12 Minn. 17 | Minn. | 1866
By the Court.
This action is brought to recover a sum of money alleged to have been found due to the plaintiff upon an accounting between the parties. Upon the trial of the cause, the plaintiff called ’Win. Lyon, the present Clerk of the School District, defendant, and proposed to prove by him the authenticity of a book alleged to be the hook of record of the district, at the time the cause of action is alleged to have accrued. The witness testified, “ I did not receive the book from my predecessor in office, but did re
1st. That the book was not shown to come from the proper custody, and the custody from which it did come was not accounted for.
2d. The witness was not a proper person to establish the authenticity of the book as the school district record.
3d. It does not appear that any of the meetings were legally and properly called.
The first two objections are already disposed of. The third therefore is to be considered, and in the consideration of this objection we may embrace all the objections to the record of specific meetings, which are substantially,
1. That it does not appear that the purpose for which the meetings were called was stated in the notice of meeting.
3. It does not appear that the time and place of the meeting of October 5,1857, termed an annual meeting, were fixed at the annual meeting previous thereto. The question raised by the first two objections is a question as to the burthen of proof, not the necessity of giving a notice, or its essential requisite.
The statute under which this School District, defendant, was organized, in prescribing the meetings of the district, provides that an annual meeting shall be held at the time, and place previously appointed, and at such annual meeting the time and place of holding the next annual meeting shall be fixed; but no further provision is made for an annual meeting in case of failure to designate the time and place at the last meeting. It further provides that special meetings may be held whenever called by the trustees or any two of them, and all notices of annual or special meetings shall be in writing, signed by the trustees or cleric of the district, and shall state the object for which the meeting is'called, and shall be posted up in three public places of the district at least six days previous to the time of holding such meeting. Comp. Stat. page 359, Sec. 67.
It is further provided that “it shall be the duty of the clerk of such school district,
1. To record 'the proceedings of his district in a book to be provided for that purpose by the district.
2. To give notice of annual or special meetings, ” &c. Comp. Stat. page 359, Sec. 68.
There is no other provision in the statute requiring any record of the notice of any meeting, or prescribing what shall be the evidence of such fact. It is provided by See. 64;, page 358, that “the inhabitants entitled to vote in such district, or any
Excluding from present consideration the further objection, subsequently noticed, to tbe admissibility of the record of the meetings of March 4, 1861, and subsequent thereto, the record of each of the other meetings, except those held by regular adjournment, recites the fact that “pursuant to notice previously given in writing, agreeable to the provisions of statute, the legal voters of School District No. 10, met” &c. If irrespective of the record of this character, the meeting having- been held, the presumption would not be in’ favor of the regularity of the proceedings, under the present circumstances, we think, the clerk being required to. give notice of tbe meetings, and to keep a record of the proceedings of his district in a book to be provided for the purpose,, and no other mode of the record of the notice, or evidence of the same being prescribed by
Our statute contains no such provision, so that if the designation of tiie time at the preceding annual meeting is, under oúr statute, of the essence of the provision, no annual meeting can ever afterwards be held, in case of the failure to make such designation. While under the N. Y. statute the decision in Marchant vs. Langworthy may be altogether right, under the different provisions of our statute we do not regard the designation of the time by the annual meeting as intended by the legislature to be indispensable. But the powers of the district meeting are the same whether convened as an annual ,or special meeting, and the fact of notice appearing in this, as in the other cases, the meeting would be sustained as a special meeting of the district.
The record of March 1,1861, was objected to, in addition to the general grounds urged to all the records, on the further ground that the statute of limitations having run against the claim in suit, the vote of the voters at a district meeting cannot take it out of the statute, which was overruled.
From the records of the district it appears that at a meeting, February 5th, 1861, it was voted that John Sanborn be requested to make a proposition upon what terms ho would, settle his claim. At the meeting held March 4, 1861, the plaintiff submitted the proposition set forth in the complaint as follows:
“To the Inhabitants oe School District No. 10, in Cannon City : In answer to the request made by se.veral of the tax payers of the district for my best proposition for the adjustment of my claim against the district, I submit the following proposition, that is to say; I will take the sum of twelve hundred and fifty dollars ($1,250) in full satisfaction and discharge of said claim, the same being all the claim I hold against the district.
JOHN SANBORN.
Cannon City, March 4, 1861.”
And the majority of voters present voted to accept it, and “voted to vote on the question by ballot, and proceeded to
The case at bar is clearly distinguishable from Shaw and others vs. Stone and others, 1 Cush. 243. In that case the question was whether a contiaet between a private corporation and another had been reduced to writing so as to prevent the admission of parol testimony as to the agreement. It appeared that Gr. S. & Co. were by a vote of the directors ap-.
At the conclusion of the case the counsel for the defendant submitted several points which he desired the Court to give in charge to the jury. As to the first two requests, whatever may be their merits as abstract propositions, they are not applicable to this case, and the refusal of the Court to charge them is not ground for a new trial. The facts are established by the records of the district, and undisputed, that at the district meeting of Nov. 14, 1856, the trustees were authorized to erect a school house upon the site designated, to cost not less than $1,000; and there is nothing in the case, so far as we can discover, to show that the district at that, or any other time, provided a fund which they deemed- sufficient for the purpose.
These requests are based upon a state of facts which the jury
That the trustees are limited by the amount directed by the district meeting to be expended for a school house, when so specified, is we think beyond doubt, and that in the absence of any ratification of the action of the trustees by the district, the district would not be liable, but that the action of the trustees may be ratified so as to bind the district, we have no doubt. The district, in district meeting, may determine any amount they see proper, for the erection- of the school house, their power' is not limited in this respect, but only as to the amount of tax they may levy in any one year to meet it; nor does the exercise of the authority to thus determine the amount, exhaust the power'of the district; it is a general power in the corporation. Robbins vs. School District No. 1, Anoka Co., 10 Minn., 340. If a corporation ratify the unauthorized act of its agent, the ratification is equal to a previous authority, as in case of natural persons. Ang. & Ames on Corp., Sec. 303. The vital question in this case was a question of ratification, and ii-orn the language of the request1 itself, and subsequent requests submitted at the same time,
• The instrument of record as a mortgage was void, and should not have been received in evidence, nor does it come within the terms of the act of 1860. Sess. Laws 1860, page 216.
The seventh request was properly denied: the indebtedness in question was for the erection of a school house for the district. To the extent of $1000, at least, the trustees had previous authority from the district, and for the balance were legally liable to the persons holding the claims in question; where the district, in district meeting, with a knowledge of the facts, ratified the acts of the trustees, by which the indebtedness was incurred on its behalf, the rights of the parties instantly changed, and at least as between the district and the trustees, the former became solely liable, and the action ratifying the proceedings of the trustees could not be rescinded; the 6th subd. of sec. 64, ch. 23, Comp. Stat., page 358, does not extend to a case affecting vested private rights. Bailey vs. Crane, 21 Pick. 323; 1 Smith's Lea. Cas. 875; Mumford vs. Freeman, 8 Minn. 432.
The eighth request as an abstract proposition is correct, but
The plaintiff’s counsel urges that these requests were not presented to the Court, or requested to be given in charge until after the Judge had finished his instructions to the jury, therefore the Court was at liberty to disregard them under the 34th rule of the District Court.’ The rule referred to is as follows: “ The points on which a party desires the jury to be instructed must be furnished in'writing to the Court before' he commences his argument to the jury, or the same may be disregarded. ” This rule is permissive only, and if the Court sees proper, it may refuse to entertain the request of counsel to charge specifically, unless the points are submitted within the time prescribed by the rule; but if the points are entertained, it is a waiver of the rule, and it becomes the duty of the Court to charge upon the propositions submitted. In this instance no objection was taken by the counsel for the resj>ondent to the submission of the points in the Court below, and the Court does not seem to have acted under the rule, but charged specifically upon the points submitted, and allowed ari exception to the charge upon each point. The exceptions therefore must be disposed of on their merits. ¥e are not informed from the paper book in this case, whether there was a verdict in the case or not, or whether the appeal is from a judgment, or from an order denying a new-trial; but as the plaintiff interposes no objection, we presume the appeal was regular, and as wé see no error in the proceedings of the Court below for which a new trial should be granted, we think the order or judgment appealed from should be affirmed.