91 Mo. 658 | Mo. | 1887
Action on a contract of subscription signed by defendant, and a large number of other land owners, including plaintiff, in the Sny Island Levee Drainage District, in the state of Illinois, each subscriber setting the sum subscribed opposite his name, the defendant thus subscribing the sum of one hundred dollars,- the purpose of the subscription being the maintenance and repairs of the levee, and a more perfect reclamation and protection of the lands embraced within the Sny Island Levee Drainage District.
Plaintiff and defendant, and others, were owners of these lands, which lands were imperfectly protected from overflow of the waters of the Mississippi river, by a levee. The levee was maintained by taxes assessed
The defendant successfully demurred to the petition,setting forth, in substance, the foregoing facts, on the ground that the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, and the plaintiff appeals here. The ground relied on in this court, to sustain the action of the court below, is that the contract made is contrary to public policy. I discover nothing in the facts stated to warrant this conclusion. There is nothing in those facts from which it can be inferred that the subscribers harbored any intention of combining together to depress bidding, when the tax sales should occur, or in any other reprehensible manner to take any unlawful advantage. Their enterprise and venture, it may well be supposed, they anticipated would result profitably to themselves, and would promote the principal object set forth in the contract of subscription, to-wit: the maintaining of the Sny Island levee, thus protecting their large landed interests from disastrous overflow. If other land owners than themselves did their duty, and paid their proper proportion of the taxes assessed for the common protection, no lands would be sold for taxes, and no injury could result. If, on the contrary, other land owners failed to bear their share of
The authorities cited by plaintiff fully support the views herein announced, and the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.