Trs. of Sch. v. Bd. of Sch. Inspectors of Peoria

• Decision Date: 17 February 1904
• Citation: 208 Ill. 73,69 N.E. 781
• Parties: TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS et al. v. BOARD OF SCHOOL INSPECTORS OF CITY OF PEORIA.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

208 Ill. 73

69 N.E. 781

TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS et al.

v.BOARD OF SCHOOL INSPECTORS OF CITY OF PEORIA.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 17, 1904.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Peoria County; L. D. Puterbaugh, Judge.

Suit by the board of school inspectors of Peoria against the trustees of schools and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal. Appeal dismissed.

Arthur Keithley, for appellants.

McCullough & McCullough, for appellee.

RICKS, J.

On October 27, 1902, appellee filed its bill in equity in the circuit court of Peoria county to require Alfred A. Phelps, township treasurer of Richwoods township, in said county, to pay over something like $2,000 which was received by said treasurer of the school taxes collected for the year 1901, levied in parts of Peoria township and Richwoods township.

The bill alleges that prior to the present constitution the city of Peoria was chartered by a special act of the Legislature, and that in 1869 (2 Laws 1869, p. 168), by like special act, the charter was amended by creating a board of school inspectors of the city of Peoria, which was declared to be a body corporate, with, among others, powers to erect, hire, and purchase school buildings suitable for schoolhouses, to furnish schoolhouses and furniture, to buy or lease grounds for school purposes, to maintain public schools in said city, and to determine the rate of taxation and levy taxes; that by the charter of said city the said board of school inspectors consists of the mayor and two members from each ward of said city; that, at the time of the organization and charter of the city by the special act and the amendments, the entire township in which said city was situated was included within the boundaries of said city, and the board of school inspectors exercised jurisdiction over all of it; that in 1887 the city of Peoria adopted the general city and village act, and organized under the general law; that in the north portion of said Peoria township a village was organized, under the general law, called North Peoria; that said village extended into and included the south three-fourths of sections 33 and 34, in Richwoods township; that in the year 1900 the village of North Peoria was annexed to the city of Peoria, and that the city of Peoria, through its board of school inspectors, claims jurisdiction in matters of school taxation over the territory of Peoria township and that portion of Richwoods township that was included in the village of North Peoria; that section 33 in Richwoods township constituted a school district, formerly known as No. 5, and now known as No. 115, and that section 34 in said township constituted a part of District No. 114, and that each of the latter districts, after the adoption of the general law by the city, included portions of North Peoria, and in each of said districts, and in the corporate limits of North Peoria, was a schoolhouse; that both the said board of school inspectors and the local boards of directors of the Districts 114 and 115 made school-tax levies for the year 1901, but that the county clerk, in extending the tax, recognized the certificates...