State v. Seibert

• Decision Date: 18 November 1889
• Citation: 99 Mo. 122,12 S.W. 348
• Parties: STATE ex rel. BROADWATER v. SEIBERT, State Auditor.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

12 S.W. 348

99 Mo. 122

STATE ex rel. BROADWATER v. SEIBERT, State Auditor.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

November 18, 1889.

APPROPRIATIONS.

Const. Mo. art. 10, § 19, provides "that no money shall ever be paid out of the treasury of this state except in pursuance of an appropriation by law, * * * nor unless such payment be made, or a warrant shall have issued, within two years after the passage of such appropriation act, and every such law making a new appropriation, or continuing or reviving an appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it is to be applied, and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such sum or object." Held, that Sess. Acts 1889, p. 6, § 5, subd. 7, reappropriating a certain sum "to pay the balance due under the contract made for the enlargement of the capitol building," did not authorize a payment out the state treasury for services performed in completing a retaining wall on the capitol grounds, which was necessary to secure the foundation of the new addition, under a contract made two years after the passage of the act, though such contract would have been authorized under the original appropriation act.

Mandamus.

J. W. Zenely and Silver & Brown, for relator. John W. Wood, Atty. Gen., for respondent.

BRACE, J.

By an act of the general assembly, approved March 9, 1887, the sum of $250,000 was appropriated for the purpose of enlarging the main edifice of the state capitol building, by additions thereto, and the governor, the secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, and superintendent of pubic schools, and commissioner of the permanent seat of government were constituted a board of commissioners, with authority to contract, in the name of the state, for the necessary materials, and for the performance of the work at a cost not to exceed the appropriation, and to employ a competent architect and superintendent to supervise the same, (Sess. Acts 1887, p. 17;) the contract to provide for the completion of the improvements on or before the 1st day of January, 1889. On or about the 1st of July, 1887, said board contracted for the improvements contemplated in said act, consisting in part of a large addition to the north end of the capitol, and adjacent to the bluff of the Missouri river. In order to secure the foundation for this addition, it was found to be necessary, after the contract was entered into, to construct a retaining wall around and along said bluff, and in...