270 Mo. 376 | Mo. | 1917
— This is a proceeding by quo warranto, filed by the prosecuting attorney of Cass County, at the relation of two certain school districts and some sixty-two tax-paying citizens of that county, against defendants in error here, who were defendants below, to oust
The action turns upon the question whether said consolidated school district was legally organized. There is but little dispute about the facts. Such of these facts as are necessary to an understanding of the points raised are substantially as follows: A petition containing the requisite statutory number of signers and which is conceded by plaintiffs to be sufficient in form and substance and sufficiently signed, was presented to one T. J. Walker, who was then superintendent of public schools of Cass County, requesting him to proceed officially under the provisions of the Laws of Missouri, 1913, page 721 et seq., to organize a consolidated school district in Cass and Bates counties, with the center of such proposed school district at or near the town of Archie in Cass County. Thereupon the County Superintendent personally went into the neighborhood to be affected and from which the territory to compose the proposed consolidated district would have to be carved, for the- purpose of examining the situation; Touching his acts in this behalf, he says: “I went to see these citizens and talked the matter over with them; observed the country and the lay of the land and kept in mind the different' boundaries that were to be included within the proposed consolidated district and kept in mind the territory that was to be embraced within the district, and later I took the plat and in my office laid out the boundaries, knowing as I did the boundaries of the district. I undertook to have in mind the welfare of the adjoining districts and that,I must not cripple any adjoining districts or leave them in a condition where it would be impossible for them to have school facilities.” This witness, who .is not a party to this action in anywise, testifying as to the manner, nature and extent of his investigations, also said: “I went with Mr. Pitcher to Archie where we drove over a large part of the territory and talked with a lot of resident citizens whom I told, as I visited them,
There is no controversy as to the sufficiency of the notices, nor as to the posting thereof, nor as to the number of plats which were prepared by the County Superintendent and caused to be posted at the requisite statutory number of places. These plats were roughly and somewhat inartificially drawn upon blanks containing numbered sections, townships and ranges, all of which blanks were filled in as the situation required. The plats-as posted and filed show the southeast corner of the proposed district to be on a certain creek, or water course, known as Mormon Pork of Grand Eiver, which point, the testimony shows, was supposed to be coincident with the southeast corner of section nine, though it developed upon exact measurement that the southeast corner of said section nine was some thirteen chains east of this creek. Touching it, however, as well as regarding other contested points, the County Superintendent says that he was not personally acquainted with the lines bounding the school districts affected in Bates County; that he made inquiry as to all of these facts and afterward prepared the plats by the exercise of his best judgment as to what was the proper manner of running the lines.
The plat hereinafter set forth shows the inclusion of an eighty-acre tract, which has the effect to produce, a seeming inequality in the western boundary of this district. The testimony of defendants, which was, in its entirety as to the facts, corroborated by plaintiffs, shows
The court, as stated, refused to oust the defendants, thereby holding, in effect, that the district was lawfully organized. This is the decisive question and the sole question sought to be settled by this proceeding. Other facts tending to illuminate it will be found in the opinion.
Looking at the brief filed by learned counsel for plaintiffs in error in the light provided by the terms of our Rule 15 (adopted April 10, 1916), we find only the below points mooted: (a) That the exact boundaries of the district were never determined by the County Superintendent of Schools; (b) The County Superintendent did not investigate the needs of the community with due regard to the interests of adjoining districts; (c) the court erred in admitting the plat in evidence, because it did not show the boundaries of the proposed district; (d) the court erred in admitting evidence that some of
Learned counsel for appellants concede that the notices posted were in proper form and that the petition for the organization of the district was duly filed. The point as made goes to the sufficiency of the above plat. The alleged phase of inexactitude touching the plats is that these plats fail to show the boundaries of the district. The contention upon which this charge is bottomed, so far as we are able to gather, is that while the southeast corner of the district as the plat shows it, seems to be the southeast corner of a certain section nine, this is not the ease in fact; because while upon the plat Mormon Fork of Grand River which actually forms the southeast boundary of the district, seems to cross the section line at a place coincident with the southeast corner of said section 9, it in fact crosses the south line of said section thirteen chains west of the southeast corner thereof. Regardless of this fact we yet think this plat, which we show above, was under the statute (Laws 1913, p. 722, sec. 3), a sufficient showing of the boundaries of the proposed district. It may be a matter of judicial regret that the above section of this act which designates all of the necessary statutory requirements of things to be done in order to lay out, organize and record a consolidated district, did not go more at length into the details of the procedure for such organization. But these things were for the Legislature and not for us.
While the above language is all that the act contains as to the initial manner of “determining” the boundaries, the context, we think, shows that the word “determine” is not used in its strict sense of “ascertaining to a mathematical certainty; ’ ’ but it means that the County Superintendent shall “settle upon and decide” where such boundaries shall be. For it will be noted in determining these boundaries he is required to “so locate the boundary lines as will in his judgment form the best possible consolidated district.” Neither the district nor the boundaries thereof are required to be surveyed, for no provision exists to pay for any surveying and none is mentioned in the act. The plats which are to be filed and posted are likewise, from the context, to be prepared by the County Superintendent. For while he may procure others to make them, it is yet made his duty to post them, and, since nothing is said as to paying any other person or officer for making these plats, the duty to make them, or to procure them to be made without incurring any expense therefor, clearly falls upon him. Since we know what the duties and the statutory requirements as to eligibility of a County Superintendent of schools are, we know that he is not required to be either a surveyor, a civil engineer or a skilled draftsman. Therefore we would not expect absolute mathematical certainty in lines and scale in the plats filed and posted by the County Superintendent. Such a plat is sufficiently exact within the meaning of the statute when, it shows the sections and subdivisions
Other alleged errors reserved by us for discussion, are disposed of by what we have said on other but germane points. We find no error in the record, and hence affirm the case.