for the election, embracing all recitals required to be inserted in the notice, and verified by the signature of the presiding judge and the signature and certificate of the county clerk.

2. COUNTIES (§ 178)—BONDS FOR COURTHOUSE —ISSUANCE—SPECIAL ELECTION—NOTICE.

Notice of special election to authorize issuance of county bonds for a courthouse need not designate the polling places, it not being one of the requirements of Rev. St. 1909, § 1261, as to what such notice shall specify, or of the general statutes; but voters being required by section 1263, providing that said special election shall be held and conducted in the same manner as elections for county officers, so far as the laws in relation thereto are applicable, to take notice that the election will be at the same polling places where general elections had been conducted.

In Banc. Original mandamus proceeding on the relation of Mercer County and others against John P. Gordon, State Auditor. Peremptory writ granted.

E. M. Harber and I. B. Hyde & Son, for relators. Elliott W. Major, Atty. Gen., and Charles G. Revelle, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

BROWN, J.

Original action by mandamus in this court to compel respondent, as State Auditor, to register county bonds. On the 3d day of October, 1911, a special election was held in Mercer county, Mo., submitting to the qualified voters of that county a proposition to authorize the issue of $75,000 county bonds to raise money to build a courthouse. At said election, 1,474 votes were cast for and 369 votes against the issue of said bonds. More than two-thirds of the qualified votes cast in said election being in favor of said issue, the county court declared the proposition carried, issued the bonds authorized, and attempted to have the same registered and certified by respondent as Auditor of the State of Missouri. Respondent having refused to register and certify said bonds, this action was instituted on April 22, 1912, to compel him to do so. Respondent has filed his return to the alternative writ issued herein defending his action in refusing to register and certify said bonds, on the following grounds: (1) That the notice of election to authorize the issue of said bonds as published was in fact no notice at all, because it was only a copy of the order made by the county court requiring notice to be given. (2) That the notice of said special election to issue bonds failed to comply with sections 1261 and 1263, R. S. 1909, in that it failed to designate the polling places in Mercer county where said special election was to be held. Respondent also attacks the notice of election on other grounds, which he does not urge in his brief, and which we do not find worthy of special mention in this opinion. The relators move the court for a judgment in their favor upon the pleadings.

The notice of the special election to authorize the issue of bonds is in fact only a certified copy of the order made by the county court of Mercer county ordering a special election to be held, and is as follows: "Notice of Election. Notice is hereby given that at the regular August term of the county court of Mercer county, Missouri, held at Princeton, Missouri, and on the 10th day of August, 1911, the same being the fourth day of said term, a petition of Edd Kauffman and more than one hundred others of the qualified voters of said county, taxpayers therein, praying for an election to authorize the incurring of an indebtedness for the purpose of building a courthouse, was presented, and the following proceedings were had, to wit: Order calling special election to authorize the issuance of $75,000.00 bonds for the purpose of building a courthouse. Now, on this 10th day of August, the same being the fourth day of the regular August term of the county court of Mercer county, Missouri, comes Edd Kauffman and more than one hundred of the qualified voters of Mercer county, who are taxpayers therein, and present to the court their petition and application, in writing, praying for a special election to authorize the incurring of an indebtedness for the purpose of erecting a courthouse at the city of Princeton, Missouri, in the sum of not exceeding $75,000.00, and to issue bonds for such indebtedness and to levy sufficient taxes to pay the same; and whereas, it has become necessary for Mercer county, Missouri, to incur an indebtedness for the purpose of building a courthouse in excess of the total income and revenue of said county, as provided for in any one year as limited by law: Now, therefore, it is hereby ordered that a special election be held in the county of Mercer and state of Missouri on Tuesday, the third day of October, 1911, for the purpose of authorizing the incurring of said indebtedness, the issuance of said bonds and the levying of such taxes, and that at least twenty days' notice of said election be given by publication in the Princeton Telegraph, the Princeton Post and the Mercer Signal, three several newspapers published in said county of Mercer and state of Missouri; that such special election will be held on Tuesday, the third day of October, 1911; that the amount of the indebtedness shall be the sum of $75,000.00, and that bonds shall be issued therefor. That said bonds shall run for a term of fifteen years, with the option of payment at any time after five years, and shall draw interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum. That the tax levy of Mercer county, Missouri, be increased fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars valuation to pay the interest and provide a sinking fund to retire said bonds. That the purpose of incurring the said indebtedness shall be the building of a courthouse in Princeton, Mercer county, Missouri, and the purpose of this election shall be to authorize the incurring of such indebtedness, the issuance of such bonds and the levying of such additional taxes. C. E. Minter,...