87 Miss. 463 | Miss. | 1905
delivered the opinion of the court.
The case made by the bill and exhibits on the only points Ave deem it necessary to discuss is this: The village of Rienzi is governed by the code chapter on “Municipalities.” The de facto board of mayor and aldermen of the village decided to issue municipal bonds to the amount of $1,500 for the purpose of purchasing land and erecting a schoolhouse. A petition signed by a sufficient number of taxpayers having been presented, pro
As to the first ground relied on by appellants, we content ourselves by reaffirming the established doctrine that the law attaches validity to the acts of de facto officers. Powers v. State, 83 Miss., 702 (36 South. Rep., 6). It is admitted that the board of mayor and aldermen are actually clothed with the insignia of office and exercising its powers and functions. Their official acts are therefore valid and binding, however questionable their legal title to the office may be. Norton v. Shelby County, 118 U. S., 425 (6 Sup. Ct., 1121; 30 L. ed., 178).
The second ground on which the bill of complaint seeks to prevent the issuance of the bonds is that there was no duly qualified electorate in the village of Rienzi, and that none of those who
The contention that, because this is simply the submission of the question of the issuance of municipal bonds to be voted on, it is not, properly speaking, an election within the purview of the law, but merely “a special device for determining” the will of the people interested with reference thereto, and that therefore it.is not necessary for those participating therein to possess the ■■gHaü^^jmstitutional and statutory qualifications of electors, (j^H^ncLIt'ig-'true, as before stated, that the general law applicable to elections 'ctoesjiot include legislative plans specially devised for ascertaining the will of the people; it is also true that it is within the province of the legislature to devise any other of many different schemes by which the issuance of municipal bonds or the determination of other local questions might be had, and that in some instances bonds may'lawfully, be issued without reference to the method here under review! But this does not change the rule that when the assent of a majority of the participating electors is required, and that assent is to be signified by votes cast at an election held for that specific purpose, as pro
It is no answer to this to say that the legislature might have authorized the majority of the taxpayers to determine the question or that the issuance of 'bonds under any and all circumstances might have been submitted solely to the discretion of the board of mayor and aldermen of the municipality. Granting this, the fact remains that the legislature did not so decide, but required, as a condition precedent to the lawful issuance of municipal bonds under the case made by this record, the authorization by “a majority of the electors voting in an election to be ordered for that purpose.” Code 1892, § 30.16. The argument based on the familiar and immutably-fixed doctrine that dona fide holders of bonds, relying upon the face of the record, will be protected against any informalities or irregularities in the proceedings authorizing the issuance of the bonds, or from mistakes or lack of wisdom on the part of the authorities issuing and negotiating the bonds, is, of course, perfectly sound. Lexington v. Bank, 75 Miss., 1 (22 South. Rep., 291). But it is foreign to this case, for the reason that the bonds have never been issued or negotiated, and the rights of third persons are in no wise involved. It being admitted, therefore, by the demurrer, that
The decree is reversed, the demurrer overruled, the injunction reinstated, and the cause remanded for answer within thirty days after filing of mandate in the court loelow.