Plaintiff sues defendants to recover damages for having without legal cause or excuse wrongfully and forcibly removed him and his family as paupers from Aitkin county to the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin county.
The complaint alleges that prior to May 16, 1940, plaintiff lived in Minneapolis, where he owned his own home and had his settlement for purposes of poor relief; that he sold his home in Minneapolis; that on the date mentioned he acquired the ownership in fee simple of an 80-acre farm in Aitkin county, on which there were a house and some other buildings; and that during May 1940 he moved with his .family and commenced to reside on the farm. He worked and improved the land. He had two cows, 50 chickens, and some farm tools and equipment.
It is further alleged that the defendant Price is the sheriff of Aitkin county; that the defendants Yetter and Youngberg are members of the county welfare board of that county; that the sheriff “under the orders” of the other two defendants without legal cause or excuse wrongfully and forcibly removed plaintiff and his family from Aitkin county to the city of Minneapolis and that such removal was “in pursuance of a conspiracy entered into and carried out by said three defendants to compel the removal of said plaintiff from Aitkin county.”
The answers admit the removal, but justify it under an order of the county welfare board and an order of the district court for such removal. Plaintiff applied for relief in Aitkin county in October 1940. On November 6, 1940, the county welfare board issued an order warning plaintiff as a pauper to depart from Aitkin county to his place of settlement. The proof of service *524 shows that it was served only on plaintiff’s wife. On November 29, 1940, the board made an order reciting that plaintiff had been previously warned to depart and directing the sheriff to remove him.
On January 10, 1941, in a proceeding entitled, “In the Matter of the Dispute between Aitkin County * * * and the City of Minneapolis” as to the place of settlement of plaintiff and all the members of his family, naming them, the judge of the district court determined that plaintiff and the members of his family were poor persons; that their poor settlement was in the city of Minneapolis; and that they be removed to their place of settlement. The order recites due proof of service of notice of hearing upon plaintiff and all the members of his family and upon the political subdivisions concerned and the fact that plaintiff and the members of his family did not appear.
The replies allege that the order of the district court and of the county welfare board were void upon the ground that the court and the board were without jurisdiction both of the subject matter and of the person.
Upon defendants’ motion the court granted judgment in their favor upon the pleadings.
While the pleadings do not refer to it, our decision in In re Settlement of Robinette,
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In this court plaintiff contends: (1) That the order for judgment on the pleadings is erroneous in form for the alleged reason that in the order the court made findings of fact and conclusions of law as a basis for its decision instead of disposing of the matter by a simple order; (2) that the order fails to mention the defendants Yetter and Youngberg; and (3), where he says that he has grouped “practically” “all the real issues,” that plaintiff’s removal by defendants was wrongful upon the grounds: (a) that the order of the district court was held to be void and reversed by this court in In re Settlement of Robinette,
A motion for judgment on the pleadings should be decided by order without findings and conclusions. Minneapolis Trust Co. v. Birkholz,
While the memorandum attached to the order confines the discussion of the court’s reasons for its decision to the case against the sheriff, the order on its face shows that judgment was ordered in favor of the other defendants as well as against the sheriff.
The rules governing a sheriff’s liability for executing the process and orders of a court of general jurisdiction arise from the nature of his duty in that connection. It is the imperative duty of a sheriff to execute the process and orders of a court of competent jurisdiction. Minn. St. 1941, § 387.03 (Mason St. 1927, § 907), provides that the sheriff “shall * * * execute all processes * * * and orders issued or made by lawful authority and to him delivered.” Unquestioning obedience, without power or right to review or to revise, being the duty of the officer, he is afforded upon grounds of public policy a commensurate protection against personal liability for acts done in the performance of such duty.
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A sheriff is protected and justified for acts done in executing the process and orders of a court having jurisdiction of the subject matter when the process is regular on its face. Whitney v. Welnitz,
The order for plaintiff’s removal was made by a court having jurisdiction of the subject matter. Jurisdiction is the power to hear and to determine a cause. State v. Mandehr,
A proceeding to determine settlement and removability under the statutes involves the questions decided by the district court. Such a proceeding involves, on the one hand, issues between the political subdivisions concerning their liability for the support of the pauper, which are determined by his place of settlement, to which removability of the pauper is a mere incident; and, on the
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other hand, issues as between the pauper and the political subdivisions concerning not only his status as a pauper but his re-movability as well. The question of removability touches the alleged pauper’s right to select freely his place of residence without interference by others. Inhabitants of Shirley v. Inhabitants of Lunenburg,
Plaintiff contends that the statutes for the removal of poor persons have no application to him, because he was a freeholder occupying his freehold. He invokes the rule that statutes providing for the removal of poor persons do not authorize removal of a person from his freehold estate, even where the freeholder has not acquired a place of settlement in the district seeking his removal. The rule seems to have unanimous support in the authorities. Inhabitants of Somerset v. Inhabitants of Dighton,
The removal order was regular on its face. It showed that it was issued by the district court in a proceeding brought to determine plaintiff’s place of settlement and his removability. It recited that personal service of the notice of hearing was had on him. Thus, it showed jurisdiction both over the subject matter and plaintiff’s person. The order here affirmatively recites such jurisdiction. All that is required to make process fair on its face is that it must proceed from a court having jurisdiction of the subject matter and that it contain nothing which ought reasonably to apprise the officer that it was issued without authority. Orr v. Box,
It is not necessary that the process under which a sheriff acts should show jurisdiction of the person to afford him protection and justification for his acts in executing it. Orr v. Box,
“If the inference of consent to the removal, derived from the mere act of applying to the parish for relief, be pushed so far, it may as well be argued that the pauper consented also to a conveyance of his property, if that be a step towards entitling himself to relief.”
The question has not often been raised, but it must be apparent to everyone that the final order or judgment determines rights of as much importance to the pauper as those of the poor districts involved. For that reason, statutes often require that the pauper be made a party to the proceedings. In Inhabitants of Shirley v. Inhabitants of Lunenburg,
“But we are disposed to consider the town and the pauper as *530 several and distinct parties, each having their distinct interests and rights. The judgment upon the process is in its nature several against the pauper to remove him from one town to another, and against the town to charge it with his support and the expense of the suit. In this light the subject is viewed by the legislature, who have, in the whole course of the statute, considered them as independent parties. The town is the principal party; the judgment is to bind it; the summons from the justice is directed to it; and the damages and costs are to be paid by it; nor is there any part of the judgment which relates to the pauper personally. He is considered by the statute as a witness, and in some respects like other witnesses, and is made a party for the preservation of his own rights, giving him the privilege of a hearing, and a right to appeal, and to a writ of error. He is, in fact, no more a party with the defendant than with the plaintiff; for it is his right by law to be supported in the town where he has his settlement; and he may be a witness for either town, being no otherwise interested in the question than as his personal liberty is concerned. If he acquiesces in the judgment establishing the place of his settlement, although he may not have been summoned, there is no reason why the town upon which he is charged should volunteer to assert his rights without his request.”
The absence of such a statutory requirement is no reason for not making the poor person a party. Interested parties are joined and their rights adjudicated in other special proceedings, although, they are not necessary parties, as, for example, in
mandamus.
State ex rel. Bd. of Co. Commrs. v. Johnson,
Of course, most paupers are incapable of resisting the action of the poor districts for their removal, but that is no reason why their rights should not be fully protected by giving them an opportunity to be heard in such proceedings. See Lucht v. Bell,
Plaintiff contends that, since he was not removable as a freeholder, the order for his removal was erroneous and that consequently the sheriff is liable. Irremovability, as has been said, goes not to the jurisdiction of the court, but to the merits of the order made. Assumption that the court erred in failing to hold that plaintiff was not removable does not render the sheriff liable for executing its order. A sheriff, being neither permitted nor required to inquire into the validity of an order placed in his hands for execution, is protected by the order even though the proceedings in which it was issued are erroneous and voidable. McSherry v. Heimer,
In Allison v. Rheam, 3 Serg. & Raw. (Pa.) 139,
The fact that the order for the removal of plaintiff was sub
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sequently reversed does not deprive the sheriff of protection in executing it before the reversal was had. Just as the sheriff is not required to make inquiry into the sufficiency of the prior proceedings, Whitney v. Welnitz,
The liability of the members of the county welfare board depends upon somewhat different considerations. County welfare boards are organized under Minn. St. 1941, §§ 393.01 to 393.09 (Mason St. 1940 Supp. §§ 974-11 to 974-22). Among other things they are “charged with the duties of administration of all forms of public assistance and public welfare, both of children and adults.”
Id.
§ 393.07, subd. 2 (§ 974-17[b]). The administration of public assistance involves duties formerly performed by county and town officials such as warning out poor persons and ordering them to depart to their place of settlement under
Id.
§ 262.11 (Mason St. 1927, § 3173), and, in cases of dispute with other political subdivisions, instituting proceedings under
Id.
§§ 261.08 and 261.09 (Mason St. 1940 Supp. §§ 3161-1 and 3161-2), to determine an alleged poor person’s place of settlement and to provide for his removal thereto in all proper cases. Where, as here, the court finds that the poor person’s settlement is in a political sub
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division of another county and orders the poor person’s removal thereto, the functions of the welfare board cease and those of the sheriff in executing the court’s order begin. All that the members of the welfare board did in the instant case was strictly in line with their duties under the statutes. Such duties are governmental, and, since they involve inquiry of fact and the exercise of judgment based on such inquiry, they are not ministerial, but
quasi judicial
in nature. Block v. Sassaman (D. C.)
“The same reason which justifies the rule of exemption in the case of judges of courts applies to assessors, when they are determining the value of property for the purposes of taxation. Protection is not extended to the judge for his own sake, but because the public interest requires full independence of action and decision on his part, uninfluenced by any fear or apprehension of consequences personal to himself.”
Since the acts of the members of the welfare board in the instant case were in performance of duties imposed upon them by statute, they are not liable to plaintiff for the consequences of such acts.
The allegation that the members of the welfare board and the sheriff acted in pursuance of a conspiracy adds nothing to the
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cause of action alleged. There is no allegation that the acts done by the members of the welfare board were outside their line of duty. On the contrary, the alleged wrong is that they acted erroneously in the line of their duty to plaintiff’s injury. Likewise, the only basis for recovery against the sheriff is that his acts in the performance of his duty were wrongful because he executed an order which plaintiff claims was void. The acts of the several officers were required to be done by statute. The several acts were lawful and privileged. The statutes contemplate that the officers mentioned should each perform the acts, of which plaintiff complains, and to coordinate their activities to achieve the ends which, such statutes have in view. The combination, such as there was, was.lawful, because required by the statutes. There was, consequently, no agreement to commit any unlawful act or to commit any lawful act in an unlawful manner. Cooper v. O’Connor, 69 App. D. C. 100, 99 F. (2d) 135, 118 A. L. R. 1440,
certiorari
denied, 305 U. g. 643,
Affirmed.