60 Ind. 473 | Ind. | 1878
In this action, the appellees, as plaintiffs, sued the appellants, as defendants, in the court below.
In their complaint the appellees alleged, in substance, that the appellee, The City of Peru, was a corporation duly organized within Miami county, Indiana, under the general law of this State for the incorporation of cities, and that the appellees, John T. Stevens, John TI. Jami-son and Joseph G. Stevenson, were the duly elected, qualified'and acting school trustees of said city of Peru; that the appellant Ilenry Reckert was the duly elected, qualified and acting trustee of Peru Township in said county, and that said Peru School Township was a body corporate and politic within said county; that, on the — day of-, 1868, the appellaut Abner C. Brownell, the then owner in fee-simple of a certain lot, for a yalua
The appellees’ complaint was duly verified, and, a proper undertaking having been executed, a temporary restraining order was granted by the judge of the court below, as prayed for in the complaint..
Afterward, at the October term, 1874, of the court below, the appellants demurred to appellees’ complaint, upon the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, which demurrer was overruled by the court, and to this decision the appellants excepted, and, refusing to answer over, judgment was rendered in accordance with the prayer of the complaint.
In this court, the only error properly assigned by the appellauts is the decision of the court below, in overruling his demurrer to appellees’ complaint.
Under the averments of the appellees’ complaint, it is very clear, we think, that the judgment of the court below, in this cause, can not be upheld. It was alleged in the complaint, that the lot in controversy was conveyed, not to School District No. 4, of Peru Township, but to Peru School Township. Therefore, unless it could be alleged, and proved on the trial, that School District No. 4 and Peru School Township were identical in their boundaries and covered precisely the same territory, it is very certain that the city of Peru acquired no title nor beneficial interest in the lot in question, by the mere extension of its corporate limits.
It was alleged in appellees’ complaint, that Abner O.
In section 12 of said act, it was provided, that “ The trustees of the several townships, towns and cities, shall have the power to levy a special tax, in their respective townships, towns, or cities, for the construction, renting or repairing of school-houses, providing furniture, school apparatus and fuel therefor, and for the payment of other necessary expenses of the school, except tuition.” 1 R. S. 1876, p. 783.
It is clear, therefore, that the lot in controversy was purchased, if purchased at all, by Peru School Township, and not by any district therein; that the taxes out of which the purchase-money for said lot was procured, and the buildings thereon were erected, were levied and collected of and from the property and- inhabitants of said Peru School Township, and not of any particular district therein ; and, therefore, that the lot and buildings in question were legally and equitably the property of the entire school township, and not of School District Ho. 4, nor of any other district merely, in said township. Therefore, to have justified the city of Peru in its intended and attempted appropriation, to its own uses and purposes, of the lot and buildings of another independent corporation, it must have appeared clearly and conclusively, that the latter corporation, and not a mere district therein,
The case cited, in its facts and circumstances, was very similar to the case now before us; and it was there held, that, notwithstanding the boundaries of the city (Indianapolis) had been so extended as to include within their limits the school lots and buildings belonging, before such extension, to the school township, yet the title thereto remained in the school township, and the lots and buildings might be sold and disposed of by the trustee of said township.
Iu our view of the matter, this decision was just and equitable, and in accordance with law.
The court below erred, in our opinion, in overruling the appellants’ demurrer to appellees’ complaint.
The judgment is reversed, at the appellees’ costs, and the cause is remanded, with instructions to sustain the appellants’ demurrer to appellees’ complaint, and for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.