142 S.E. 315 | N.C. | 1928
This cause was considered by the Court upon a former appeal and is reported in
From the foregoing judgment plaintiffs appealed.
The plaintiffs contend that the court had no power to find as a fact that the issue of said bonds was necessary for the purpose "of erection or purchase of schoolhouses required for the establishment or maintenance of a six months school term in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." This contention is based upon the theory that the bond resolution passed by the board of county commissioners did not declare such purpose, and if the court be permitted to find such fact, when the bond resolution is silent with respect thereto, such action will in effect permit the court to pass a bond ordinance or to amend one already passed by the commissioners.
The bond ordinance passed by the board of county commissioners is set out in the record. Section 1, thereof, is as follows: "That the bonds of Duplin County shall be issued for the purpose of the erection or purchase of schoolhouses in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $140,000." The resolution contains no statement that such schoolhouses are required for the establishment or maintenance of a State System of public schools in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The resolution therefore is not sufficient to support the findings of the trial judge or warrant the judgment. Section 9, chapter 81, Public Laws of 1927, provides that bonds of a county shall be authorized by an order of the governing body, which order shall state (subsection a) "in brief and general terms, the purpose for which the bonds are to be issued, etc." The decisions of this Court are to the effect that bonds and notes may be issued for erecting and equipping schoolhouses and purchasing lands necessary for school purposes without submitting the question to popular vote "where such schoolhouses are required for the establishment or maintenance of the State system of public schools in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." The power is not given the county to issue bonds for the erection and purchase of schoolhouses without a popular vote except where such schoolhouses and necessary land therefor are required for the establishment and maintenance of a six months school term as provided by the Constitution. Lovelace v. Pratt,
Remanded.