127 Ala. 563 | Ala. | 1900
In Van Eppes v. The Commissioners, 25 Ala. 460,— suit against the county for the hire of carriages, under the direction of the judge of the- circuit court, -to convey the grand jurors to the -county jail for the- purpose of. inspecting it,- — -it was said: “The county can be charged only with such expenses as are authorized by 1-aw; ,an:d unless there is some statute, which authorized the judge of the .circuit court to direct the sheriff to provide carriages -to convey the grand jurors to the jail, for the- purpose of inspecting-it, the expense thus incurred cannot be collected out of the -county.” Where there is-no law which; creates the liability, it-cannot be enforced against .the county. — Mitchell v. Tallapoosa County, 30 Ala. 131. The county is only liable for a debt the law .enables it to contract, and which it has actually contracted. — Barbour County v. Clark, 50 Ala. 418; Posey v. Mobile County, 50 Ala. 6. “No claims are chargeable on the county treasury, nor can be paid .therefrom, except such as the law imposes on the county, or empowers it to contract. No officer of the county can-charge it with the payment of other claims, however meritorious the consideration, or whatever may be the benefit the county may derive and enjoy from them.” Jack v. Moore, 66 Ala. 187.
These adjudications are full and clear on the principle, that the counties in this State, acting through their officers and -agents, do not have unlimited authority in creating debts, but in their creation they are restrained by, and must act within the power conferred,
Section 4924 of the Code authorizes the coroner of the county under the conditions and in the manner therein directed, to hold an inquest over the body of a person who has been killed, or suddenly diéd under such circumstances as afford a reasonable ground for believing that such death has been occasioned by the act of another by unlawful means.
Section 4926 provides for the subpoenaing of witnesses when an inquest is-held, and among them, a physician or surgeon, who must in the presence of the jury, inspect the body, and give a professional opinion as to the cause of death. Any witness thus subpoenaed,(who refuses to answer, is guilty of a misdemeanor. — Code, § 4928. The physician or surgeon is allowed, as a witness, five dollars, with one dollar additional for each mile he may have travelled in attending such, inquest, to be collected out of the estate of the deceased, if solvent, and if insolvent, to be paid out of the county treasury. — Code, § 4936. This section is found under the head of “Inquests,” and must be construed in connection with section 4573, found under the head of “Fees of Coroners.” Both sections make reference to the fees to be allowed to physicians or surgeons for examining the body of the deceased. The latter section (4573), appears in the Code of 1886, as section 4876, and the former (4936), as section 4813; but in the rearrangement of the Code of 1896, the' first appears ahead of the latter as section 4573, and the other afterwards, as section 4936. With such explanation, one understands why section 4573 appropriately refers to section 4936, apphrently later, ahd why the provisions of the last section are referred to as a part of the first named. Said section 4573, in Art. 6, Ch. 141, concerning “Fees of Coroners,” is headed “Fees for inquest, how taxed and
On the agreed statement'-of facts, the 'court below, •trying the - causé 'thereon,1 very properly rendered a Judgment for defendant:'
Affirmed. ■