State v. Henderson

• Decision Date: 06 July 1898
• Citation: 46 S.W. 1076,145 Mo. 329
• Parties: STATE ex rel. LOWE v. HENDERSON et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

46 S.W. 1076

145 Mo. 329

STATE ex rel. LOWE v. HENDERSON et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

July 6, 1898.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS — EXTENSION — EXTINGUISHMENT — MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS — PARTIES.

1. The extension of the limits of a city does not operate to enlarge the school district existing in such city.

2. The extinction of a municipal corporation by absorption into another city does not extinguish the school district of such corporation.

3. The legality of proceedings whereby one municipality is absorbed by another will not be determined for the benefit of third persons, where neither of the corporations interested is before the court.

In banc.

Appeal from circuit court, Jackson county; E. P. Gates, Judge.

Quo warranto by the state, on the information of Frank M. Lowe, prosecuting attorney, against Frank Henderson and others. There was a judgment denying ouster, and relator appeals. Affirmed.

Gage, Ladd & Small and R. B. Middlebrook, for appellant. A. M. Allen and Frank H. Dexter, for respondents.

GANTT, C. J.

This is an information in the nature of a quo warranto to test the right of the respondents to the office of directors in the school district of the city of Westport. The proceeding was brought originally in the circuit court of Jackson county, and, upon a trial therein, ouster was denied, and the relator has appealed to this court.

Two questions are presented in the record: (1) Is the extension of the city limits of Kansas City as voted by the qualified voters of said city on December 2, 1897, valid? And (2) if valid, did such extension and the resulting extinction of the corporate existence of the city of Westport also destroy the existence of the school district of the city of Westport? The facts necessary to an intelligent consideration of these questions are that the city of Kansas (now Kansas City) was incorporated by an act of the general assembly of this state approved February 23, 1853 (Laws 1852-53, p. 244). In pursuance of the provisions of sections 16 and 17 of article 9 of the constitution of Missouri (1875), the city of Kansas framed a charter for its own government, which was ratified by the qualified voters of the city at an election held April 8, 1889, and became the charter of the city May 9, 1889. Under this charter the corporate name of the city was changed to Kansas City. The town of Westport was organized by an act of the general assembly of the state of Missouri entitled "An act to incorporate the town of Westport in Jackson county," approved February 12, 1857. In 1881, Westport was organized into a city of the fourth class, in conformity with the provisions of section 4385 of the Revised Statutes of 1879. On the 16th day of March, 1897, the common council of Kansas City passed a resolution reciting: "It was the desire of Kansas City by amendment to its charter to extend its corporate limits so as to include the city of Westport and other adjacent territory," etc. This resolution was furnished the mayor of Westport by the mayor of Kansas City. Pursuant to that resolution, the mayor of Kansas City notified the mayor of Westport, on the 10th of March, 1897, that it was the desire and intention of Kansas City to extend its corporate limits so as to include within said limits the city of Westport if and when the qualified voters of Westport shall desire and consent thereto as provided by law, and requested the mayor of Westport to order a special election to ascertain the wishes of said voters upon the question. In pursuance of this notice, the mayor of Westport called a special election for the 28th day of September, 1897; and the qualified voters of Westport, by a vote of 1,034 for, and 164 against, said proposition, elected that Westport should be included in Kansas City. Thereupon, upon receipt of the formal notification of the result in Westport, the lawmaking authorities of Kansas City submitted to the voters of said city a proposal to extend the limits of Kansas City over Westport, and ordered an election to be had the 2d day of December, 1897; and said proposal was published in four newspapers in said city for 30 days. The election in Kansas City resulted in a vote of 5,731 for, and 323 against, annexation of Westport. Prior to these proceedings, the city of Westport had been organized into a school district under the laws of this state, and its corporate name was the "School District of the City of Westport." The defendants are the duly-elected directors of said school district. Certain territory not embraced within the corporate limits of the city of Westport was attached to the school district of the city of Westport for school purposes. By the extension of the limits of Kansas City, all of the territory within the corporate limits of the city of Westport was embraced. By such extension was also embraced all of the territory outside the corporate limits of Westport which had been attached to the school district of Westport for school purposes, except a strip of country lying south of the southern limits of Kansas City as extended, three-quarters of a mile wide, and 2½ miles long. Kansas City is organized into a single school district, and has all the powers conferred by law upon school districts in cities of its size, and, as such, has the government and control of the schools within the limits of Kansas City prior to the extension of the limits over Westport.

In order to advise the school boards of Kansas City and Westport of their respective rights, and to avoid the danger of closing the public schools in said cities, or endangering the collection of the school taxes therein, this cause has been advanced out of its regular order. Addressing ourselves to the discussion had by the counsel for the respective school boards, we find that the learned counsel for the Kansas City school board assume as their first postulate that "by operation of law, as a consequence of the annexation of Westport to Kansas City, the limits of the school district of Kansas City were also extended so as to embrace the territory formerly within the limits of the school district of Westport." Unquestionably, the condition of affairs growing out of the annexation does present many difficulties that have not been anticipated and provided for by the legislature in the statutes governing the schools or municipalities of the state. We must determine the question in the light of the existing laws. Certainly, it is the policy of the state to make the school districts of cities like Kansas City coextensive with the corporate limits; but we conceive that this alone will not sustain the proposition that the annexation of new territory to the municipality, of necessity, also attaches it to the school district thereof, nor the reverse of that proposition, — that, because Westport's municipal government was merged in that of Kansas City, its school district was also extinguished. Counsel concede that a school district is not a department of the municipal government, like the fire department, police department, or waterworks whose existence is an incident of the city government. On the contrary, each organized school district is an independent body corporate under the laws of this state. Their characteristics and powers are well defined by the Kansas City court of appeals in Waterworks Co. v. School Dist., 23 Mo. App. 241, as follows (speaking of the school district of Kansas City): "By this act, I am of the opinion that the divorcement of the school district of Kansas City from the municipal government is complete. It is an independent corporation in every vital particular. The...