165 Ind. 392 | Ind. | 1905
Thissuit was brought by appellees to foreclose a statutory lien for street improvements made by them as contractors in the town of Medaryville.
When the argument of counsel is bound with the required parts of a brief, and the whole signed by counsel, as in this case, the document is sufficiently authenticated to meet the requirements of the rule, and no useful purpose would be subserved by requiring an additional signature at the place suggested.
The assignment of errors is predicated upon the overruling of appellants’ demurrer to the complaint, and the sustaining of appellees’ demurrer to the second paragraph of answer.
It was held in the case of Dinwiddle v. Town of Rushville (1871), 37 Ind. 66, that the provisions of Acts 1859, p. 206, §16, substantially the same as those of §4331 Burns 1901, §3309 R. S. 1881, upon which it is asserted that this answer is based, requiring a certificate of the election of town trustees to be filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court before any valid ordinance could be passed by them, applied not only to the first but to all subsequent elections of town trustees. The law governing the election of town trustees has been changed since that decision was rendered, and by the provisions of §4333 Burns 1901, §3311 R. S. 1881, at town elections held subsequent to the first, a part only of the trustees are to be chosen at any one election. If it be conceded that the interpretation of the statute in the case above mentioned was at the -time correct, we are clear that since the enactment of §4333, supra, the provisions of §4331, supra, with regard to the question under consideration, must be limited to the first election held upon the incorporation of a town.
The answer was insufficient for the further reason that it was a collateral attack upon the proceedings of the town board, and the facts alleged are not available as a defense in this action. Deane v. Indiana Macadam, etc., Co. (1903), 161 Ind. 371, 377.
The judgment is affirmed.