112 P. 169 | Utah | 1910
Plaintiff applied for an alternative writ of mandate against tbe defendants as trustees of tbe Nish Springs School District in Juab County, Utah. After alleging tbe official capacity of tbe defendants and other jurisdictional facts, tbe plaintiff, in substance, alleges that said Fish Springs School District, for tbe convenience of tbe school children residing therein, was divided into three divisions, which are know as “Callao,” “Trout Creek,” and “Ragan” divisions respectively) that the plaintiff is a resident and taxpayer of said Trout Creek division in said Fish Springs district, is the father of two children of school age, both of whom live with him, and are desirous of attending school in said division; that, in addition to plaintiff’s said children, there are “at the present time” seven other children of school age residents of said division and whose parents are taxpayers therein; that the children last named “are accustomed to and entitled to the right of attending school in said division,” and, if a peremptory writ be granted, will attend school in said division; that said Fish Springs School District is situated in the extreme westerly portion of Juab County, and is practically within the Great Salt Lake Desert, where
The Attorney General appeared for the defendants, and in their behalf has filed a general demurrer to the petition. The case was submitted upon the demurrer by both parties. The only question for solution is: Does the law when applied to the facts stated in the petition authorize this court to direct the defendants by a writ of mandate to do what the petitioner demands from them ? The solution of this question, to some extent, depends upon the duties that the statute imposes upon the defendants. Section 18.16, Comp. Laws 1907, provides that the trustees “shall organize, maintain and conveniently locate schools for the education of the children of school age within the district, or change or discontinue any of them according to law.” Section 1824, in substance, provides that, if a petition is presented to the trustees which 'is signed by persons who are charged with the support and who have the custody and care of fifteen or more children of school age, the trustees may organize, locate, and maintain a school and employ a teacher for such children. By section 1825 it is provided that the trustees shall determine and fix the length of time that school shall be taught in the district in each year and when each term shall begin and end; that the trustees “shall so arrange such terms as to accommodate and furnish school privileges equally and equitably to pupils of school age. . . .” And, further, that “any school may be discontinued when the average attendance of pupils therein for twenty consecutive days shall be less than eight.” From what is contained in the foregoing sections no one can doubt that it was the intention of the legislature to vest the trustees with the power of exercising at least some judgment and discretion in discharging their official duties. If this be so, then our inquiry must be (1) whether the plaintiff is clearly entitled ,o what he demands; and (2) whether it is clearly the duty of the defendants to act, or if in granting the writ we would not be merely substituting our judgment for that of the trustees in so far as they have refused to comply with plain
IJpon the question of how and under what circumstances courts ought to grant the writ of mandate against public officers, the law is well and tersely stated by Mr. High in his excellent work entitled High’s Extraordinary Legal Remedies (3d Ed.), section 32, in the following language:
“And, to warrant a court in granting tlie writ against a public officer, such a state of facts must be presented as to show that the relator has a clear right to the performance of the thing de- ■ manded, and that a corresponding duty rests upon the officer 1 to perform that particular thing. And when substantial doubt exists as to the duty whose performance it is sought to coerce or as to the right or power of the officer to perform such duty, the relief will be withheld.”
Where there is a discretion vested in the officer, the rule generally applied is stated by the author in section 41 of Merrill on Mandamus in the following words:
“But the action of an officer in a matter which calls for the exercise of his discretion or judgment will not be reviewed by the writ of mandamus unless he has been guilty of a clear and 2 willful disregard of his duty, or such action is shown to be extremely wrong or flagrantly improper and unjust, so that the decision can only be explained as the result of caprice, passion or partiality.”
In speaking of the general rule which is ordinarily applied by the courts in passing on the question whether the writ should be granted or withheld, Wood on Mandamus, etc., at page 51 of his work, says: “And generally it may be said that a mandamus will not be issued unless the duty it is sought to enforce is a. legal duty, clear and free from doubt, and the right of the party seeking redress through this summary remedy is equally clear.”
In view of the facts stated in the petition when applied to the provisions of our statutes to which we have referred, and in the light of the law as contained in the foregoing
We remark in closing that no doubt the petitioner, and others similarly situated, if practicable, should be provided with school facilities for their children, if for no other reason than that, if the children are deprived of the advantages of education, they may suffer irreparable injury, while their parents are denied the ordinary rights of taxpayers. To prevent such results, the law has wisely placed the arrangement for and the conduct of district schools in the hands of local officers who are on the ground, and, as a general rule, are both taxpayers and patrons of the school, and thus they usually possess both the opportunity and the inclination to do what is best for all concerned under all circumstances. While the control of these officers is not absolute, yet courts should be slow in interfering with their management of the schools, lest long range interference might result in greater injustice than that which the courts are seeking to cure.
From what has been said it follows that the demurrer ought to be, and it accordingly is, sustained; and, in view that the defects in the petition cannot be cured by further amendment, the application is hereby dismissed.