6 Dakota 255 | Supreme Court Of The Territory Of Dakota | 1889
This is an appeal from a judgment dismissing the complaint on the merits. The action was brought to enforce the
Upon a careful examination of the facts in this case, and the law of this territory defining how and under what circumstances school districts and school boards may erect school-houses, and issue orders or warrants binding upon the districts in payment thereof, we are of opinion that the orders upon which this action was brought are invalid, and that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover.
■The defendant was organized, if ever, under and in pursuance of chapter 14 of the Laws of 1879. By section 29 of' said chapter, subdivision 4, it is provided that the inhabitants qualified to vote at a school-district meeting, lawfully assembled, shall have power to designate by vote a site for a district school-house; and, by subdivision 5 of said section, to vote a tax annually, not exceeding lf0, on the taxable property in the district, as the meeting shall deem sufficient, to purchase or lease a site for a school building. This section, and the subdivisions referred to, embrace all the law of this territory upon the subject of selecting sites for school-houses for the several districts. By section 56 of said chapter 14 it .is made the duty of the district board of such school district “ to purchase or lease such site for a school-house .as shall have been designated by the voters at a district meeting, in the corporate name thereof, and to build such school-house as the voters of the district in a district meeting shall have agreed upon, out of the funds provided for that purpose.”
School districts are corporations created for special purposes, and have only such powers as are specially granted by legislative
Under this interpretation of the law upon this subject, what powers had this school district under the statute aforesaid ? The inhabitants of the district qualified to vote at a school meeting, when lawfully assembled for that purpose, had the right and power to select a site for a school-house, and to agree upon such plans as they could for a school building, and provide funds within the limits fixed by the legislature for purchasing or leasing such site, and the erection of such school-house. This law also provides for the election by the inhabitants of such school district of a board of officers, and specifies the duties of each. Such officers, as a district board, are to purchase or lease such site for a schoolhouse “ as shall have been designated by the voters at a district meeting.” From the provisions of this statute it is very clear that the intent of the legislature was that the inhabitants — the legal voters of the school district, as contradistinguished from the district board —■ should alone have the power and right to select a site for a school-house, and that until they had exercised that right the district board were powerless in the premises ; else it would not have used the language: “ The district shall purchase or lease such site as shall have been designated by the voters at a district meeting, and erect such school-house as the voters of the district in a district meeting shall have agreed upon.” This is
"We have not been referred to any law giving the district boards power to select sites for school-houses, nor have we been able to find any such law, after diligent search. The powers of. the district board are enumerated in sections 59 to 64, inclusive, of chapter 14, Laws 1879, and in none of them, or elsewhere, is there any provision conferring upon the district board, in any contingency, any authority to create obligations against the district for building school-houses or purchasing sites. Section 62 empowers the district board to provide the necessary appendages for the schoolhouse during the time school is taught there, but the same are to he presented and allowed, if reasonable, at the regular district meeting. Section 39 provides- that the director of the school dis
The conclusion we have arrived at renders an examination of the other alleged-errors unnecessary. For the reasons stated, we are of opinion that the judgment of the court below was correct, and should be affirmed. Judgment affirmed;