130 Minn. 54 | Minn. | 1915
Respondents appealed to the district court from an order of the county superintendent of schools of Chippewa county, consolidating four common school districts. The district court held the proceed
From start to finish omissions and defects are here found in the many papers or documents required in effecting a consolidation of common school districts. We appreciate that in proceedings of this nature the formal steps are taken and the necessary writings made out by laymen of limited experience and meager knowledge of the applicable statutes. Therefore many irregularities should be overlooked if the substance can be made out without sacrificing due regard for orderly procedure. Where, however, a defect appears on the face of nearly every paper, the court should hesitate to supply omissions to a document of vital importance because of the danger of holding a mere semblance a compliance with statutory requirements. The record must affirmatively disclose authority in the county superintendent to order a consolidation upon the result of an election legally called and held. The proceedings herein were under chapter 207, p. 268, Laws 1911 (section 2686, et seq., G. S. 1913). The first step is the submission of a plat, containing certain information, by the county superintendent of schools to the state superintendent of public instruction for his approval. If the state superintendent approves, he shall so certify to the county superintendent. The plat in question was more defective than the one in Schweigert v. Abbott, 122 Minn. 383, 142 N. W. 723. It was sent to the state superintendent and his approval indorsed. It was not returned to the county superintendent, nor was a certificate of approval to be found in the records of. the latter’s office, nor a copy of the plat. In this situation the petitions were circulated, one petition in each of the four districts. Notices of election were posted and published. These were not exactly alike. The voters of one district did not participate in the election at all, apparently, because of some misinformation as to their legal right to vote upon the proposition. The order of consolidation by the county superintendent wa;s not the same as the certified copy required to be filed with the county auditor, which copy located the districts in no county or state. And no copy of the order was served upon any clerk of the school districts affected.
Judgment affirmed.