42 Kan. 649 | Kan. | 1889
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action to recover the sum of $45.24. There is a corresponding importance in the amount involved and the questions presented here for decision. C. B. Codding seeks to recover from Kock Creek township, in Pottawatomie county, the price of certain material furnished for the completion of two bridges on a highway of that township. The jury awarded him the amount of his claim, and the verdict has the sanction of the court. The principal contention is, that the verdict is not sustained by the evidence. That the material was furnished there is no doubt, and most of it was used for the purpose named. A. H. Eoberts, the road overseer of that district, procured the material for the township. He testifies that he applied to the township board for material to construct the bridges, and thus make the highway passable. The board at first refused to furnish the material because it thought it could not afford the expense, but finally the inhabitants of the district proposed to build the abutments of the bridges at their own cost, and then the township board on that condition agreed to furnish the material to complete them, and directed him to buy the material when the abutments were built; and, upon this authority, he made the purchase. The authority to purchase is disputed by some of the township officers, but this dispute has been settled by the jury, and there being sufficient testimony, its conclusion upon that point is final. It is claimed, however, that the testimony of Eoberts and others as to the action of the township board was incompetent. In §4, chapter 168 of the Laws of 1885, it is
-' Complaint is made because the court instructed the jury that it was unnecessary to consider the testimony as to whether or not Codding had presented his claim to the township board. There would be some cause for the complaint were it not that the board had declined payment for other reasons. Demands against the township when itemized and verified are to be presented to the township board for audit and allowance, and
The judgment of the district court will be affirmed.