133 Minn. 270 | Minn. | 1916
The village of Banning is situated wholly within the boundaries of the town of Finlayson, in Pine county. A bridge across the Kettle river at the outskirts of the village, forming a, part of a highway leading to and from the village, had been declared out of repair and condemned, and in July, 1908, the village authorities set about to devise ways and means for . the construction of a new one. They applied to the county of Pine, and obtained an appropriation of the sum of $1,500, a like sum of $300 was secured from the town of Partridge, a nearby township organization, and defendant herein by action of its board of supervisors on July 15, 1908, appropriated for the same purpose the sum of $600. With this financial help the village authorities entered into a contract for the construction of the new bridge with the Hewitt Bridge Company for the consideration of the sum of $3,000. Thereupon the officers of the town of Finlayson issued a town order for the amount of its appropriation, namely, $600, ' and deposited the same with the Sandstone State Bank for delivery to the contractor upon the completion of the bridge. The bridge was completed and accepted in January, 1909, and the order was then delivered by the bank. It was presented to the town treasurer for payment on January 15, 1909, and by him indorsed “not paid for want of funds.” Plaintiff is now the owner and holder'of the same and brought this action to recover thereon. ' Defendant interposed in defense that the appropriation of the money for the purposes stated, as well as the issuance of the town order in payment of the same, was without authority and created no legal liability on the part of the town. The trial court found that the appropriation was within the authority of the town board, that the town order was the legal and valid obligation of the town, and judgment was ordered for plaintiff for the amount thereof with interest. Defendant moved for amended findings or for a new trial. The motion was denied, and judgment rendered on the findings and defendant appealed.
(1) The claim that an appropriation of this kind must be expressly authorized by the electors is not sound. It is of course to be conceded that the electors are supreme in the matter of taxation, in determining the amount of taxes to be raised for any particular purpose, but in respect to disbursing and expending the same the supervisors are controlled only by statutory restrictions. The authority of the electors ends when the town meeting adjourns; from thence on the affairs of the town are in control of the town board, and a vote of the electors as to the manner of expending money raised for town purposes is unnecessary.
(2) ' The second contention is answered by G. S. 1913, § 1280. It is an admitted fact that the town and village are separate and distinct municipal organizations, and that, prior to the enactment of that statute (Laws
.2. It is also urged that the bridge was not constructed upon or so as to connect with a public highway and, therefore, that the appropriation was on this further ground illegal. This contention is not sustained. If the pleadings are not to be construed as admitting the existence of the highway we do not deem the question as of controlling importance. A contract was duly entered into by the village authorities for the construction of the bridge, and the officers thereof no doubt designated to the contractor the place for its location. The contract was complied with, the bridge constructed and accepted. While the contractor in a case of this kind would be required to take notice of the extent of the authority of the village officers, and of their right under the law to enter into the contract, our attention has not been called to any rule of law that would require him to go beyond the question of authority and inquire into and determine at his peril the existence or the legality of the highway upon which the bridge is so ordered constructed. We hold that the contractor need not make such inquiry, and that it is immaterial in the case at bar whether there was or was not at the point where the bridge was’ constructed a legally existing highway. It may be presumed that there was.
3. It is further contended that the appropriation was illegal, for the
This covers all that need be said. We have considered all the assignments of error and discovered no reason for reversal.
Order affirmed.