This is an action brought by the North Laramie Land Company, plaintiff below and plaintiff in error here, against the Board of County Commissioners of Platte County, defendant below and defendant in error here, claiming the illegality of the establishment of a certain road running through and taking part of plaintiff’s land. The petition, after setting forth most of the proceedings of said board, prays that said defendant “be perpetually restrained from taking any further proceedings or doing acts with respect to locating said proposed road, ’ ’ and ‘ ‘ from confiscating or appropriating any of the rights, properties and lands of the plaintiff for the purpose of using same for a public road or highway as contemplated, or for any other unlawful pur
1. Counsel for plaintiff contend that this is a direct attack on the order of the board establishing the road, while counsel for defendant contend that this is a collateral attаck thereon. We think the point is controlled by the case of Edwards v. City of Cheyenne,
“So also, when land has been taken by eminent domain by a tribunal having jurisdiction over the person of the owner and the subject matter of the taking, the owner cannot resist the proceeding or prevent the occupation of his land by a bill in equity * * * upon such grounds as the inadequacy of the petition, irregularities in the proceedings,” etc.
In one jurisdiction, at least, every proceeding attacking a judgment of a tribunal, not by way of appeal or proceeding in error or to vacate it as provided by statute, is con
. Without investigating the question carefully, it would seem that the point whether this is considered a collateral or a direct attack is of no particular importance herein, or at least not of the degree of importance which seems to be attributed to it by counsel. A bill in equity, even though considered a direct attack, does not take the place of a proceeding in error. We know of no case, and none has been cited, holding that all of the same errors can be set up as grounds of complaint in the former which may be grounds for reversal in the latter. There must be certain, definite grounds for setting aside a judgment of a tribunal, such as want of jurisdiction, or fraud, accident, mistake, or other circumstances peculiarly within the cognizance of equity, which authorizes resort to a bill in equity to set aside a judgment of a court or judicial or quasi-judicial tribunal. 23 Cyc. 977, 978, 993. Errors and irregularities cannot be reached in a strictly collateral attack nor by any bill in equity not specially provided by stаtute for the purpose of review. 23 Cyc. 1002, 1090, et seq'.
What is an error or irregularity as distinguished from an illegality, a mandatory or jurisdictional requirement, is not always easy to determine. It depends somewhat on the
Again speaking generally, want of jurisdiction may be set up in a bill in equity brought for the purpose of setting aside a judgment on that ground, or it may be raised in a strictly collateral attack. 23 Cyc. 993, 1073. So that if no equitable grounds, such as fraud, accident, mistake or the like exist, relief in a bill of equity may be had only for want of jurisdiction and hence it would seem to make little difference whether, under the facts herein, we call this action a dirеct or collateral attack.
There are eases which consider a proceeding similar to this a direct attack. Williams v. Routt County,
2.’ Before proceeding to the consideration of any other questions, it may be well briefly to consider the point made that in highway proceedings a petition in accordance with the requirements of the statute, the appointment of a viewer and the report of the viewer are steps that are jurisdictional and must be strictly followed. Our attention has been called to many cases from other states decided under statutes different from ours and which, therefore, do not furnish a precedent. Under many statutes a hearing is had directly upon the petition, after notice has first been given to property holders. Where that is the law, the importance of the petition is apparent. In other states, the proceeding seems to be essentially one initiated by individuals. In this state, under the law as contained in thd statutes of 1887 (§§ 3859-3868), the petition, when filed, was required to be accompanied by satisfactory proof of notice given to all interested parties that application to lay out a road would be made to the county commissioners at their regular session; the petitioner was required to notify the viewer and survey- or to meet, and a subsequent notice given by the county commissioners called attention to the filing of the petition. These provisions show that importance was attached to the petition. Some radical changes in the law were subsequently made by Chapter 86 of the Session Laws of 1890 and Chapter 143, Session Laws of 1895. The law as enacted in 1895 is substantially the same as it is now and as it was at the time the road involved in the case at bar was established.
Sections 2988 and 2990, W. C. S. 1920 provide:
“§ 2988. Any person desiring the establishment, vacation or alteration of a public road, shall file in the office of the county clerk of the proper county, a petition signed by ten or more electors of the county residing within fifteen miles of the road proposed to be established, altered or va*251 cated, in substance as follows: To the Board of county commissioners of - county. The undersigned ask that a public road, commencing at - and running thence - and terminating at -, be established (altered or vacated- as the ease may be.)
With said petition shall be filed a list containing the' names and also the known postoffice address of each person owning or having an interest in any land over which the proposed establishment, vacation or alteration of a public road is to be made. ’ ’
■ “ § 2990. Upon the filing of such petition the board of the county commissioners' at a regular or special meeting, or the chairman of said board, if in his judgment an emergency exists, shall appoint a suitable and disinterested elector of the county, who may be a member of the board of county commissioners, to examine into the expediency of the proposed road, alteration or vacation thereof, and to report immediately.”
The viewer is required by section 2993 to make his report in writing, stating whether in his judgment the road is practical, whether it shall be established or not, the expense thereof, including the damages and benefits to property owners, “and such other matters therein as shall enable the said board tо act understandingly. ” But the action and report of the viewer is not apparently deemed of importance, for sections 2995 and 3003 provide that the county commissioners may decide to lay out a road “upon considering and acting upon the report of the viewer, or otherwise.” The further provisions of the law, too, indicate the right of the board of commissioners, to establish or alter a road independent of any preliminary proceedings. Sec. 2996 provides that the board shall fix a time for filing claims for damages, if the board decides to establish, not the road petitioned for, or recommended by the viewer, but any road, and the notice provided to be given refers to no preliminary proceedings whatever, but informs interest
“* * * The board of the county commissioners, when in their judgment such action shall be in the interests of econоmy or the public good, may purchase or receive donations or rights of way for a public road, or any alteration thereof, or any part thereof, from any and all persons along the route thereof, and declare the same opened, whenever the consent of the owners of the land through which said proposed road or alteration shall run, has been obtained, either by the donations of land or when an amicable adjustment of the amount to be paid therefor has been made between such land owners and said board; and all roads or parts of roads or alteration of roads heretofore opened or made, by consent or adjustment of damages, without recourse to other proceedings, are hereby declared to be,public roads, the same as if such roads had been legally opened, or said alterations legally made.”
By this provision, particularly when construed in connection with other provisions hereinabove mentioned, the board apparently may establish any roаd deemed necessary in its discretion without any preliminary proceedings whatever, except that whenever the land is not given “or an amicable adjustment of the amount to be paid therefor” has not been made, it must proceed to condemnation proceedings as provided by law. Hence it is at least a question whether any preliminary proceedings are, under our law, jurisdictional. The point would be clearer were it not for Section 2999 which provides that if objections or claims for damages are filed, the further hearing on the appUcaUon may be continued.” The point has not been argued, and we need not decide it, but sufficient appears to make it clear, that we cannot, in a collateral attack, be asked to give too strict an interpretation to provisions for proceedings
3. There is in the record a petition, hereinafter termed the regular petition, in the statutory form, dated March 21, 1917, filed April 4, 1917, signed only by one signer— John Mullin. If this were the only petition filed, then since the face of the record itself shows that the statute has not been complied with in the essential requirement that 10 quálified electors shall sign the petition, the proceedings would be void. Eads v. Kumley,
“We, the undersigned, being all the owners of land through which the following proposed road will pass, in consideration of the board of the county commissioners of Platte County, declaring the said a county road, do hereby covenant and agree with the said board of the county commissioners of said Platte County, Wyoming, that we will each and all of us waive any and all claims to damages for the land taken for such road, and for moving fences and building fences, and hereby donate to said county a right of way for such road(here describing the same road that is described in the regular petition.)
We are led to the foregoing conclusion the more readily in view of the fact that we are inclined to think that it would not be altogether improper, in a proceeding of this kind, to consider the so-called waiver alone as a sufficient statutory petition. The statute only requires a description of the proposed road and a request on the part of the signers of the petition that the road be established. The so-called waiver clearly contains the first requirement. The
“The rule is this: Gan it he gathered from the allegations, either directly or inferentially, that the party was seeking the relief granted, or. that he was entitled thereto? If it can, the allegations will shield the judgment from collateral assault. All the eases agree that if the allegations tend to show, or colorably or inferentially show, each material fact necessary to constitute a cause-of action, they will uphold the judgment cоllaterally. ’ ’
See also Brown, Jur., Sec. 22, page 120; State v. Kusel, (Wyo.)
4. Counsel for plaintiff contend not only that ten signers of the highway petition must be qualified electors residing within 15 miles of the road, which is conceded, but, further, that this requirement being jurisdictional, compliance therewith must affirmatively appear of record; that it does not so appear here, and hence the proceedings herein must be adjudged void. Plaintiffs introduced in evidence what is termed the “record of the proceedings of the board of county commissioners of Platte- County.” In-that record of proceedings is a document purporting to- be executed by the Board of Commissioners of said county, signed by the chairman and olerk of said board, under seal, directed to A. E. Hoffman. It recites that said Hoffman had been appointed as viewer at the regular session of said board held on April 4th, 1917. It describes the road and proceeds with the following recital: “said petition being signed by at least ten electors of said county, residing within 15 miles of where said road is asked to be located.” Such recital has at times been deemed to be sufficient on collateral attack (29 C. J. 469), though there is authority to the contrary. Had this recital been contained in the journal entries of said board, the point in question probably would not have been raised. It would seem not to be necessary, in the absence of a statutory requirement that the fact above mentioned should appear in any particular part of the record of the proceedings of said board. Galena etc. R. Co. v. Pound,
Some courts hold that where, as in this state, the statute gives exclusive and general jurisdiction to the board of county commissioners to establish and alter county roads, the action of the board in establishing a highway carries with it the same presumption as to compliance with all precedent statutory requirements as a decree of a court of general jurisdiction. Road Imp. Dist. v. Winkler,
The statute provides a specific form of petition, does not require that it shall state the qualification of the signers, and' clearly, therefore, such statement therein cannot be held to be essential thereto. Humboldt County v. Dins-
It is frequently held that a finding of these quasi-jurisdictional facts is implied — presumed—from the fact that the board proceeded in the matter to a final adjudication of the cause, and that a finding, express or implied, is not alone presumed correct, but is conclusive on collateral attack. Freeman on Judgments, Sec. 531 (end) says:
‘ ‘ There are many instances in which it is the duty of an officer or board to make inquiry concerning a jurisdictional fact, and not to proceed unless it is found to exist. Where such is the case, an express finding of the fact, or a finding implied from proceding as though such fact had been ascertained to exist, is generally conclusive, and the ultimate decision cannot be avoided by showing that such fact did not exist.”
We need not go that far in our decision, and need only-hold that, jurisdiction having attached, the board is presumed to have decided, and decided correctly, the existence of the facts authorizing it to proceed to the final determination of the cause. Hence these facts need not appear on the face of the proceedings. And this is the holding of many authorities. 29 C. J. 469; Keys & Crawford v. Tait,
“It is objected that the petition does not itself state, nor does the record of the commissioner’s court recite that the petitioners are Tious&holders. This omission we decide to be not fatally defective, if the road is otherwise a legal one. ’ ’
In the case of Sneed v. Falls County, supra, the court holding that under the statute it was not necessary that either the petition or an express finding should show the qualification of the signers of the petition goes on to say as follows:
*264 “The State had the inherent right to take the property for a public road, and the owner had no right to question its determination to do so, but his sole right was to have compensation. The real purpose of the proceedings, as far as he is concerned, is to determine the amount of such compensation. City of San Antonio v. Grandjean, recently decided by this court. It is not reasonable, therefore, to suppose that in enacting a law, the main purpose of which as to the owner was to provide a method of ascertaining the compensation, the Legislature ever intended to encumber it with so many technical and unreasonable requirements, not conducive to a correct and just determination of the compensation to be paid, but merely serving as impediments in the way of the duly constituted authorities in attempting to open up necessary highways.”
In the ease of Grignon’s Lessee v. Astor,
“Nor is it necessary that a full or perfect account should appear in the records of the contents of papers on file, or the judgment of the court on matters preliminary to a final order; it is enough if there is something of record which shows the subject matter before the court, and their action upon it, that their judciial power arose and was exercised by a definitive order, sentence or decree. • * # * Tlue granting the license to sell is an adjudication upon all the facts necessary to give jurisdiction, and' whether they existed or not is wholly immaterial, if no appeal is taken; the rule is the same whether the law gives an appeal or not; if none is given from the final decree, it' is conclusive on all whom it concerns. The record is absolute verity, to contradict which there can be no averment*265 or evidence; the court having power to make thе decree, it can be impeached only by fraud in the party who obtains it. ’ ’
It is not necessary, in this case, as we have heretofore stated, to go as far as the case just cited and others of a-similar tenor, in holding that the decision, express or implied, on jurisdictional or quasi-jurisdietional facts, is conclusive. Other eases hold the contrary. Beardlee v. Dolge,
The difference between the eases holding the rule contended for by counsel for plaintiff and the cases holding the rule herein approved is not as great as appears at first blush. The difference is, in fact, but slight. The principle that the record of the proceedings should show the qualification of the signers of the petition really requires, in strict logic, nothing less than the preservation in the record of the evidence submitted to the board on that point. But we know of no case which goes that far. A showing of facts, appearing on the record, from which the presumption of the requisite qualification may arise has in all eases, we believe, been deemed sufficient. Some of the cases hold that if the petition alleges the necessary qualification of the signers, the record sufficiently shows that fact, not because of the allegation alone at least — for it proves nothing — but because it will be presumed that the facts alleged were duly proven. Since in this state the petition need not contain that allegation, no good reason appears why the same presumption that the necessary facts were duly proven, should not exist. Other cases hold that if the record discloses an express determination of the existence of the necessary facts, that is sufficient, which, again, is based on the presumption that the determination is correct. We have, in this case, simply extended the principle of presumption one step further back, by also applying it to the fact of the determination itself, and this, we believe, is more in harmony with general principles applicable to similar eases.
6. Section 2988, W. C. S. 1920, provides that with the petition shall be filed a list of the property owners through whose land the road runs, together with the post-office address of such owners. A list purporting to give all the names of such owners was actually filed, being contained
7. Section 2990 provides that the chairman of a board of county commissioners may appoint a viewer, if, in his judgment, an emergency exists. It is claimed that in this ease the chairman of the board made the appointment but that no emergency has been shown to exist. But the statute evidently leaves the determination of that fact to his judgment, and assuming that he made the appointment herein, in the fact of making it was necessarily involved the determination of the existence of such emergency, and the formal entry, by him, upon the records could not, in the absence of a statutory requirement, be regarded as jurisdictional. We have not been cited to any case holding it to be so.
8. It is claimed that the report of the viewer is defective because it did not, as required by statute, state whether the proposed road was practical, nor “the probable expense of the same, including damages to the property owners along the line thereof,” and the' benefits thereto. The viewer reported that he recommended that the road be established as was called for by the petition, that it would be a benefit to a great many people and should be established ; that three bridges should be constructed and some work done on the hills, and that the expense of the road would be about $5,000.00. We think that from these statements may be readily gathered the fact that in his opinion the road was practicable. It was not necessary to use the
9. Counsel for plaintiff contend that the public road law of this state is unconstitutional as denying due process of law, for the alleged reason that section 3002, W. C. S. 1920 fails to require notice to be given by the appraisers of their meeting to fix the amount of damages. It is not necessary, in order to constitute due process of law, that a property owner be notified of every step of the proceedings, provided that at some stage thereof he have full opportunity to present his case to an impartial tribunal. 20 C. J. 929 and cases cited. State ex rel v. District Court,
10. The notice given in the case at bar provided that all objections or claims for damages “must be filed in writing with the county clerk of said county before noon on the 7th day of June, A. D. 1917, or such road will be established without reference to such objections or claims for damages.” The wording is in accordance with See. 2997, W. C. S. 1920. Section 2998 provides that: “If no objections or claims for damages are filed on or before noon of the day fixed for filing the same, they shall be disregarded and not considered, and shall be deemed to have been waived and barred.” Plaintiff filed objections, including a rather indefinite claim for damages, on June 30, 1917. No reason has been alleged or shown why the objection and claim was not filed within the time fixed in the notice. A document is incorporated in the record which does not disclose when it was executed, but it does show that it was not filed until July 2, 1917, and we cannot, therefore, presume that it was executed prior to or on June 7th, 1917, and no claim is, in fact, made, that it was executed on or prior to the last mentioned date. It purports to be executed by the “Board of County Commissioners of Platte County, Wyoming, by A. E. Hoffman, its chairman,” and recites that “it is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between the board of county commissioners of Platte County, Wyoming, and The North Laramie Land Company, that the said North Laramie Land Company be and they are
The further point urged that the appraisers did not meet at the time fixed by the board becomes, in view of the failure of the plaintiff to file its claim in time, wholly immaterial as to the latter.
The judgment of the lower- court should accordingly be affirmed and it is so ordered.
Affirmed.
