88 Neb. 640 | Neb. | 1911
Lead Opinion
Plaintiffs brought suit in the district court for Olay county to enjoin the defendants from issuing, registering and selling school bonds to the amount of $20,000, proposed to be issued for the purpose of building an addition to the high school building in the city of Harvard. A perpetual injunction was granted as prayed. Defendants appeal.
A number of questions are argued, but we deem it necessary to only consider three of the points presented: (1) The statute of limitations. (2) The necessity of a petition by one-third of the qualified electors of the district prior to the submission of the question of a bond issue to the voters. (3) The alleged discrepancy in the name of the school district in the submission of the proposition and in the ballots used at the election. These we will consider in the order named.
1. It is contended by plaintiffs that the school district never had a legal organization; in fact, that it was not possible for it to ever have had a legal organization, for the reason that the city of Harvard, which' forms a part of the district, never had at any one time a population of more than 1,500 inhabitants, and that all of its acts in re
If this were a case of first impression, we would not hesitate to hold that the legality of the organization of this district cannot now be inquired into; but no such responsibility is involved, as we find ample authority to support such a holding. Section 8, subd. Ill, ch. 79, Comp. St. 1909, which has been in force for many years, provides: “Every school district shall, in all cases, be presumed to have been legally organized Avhen it shall have exercised the franchises and privileges of a district for the term of one year.” In State v. School District, 13 Neb. 78, we held: “After a school district has exercised the franchises and privileges Thereof for the term of one year’ its legal organization will be presumed as to all of its corporate acts.” In the opinion by Lake, C. J., it is said: “This section is exceedingly comprehensive. Its terms are sweeping. It applies, as its language clearly imports, fin all cases’ wherein the doings of a district, as such, are called in question or in any way involved, as well to acts during the first year, and from which this presumption arises, as to those performed afterwards. So far, therefore, as concerns the capability of the district to take upon itself the obligation of a. borrower of money, its complete organization at the time it assumed to do so must be indisputably presumed.” In State v. School District, 42 Neb. 499, we held: “After a school district has exercised the franchises and privileges thereof for the period of one year, its legal organization will be conclusively presumed, whatever may have been the defects and irregularities in the formation or organization of such district.” In the opinion by Nokval, C. J., after quoting the section of the statute above set out, it is said: “Tt is conceded that, under the fore- • going provision, if there had been nothing at fault in the
In State v. School District, 54 Minn. 213, the supreme court of Minnesota had under consideration a statute identical with ours, except as to the words “in all cases,” which appear only in our statute. The action in that case was by the attorney general upon an information in the nature of quo warranto. The court made short Avork of the case in the following language. “We do not find it necessary to follow counsel in their discussion of the question of the validity of the action of the board of county commissioners in establishing the district or the question of the discretionary power of the court in such cases, because, in our judgment, the proceeding was barred by the statute.” We adopt the language of Mitchell, J., in the short opinion filed as follows: Hf these municipalities are sub
Plaintiffs place great reliance in Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. School District, 60 Neb. 164, while defendants insist that the decision there announced is wrong and should be overruled. An examination of the case cited will show that in that case the point upon which this case turns was not presented or considei’ed. The only question there presented and considered was whether the 1,500 inhabitants referred to in section 1, subd. XIY, referred to the city located in the school district, or to the entire territory of the district; and we there held that the phrase, “having a population of more than 1,500 inhabitants,” relates to and is descriptive of the city, and not of the district. We
2. Was a petition by one-third of the qualified electors of the district necessary to authorize the board of education to submit the question of the issuance of bonds to the voters of the district? We think not. Section 24, subd. XIV, supra, provides: “That the aggregate school tax,
3. It is contended by plaintiffs that the name of the Harvard school district is fixed by statute as “The School District of Harvard, in the County of Clay, in the State of Nebraska,” and that the designation of the board as “Harvard School District No. 11, Clay county, Nebraska,” is such a variance from the name given by statute as to render the proceedings of the board void. This objection, in the light of the stipulation of facts, is too technical for consideration. None of the plaintiffs suffered thereby, as they were all present and voted at the election, and the
The judgment of the district court is therefore reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to enter a decree dissolving the injunction heretofore granted and sustaining the validity of the bonds in controversy, in harmony with the views expressed in this opinion.
Reversed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
The attorneys for the plaintiffs mistakenly contended that the school district had no existence because it was not organized under the right section of the statute. That proposition is very much discussed in the majority opinion, and there is no doubt that, the school district having acted as such for more than a year, is a de facto corporation fully qualified to act as a school district. The cases cited are collateral attacks upon the existence of the district, and, being such, are determined by the statute itself. This case, it seems to me, is very different; there is no doubt that a school district exists and has the powers
The purpose of the statute that provides that, where a school district has operated for a year or more, it shall be deemed a corporation and qualified to act as a district is very plain. It is pointed out in the cases that are cited in the majority opinion. Some of them were actions in quo warranto to dissolve the district, and the court takes occasion to point out what the effect would be if a school district should be so dissolved. The ordinary procedure,