54 How. Pr. 1 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1877
The board of supervisors of the county of Rensselaer, at its regular session in 1876, audited several bills to different individuals, which were in the form pre
' The above facts are admitted, but the respondent states he has been unable to find the parties in whose favor the bills were audited, and that he verily believes that such alleged persons are fictitious and the bills fraudulent. He therefore insists that the validity of the several claims should be tested by a trial.
In Martin agt. The Board of Supervisors of the County of Greene (29 N. Y., 645), it was held, that the audit of the 'board of supervisors was conclusive as between the parties as to'the amount of the claim, and that no action would lie to recover the amount disallowed because erroneously or improperly rejected. If the audit is conclusive in favor of the county, why is.it not equally conclusive against it ? The audit of the bills, which are the matter of controversy in this proceeding, was strictly in conformity with chapter 379 of the Laws of 1874. The clerk did designate upon each account the precise facts which that statute requires, “ the time when and the amount audited and allowed thereon,” and subscribed his name thereto “ officially as the clerk of such board.” Every person who saw that certificate was thus informed, that the only body which could pass upon the claim had declared it to be valid, and had given to it a certificate, upon which the treasurer of the county must act. If that audit, of which the certificate was the evidence, was fraudulent, who should lose, the innocent purchaser of the claim, or the county, the agent of which has deceived him? Without any elaborate discussion of the principles involved, it seems to me that the county, and not the buyer, should be the loser.
Motion for peremptory mandamus granted.