29 Fla. 342 | Fla. | 1892
This is an appeal from a judgment awarding a peremptory writ of mandamus requiring the appellant, the County Treasurer of Brevard county, to pay certain county scrip or warrants.
The warrants consist of two pieces, each of the denomination of ten dollars, dated October 26th, 1876, and purporting to have been issued in the office of the clerk of Brevard county, at Lake Yiew, by John M. Lee, Clerk of the Circuit Court of that county, and ex-offleio auditor, and sealed with the official seal of such clerk, and in favor of William Shiver or order, and “ chargeable under head of County Expenditures,” and endorsed by Shiver; and of seven other pieces, six of which are for twenty dollars, and one for ten dollars, drawn in favor of the relator, and dated May 2d, 1876, at Lake Yiew, in the above county, signed by John M. Lee, clerk of such court, and sealed as above indicated, and payable “out of any moneys in the treasury appropriated for county purposes.” They are all drawn on the County Treasurer, and numbered as indicated in the alternative writ. The alternative writ alleges that these warrants were regularly issued for value received, and that the defendant has in his hands as such County Treasurer the necessary funds to pay them, and that they have been presented to
By the Constitution of 1868, as by the present revision thereof, the Clerk of the Circuit Court was made Clerk of the Boards of County Commissioners and ex-officio Auditor of the county. Sec. 19, Art. YI, Constitution of 1868, and sec. 15, Art. 5, Constitution of 1885. The act of June 6th, 1870, sec. 31, p. 179 McClellan’s Digest, provides that the clerks of the different counties shall audit all accounts against their respective counties in the same manner as prescribed for the Comptroller to audit accounts against the State, and that they shall require the same evidence of the legality of claims against counties as is required to establish claims against the State, and he shall keep on file in his ofBce vouchers for all claims audited by him. By the act of February 16th, 1872, p. 316, McClellan’s Digest, the County Commissioners were given power to approve all accounts against the counties before the same should be audited by the clerk. The legislature of 1877, secs. 12, 13, pp. 317, 318, McClellan’s Digest, being subsequent to the issue of these warrants, need not be considered.
The alternative writ was demurred to, on four grounds, one of which was, that the relator had filed no cause of action ; which ground was sustained and the others overruled ; and the relator filing the cause of action, the defendant answered as required.
The writ states, in our judgment, a prima facie case of pecuniary liability on the part of the county ; or,
In Commonwealth vs. Johnson, 2 Binney, 275, the decision was, that mandamus lay to compel road supervisors to pay orders drawn on them in favor of surveyors by justices of the peace, under the provisions of a statute. “It is said,” observes the opinion, “that the supervisors may be indicted for neglect of duty. But if they were indicted and convicted the orders might still be unpaid. It is said also that if they withhold payment without just cause they are liable to an action, (-franting that they are, it must be brought against them in their private capacity, and there is no form of action against them, which, being carried to judgment, will authorize an execution to be levied on the treasury of the Northern Liberties. Now it -was to this treasury that the surveyors had a right to look, when they acted under their commission from the (xovernor.” In Baker vs. Johnson, 41 Maine, 15, mandamus was granted to compel a county treasurer to pay the account of a sheriff for his services and those of his subordinates in attending court. His bills were audited and allowed by the presiding judge. Borne objection was made that the judge did not in
The above authorities hold that where the claim of the relator is one of a character whose payment the law imposes on the county or municipality, and it has been audited, and ordered to be paid by officers having the authority to audit it and order its payment, a county treasurer, or other paying officer, should not refuse to pay, if he has the money to pay it with, unless the claim is for some reason fraudulent. The duty to pay, wdiere the paying officer has the funds to pay with, and the officers auditing and ordering payment have acted within the scope of their powers, and there is no fraud attached to the claim, is merely ministerial,
The contention that the relator has another sufficient legal remedy is answered by the authorities and observations set out- above. This case is of course clearly distinguishable from those holding that a mandamus will not issue to compel the levy of a tax to pay a warrant or order of this character without- putting it in judgment. State ex rel. vs. Clay County, 46 Mo., 231 ; State ex rel. vs. Justices of Bollinger County Court, 48 Mo., 475 ; State ex rel. vs. Trustees of Town of Pacific, 61 Mo., 155; Coy vs. City Council of Lyons, 17 Iowa, 1; Chase vs. Morrison, 40 Iowa, 620. We are not called upon to notice the distinction made between cases where a warrant is payable expressly out of a particular fund, and those where it is not.
The return “charges” that the scrip is spurious, illegal and void, and was issued, and is held by relator without valuable consideration,' such charge being made upon the basis of an allegation that “no order or resolution appears upon the records ordering or authorizing the clerk to issue or sign said scrip to relator,” and of another allegation that on the first Monday in January, 1880, the Board of County Commissioners passed an order “that all Brevard County ¡scrip issued between January 1st, 1870, and January
The charge that the scrip is spurious, illegal and
The allegation that no order or resolution appears upon the records, meaning of course the records of the'Board of County Commissioners, ordering or authorizing the clerk to issue or sign this scrip, “to-relator,” is an entirely insufficient defense to a recovery on the scrip issued to the relator directly, as it is to that issued to Shiver, if we may ignore the words quoted, which coniine the averment to that issued to the relator individually. If before the issue of the scrip the County Commissioners by an order or resolution duly entered upon their records, if such entry was necessary, (Johnson v. Wakulla county, 28 Fla.,
An, order or resolution like that passed by the Board of County Commissioners in January, 1880, is not a defense to the payment of an obligation of a county, nor will its publication, in accordance with directions contained in it, render it so. It is to be observed, however, that neither the return nor the entire record informs us that there was any publication of the order, or even that the relator had notice of it. County Commissioners cannot impose on the holders of prior claims of this character against a county the
The return also charges, upon information and belief, that the scrip is not shown by the records of tlie county of Brevard to be genuine, and based in accordance with law and for a full and valuable consideration enuring to the county, and that hence it is spurious and fraudulent, and issued in total disregard of law and without valuable consideration. What has been said above upon practically similar allegations of this return is, upon the authorities there cited, applicable
Certain charges or allegations of the return are made-on information and belief. We do not think this the-proper form of averments in such pleadings ; State ex rel. Edwards vs. County Commissioners of Sumter Co., 22 Fla., 1; but, as in the case just cited, do not hold the return insufficient merely on that ground. „
The point, as to delay in instituting this proceeding, should have been made by the pleadings in the lower court. It, if apparently good, might have been satisfactorily answered there, had this course been pursued. Logan vs. Slade & Etheredge, 28 Fla., 699, 10 South. Rep., 25.
The peremptory writ commands the payment of the warrants, identifying them, and stating their aggregate amount, $150, as it is stated in the alternative writ. A reference to a master was neither necessary nor' proper.
The judgment is affirmed..