72 Mo. 377 | Mo. | 1880
I.
If the board of directors of Walker township had the legal authority to issue the warrant, then the trustee of the township, being but the ministerial officer thereof, would be bound, having funds in his hands raised for that express purpose, to pay the warrant thus, drawn. State v. Callaway Co., 43 Mo. 228. Section 8, article 9, page 106, Acts 1873, expressly authorizes such board to draw an order (or warrant) on the trustee for the amount allowed by them.
II.
Was the building of the township hall on real estate purchased for that purpose, one of the corporate powers conferred on the township by the legislature ? With reference to that point, the legislature has conferred, among others, these powers on the township as a body corporate. Acts 1873, pp. 97, 98. “To purchase and hold real estate within its own limits, for the use of its inhabitants, subject to the power of the general assembly; to make such contracts, purchase and hold personal property, and so much thereof, as may be necessary to the exercise of its corporate or administrative powér; to make such orders for the disposition, regulation or use of its corporate property as may be deemed conducive to the interests of its inhabitants.” § 1. Again: “No township shall possess
A building suitable for the purposes of township meetings, as well as for the various officers of the township, would seem to be as much a necessity as a similar provision for county officers. The legislature certainly never contemplated that a township should not possess ordinary facilities for the transaction of its corporate business. Will it be seriously contended that such business should be , transacted in the open air ? If, as must be admitted from the express language of the law, the township has the power “ to purchase and hold real estate within its own limits, for the use of its inhabitants,” to what conceivable purpose could such purchase be applied, except for the purpose which resulted in the issuance of the warrant in controversy? We are certainly ata loss to conceive of any other. In Wisconsin, under a similar statute, it was held that: “ The public use of the inhabitants demanded a sufficient and convenient room for all election and town meeting purposes.” Town of Beaver Dam v. Brings, 17 Wis. 398. From the foregoing considerations and authority, we take it to be very clear that the purchase of the site and the erection of the hall thereon, was abundantly authorized.
III.
The only remaining point requiring discussion is, as to whether the powers conferred for the purposes mentioned were to be exercised by the citizens of the township assembled en masse, or by the board of directors. We think by the latter. The very name would seem to import as much. The directors are the general officers of the township, occupying toward it similar relations to those borne by the justices of the county court toward the county, and possessing also similar powers. The third subdivision of sec
