187 Iowa 1116 | Iowa | 1919
“Certificate of Approval.
“The above petition and certificates of proposition,
The record at this point is not entirely clear, but it is inferable therefrom that there was no formidable or serious objection to the consolidation, except in the included part of Spring Grove District, and that the addendum to his approval of the petition was made by the superintendent of Linn County, with a view to placate or avoid the opposition so arising. On the date named by the superintendent, a meeting was held at Troy Mills, which appears to be the most populous of the several districts, and the nucleus of the consolidation. The meeting was attended by many electors of Spring Grove, and the board of directors of Troy Mills, and probably others in interest. After discussion, it seems to have been proposed to solve the difficulty by dropping the designated territory in Spring Grove from the proposed consolidation. This was agreed to, the representatives from Spring Grove expressing their assent in writing. Thereupon, the petition was again presented to the superintendent of Linn County, and he endorsed his approval thereon in writing. It also received the written approval of the superintendent of schools in Buchanan County. As thus completed, the petition was filed with the Troy Mills Board of Directors, together with a plat or map of the proposed consolidated district, including within its boundaries all of the territory originally proposed therefor, except that part in the district of Spring Grove.
The board, having received these papers, proceeded to give notice of an election upon the question so presented. This notice did not mention the Spring Grove territory as
Thereafter, in October of that year, as above suggested, certain persons alleging themselves to be taxpayers in the district brought a suit in equity to have the organization adjudged illegal and void, and to enjoin its directors and officers from assuming to act in such capacity. The litigation thus begun leisurely took its way through the court below, and finally to this court, where, two years later, it was decided that the legality of the organization of a corporation cannot be determined in an equitable action for
*" Aside from the alleged defects hereinafter specifically considered, the regularity and propriety of the proceedings culminating in the organization of the consolidated district are in no manner challenged or denied. Reduced to brief terms, the point relied upon is that the petition for the calling of the election, in the form in which it was signed by the electors, described the proposed consolidated district as including, with other territory, the independent district of Spring Grove, or some part thereof; that such was, in fact, the form of the petition filed with the board of directors of the Troy Mills district, but the notices of election departed from that description by leaving out the Spring Grove district, and it was this amended or substituted description which was approved and upheld by the vote for consolidation. In other words, it is contended that, if the board of directors acquired any jurisdiction or right to call an election on the question, it was the question of consolidating the territory originally described in the petition, and that the omission of the Spring Grove territory in the subsequent proceedings renders them absolutely void. Stated still otherwise, it is said that the vote to consolidate the territory not including Spring Grove is utterly nugatory, because there was no petition before the board askjng for such an election.
“We have frequently held in similar cases that the jurisdiction of the board attached by the presentation of the first petition, and that it devolved on the board to canvass the second petition and to ascertain whether or not it contained a majority of the voters, as provided by statute. If it erred in its conclusion, its jurisdiction was not thereby defeated.”
Quite in point, in many respects, is the case of Smith v. Blairsburg Ind. School Dist., 179 Iowa 500. There, the petition for an election to organize a consolidated district described in detail, according to government survey, a large number of tracts of land, and its prayer was “that all the territory situated within the limits herein described be organized into one consolidated independent district,” and that an election be called accordingly. The petition was addressed and presented to the board of the independent dis
“It was the filing of the petition that conferred jurisdiction, and thereupon, the board’s duty was to canvass the signers, and ascertain whether one third of the resident qualified electors had signed. If the board erred therein, anyone aggrieved thereby might appeal from the decision to the county superintendent, and if his decision was adverse, then to the state superintendent. Sections 2818, 2820, Code. This would seem a plain, speedy, and adequate remedy, and, if so, certiorari proceedings would not lie to review the board’s findings, at least until the remedies provided by appeal have been exhausted. * * * No appeal having been taken in this case, the finding that one third of the resident qualified electors signed the petition is conclusive.”
This precedent illustrates the liberality of construe
Following that rule, it is seen that, in the last cited case, we held that the organized consolidation included the territory of an entire independent district not described in the petition at all, because, taking all the circumstances together, the court was convinced that the inclusion of that district was intended. In so holding, we said, in words not inappropriate to the instant case:
“This construction is not entirely inconsistent with the language of the statute, and must have been apparent to the board of directors addressed, and to the county superintendent. If the petitioners, the board, and the county superintendent so construed the petition, as they certainly did, it accomplished its purpose. That it was rightly construed
Many other citations of authorities to the same effect could he made, but we content ourselves with a single reference to the case of Independent School Dist. v. Independent School Dist., 153 Iowa 598, where the proceedings for organizing a new district in territory taken from several others were marked with very numerous irregularities in the petition for the election, in the election notices, and in the manner of holding the election; but we held that the real intent, as manifested by the record as a whole, was lawful, and that such intent should be given effect, saying:
“We see no reason for not giving to the ballot an interpretation which would carry out the plain intent of the voters.”
The foreg'oing reference to the general intent and purpose of the statute and to the attitude of the courts in conserving and promoting such purpose affords, in our judgment, an appropriate introduction to our own consideration of the merits of the present controversy. That the territory described in the petition for an election, as first prepared, was such as could properly have been consolidated under the statute providing for such districts, is not disputed. The same may also be said of the same territory, when diminished by the exclusion of the part in Spring Grove district. It does not appear from the record whether the first, or so-called qualified, approval by the Linn County superintendent was made before or after the petition had been signed by the electors. In the Blairsburg case, above cited, it was held immaterial whether the approval was procured before or after the signatures had been obtained. Nor does it appear whether the second, or unqualified, approval by that officer was endorsed upon the petition before or after it had been filed with the board; and, for reasons which we
Jurisdiction having been once acquired, irregularities in subsequent proceedings, if of material character, are errors which may be corrected on appeal, as just stated, but
The people of the excluded part, as we have before noted, accepted it as final, and took no part in the election, and are claiming no rights under the consolidation. On the other hand, no protest appears to have been made by those living in the proposed district as thus slightly diminished in area, and they proceeded to hold an election, without manifesting any objection to the comparatively unimportant change thus effected in the boundaries. More than this is the important fact that, filed with the petition, was a plat of the proposed consolidated district, omitting from its boundaries the territory in Spring Grove, and including therein the territory as described in the notices of election; and it is at least a fair question whether the board might not, in good faith, construe the petition and plat together, and therefrom, and from their general knowledge of the sit-
It can hardly be questioned, we think, that, after the informal agreement to exclude Spring Grove territory from the consolidation, it would have been entirely competent for the petitioners to have agreed to let the petition stand, as being for the consolidation of the remaining territory; and, upon a declaration made to the board, that body could prop
The rule that, where jurisdiction to call an election has once attached, subsequent mistakes and irregularities in the manner and method of the call made and election held do not oust the jurisdiction, and that errors so committed are to be corrected by appeal, if a.n appeal has been provided for, is too thoroughly established to justify further discussion along this line. Ryan v. Varga, 37 Iowa 78; Dishon v. Smith, 10 Iowa 212, 217; Page County v. American Emigrant Co., 41 Iowa 115; Farrington v. Turner, 53 Mich. 27 (18 N. W. 544); Baker v. Board, 40 Iowa 226; Bennett v. Hetherington, 41 Iowa 142; Munn v. School Twp., 110 Iowa 652; Oliver v. Monona County, 117 Iowa 43; and other cases already cited.
It is doubtless the rule that assault by quo warranto upon the organization of a corporation must be begun with reasonable promptness, to avoid the defense of laches. Whether, under the peculiar circumstances of the present case, the delay was unreasonable, we express no opinion; but it was sufficient, at least, to give additional emphasis to the language quoted approvingly by this court from Clement v. Everest, 29 Mich. 19, in disposing of the appeal in the injunction case, Nelson v. Consolidated Ind. Sch. Dist., 181 Iowa 424, as follows:
“In such matters as concern the public, and do not interfere with private property or liberty,' such action as creates municipal bodies and gives them corporate existence cannot be questioned without creating serious disturbance. If the regularity of their organization can be kept open to question indefinitely, no one could ever be sure that any of the taxes or other matters concerning his town were valid, and the whole public business might be blocked by litigation. There are some matters affecting private rights which are scrutinized strictly, because no one can be deprived of private rights without conformity to law. Where one man’s property is taken for public purposes without his consent, the taking must be justified by regular action. But where the organization of a local corporation, as a town or district, is left to the will of any particular body
The judgment of the trial court is well supported by the record, and it is — Affirmed.