38 A. 385 | N.H. | 1892
The vote appointing the plaintiff and another alderman a committee have them authority to do that in their opinion would "best subserve the interest of the city or its *299 citizens" in relation to the bill then pending in the legislature. For personal expenses necessarily incurred in the discharge of their duties each member is entitled to be reimbursed by the city, and each may maintain his separate action for the recovery thereof. The motion to set aside the verdict must therefore be denied.
The vote authorized the committee to act jointly, and if the committee had consisted of more than two members, the consent of a majority would have been necessary to bind the city by its action; but consisting of only two members, the concurrent action of both was necessary for the employment of persons at the expense of the city. It was entitled to action governed by the combined wisdom of both members. The item of $21.50 was authorized by the plaintiff alone. If the other member had been consulted, the plaintiff might have been convinced of the inexpediency of the expenditure.
The next inquiry is, whether the action of the plaintiff has been ratified, or the claim approved. It has not been certified by the joint standing committee on accounts, as required by the city ordinances. It is said in the plaintiff's brief that the committee on accounts had been abolished before the plaintiff's bill was rendered to the city, and that the then existing ordinance required all claims to be laid before the aldermen for approval. The plaintiff presented his claim to that board, and April 23, 1891, the aldermen ordered the plaintiff's bill to be paid when approved by the proper committee. It was not approved by the committee on accounts, nor by a majority of the aldermen without the plaintiff, who was a member of the board.
In Dorchester v. Youngman,
The item for $21.50 not having been authorized by the committee, nor approved by any committee nor by the aldermen, cannot be recovered.
Judgment on the verdict.
CHASE, J., did not sit: the others concurred.