Thompson v. Beaver

• Decision Date: 31 January 1872
• Citation: Thompson v. Beaver, 63 Ill. 353, 1872 WL 8192 (Ill. 1872)
• Parties: JESSE H. THOMPSON et al.v.MICHAEL H. BEAVER et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

63 Ill. 353

1872 WL 8192 (Ill.)

JESSE H. THOMPSON et al.

v.MICHAEL H. BEAVER et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

January Term, 1872.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Logan county; the Hon. THOMAS F. TIPTON, Judge, presiding.

Mr. S. A. FOLEY, for the appellants.

Mr. SAMUEL C. PARKS, for the appellees. Mr. JUSTICE SCOTT delivered the opinion of the Court:

The object of the bill exhibited by the appellants was to have the order made in October, 1870, by the appellees, acting in their official capacity of school trustees, dividing township 19 north, range 3 west, into school districts, declared null and void, and have the same canceled and set aside on the ground that it was fraudulently made, and the manner of districting oppressive and burdensome to the inhabitants of the township.

Preliminary to charging the acts complained of, it is alleged that, in 1867, the then acting trustees of the township laid off and sub-divided the township into school districts; that the same was fairly and equitable made, and beneficial and satisfactory to the people; that after such sub-division, the inhabitants of district number 4, in which the village of Broadwell is situated, had caused to be erected a very good and, for that district, a very expensive school house, at a cost of some $4000, and that a good school house had also been erected by the inhabitants in district number 6.

The appellants are directors of districts number 4 and 6, and their cause of complaint seems to be that the sub-division of the township, as made by the appellees in 1870, is burdensome, inconvenient and oppressive to the entire people of the township, and particularly so to the inhabitants of the districts of which they are respectively directors, on whose behalf they have instituted this proceeding.

It is said that, by the new division of the township into school districts, the old district number 4 has been deprived of over one-third of the value of taxable property formerly included in that district when the school house was erected, and in consequence thereof the inhabitants will be wholly unable to support and maintain a school in such district, and pay the debt forced upon them by the action of the trustees, and that a tax sufficient to pay such debt and support a school would be oppressive on those left in the district. In regard to district number 6, it is charged that the territory comprising the old district number 6 had been divided between districts number 1 and 3, and a new district number 6 formed out of territory taken largely from old district number 4, and that the school house erected by the inhabitants of district number 6 had been assigned by the action of the trustees to district number 3, and that there are not now children enough in the new district number 6 to support a school.

The fraudulent acts charged, upon which the appellants expect relief in a court of equity, are, that the sub-division of the township into new districts, as made by the trustees in 1870, was made through improper motives on the part of two of the appellees, Beaver and Critchfield, by the improper interference of one Darrell F. Wright, who is said to be a large land-holder and tax-payer in the township.

It is also charged, as a ground of relief, that the new districting of the township into school districts was made against the wishes of the inhabitants of a large portion of the township, and particularly against the...