150 Minn. 163 | Minn. | 1921
This proceeding for the change and alteration of the boundaries of
The proceedings before the county board were instituted on the petition of school district No. 77, acting through its officers, under the authority conferred by the provisions of chapter 236, p. 232, Laws 1919. The question presented by the appeal is whether that statute has any application to the particular relief sought, namely, to annex to district No. 77 certain adjacent land situated in an adjoining district. We answer it in the affirmative.
The statute provides as follows:
“The school board of any school district in the state desiring to have land adjacent to or projecting into such district set off as and made a part of said district, may petition the board of county commissioners of •the county in which such district is located, therein setting forth the name and kind of district involved, a description of the land in question, the name of the owner thereof, and the reasons for the request, which said board upon the receipt of such petition, shall give a notice of a hearing thereon as in other cases, and upon proof of the allegations in the petition, may make an order granting the same, and like notices of such change in the boundaries of such district shall be given as in other cases.”
Although the statute on its face does not purport to be an amendment of or additional to the general statutes upon the same subject, G.
As so construed the act is not open to the constitutional objections urged against it by appellant. The subject matter of the statute is of purely legislative character, and no constitutional right of the citizen is thereby infringed. The prior statute has been sustained, and this must be also. Common School District No. 85 v. County of Renville, 141 Minn. 300, 170 N. W. 216. It is clearly competent for the legislature to declare the method and by whom proceedings of the kind may be commenced, and the right of initiation may be granted to one or more interested districts, as well as to individuals residing therein.
This conclusion renders unnecessary a discussion of the numerous points urged in support of the contention that the act of 1919 is unconstitutional and void. The suggestion that the act was intended to cover a special situation, and to apply to a single tract of land, conditions not coming within the terms of the general statute, is not without force. But it should not prevail. The subject matter of the act is substantially that of the general statute, and nothing materially new is found in the act of 1919. That the land here sought to be attached to district No. 77 comes within both enactments seems clear. State v. Village of Gilbert, 107 Minn. 364, 120 N. W. 528; Hobart v. City of Minneapolis,
This covers the case and all that need be said in disposing of the appeal, except to call attention to the fact that the order made by the county board could have been reviewed by appeal, as given by section 2677. With that remedy present certiorari is not available. The parties, however, treated the act of 1919 as an independent enactment, and, since no appeal is there given, resorted to the remedy by certiorari. In this situation we have disposed of the case on the merits, but call attention to the existence of the right of appeal, as we construe the statute, for future guidance in similar proceedings.
Order affirmed.