Moore v. State ex rel. Johnson

71 Ind. 478
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1880
DocketNo. 8709
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 71 Ind. 478 (Moore v. State ex rel. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. State ex rel. Johnson, 71 Ind. 478 (Ind. 1880).

Opinion

Howk, J.

This was an information, in the nature of a quo warranto, in the name of the State of Indiana, on the relation of Henry U. Johnson, Esq., Prosecuting Attorney of the 17th Judicial Circuit, as plaintiff, against Jacob S. Moore, John Moore, Alfred Moore, John M. Shaffer and William Paddock, as defendants. The information charged, in substance, that the appellants, the defendants below, were acting within this State as a corporation, under the assumed corporate name of the “ Wayne and Union Straight Line Turnpike Company,” without haying been legally incorporated; and judgment of ouster was demanded against the appellants, and for their exclusion from the exercise of corporate rights and franchises, as such corporation, and for other proper relief in the premises. The appellants jointly answered in four paragraphs, of which the first was a general denial, and each of the other three paragraphs stated special matters, by way of defence. The [480]*480appellee’s relator demurred separately /o the second, third and fourth paragraphs of answer, for the alleged insufficiency of the facts therein to constitute defences to the information, which demurrers were severally sustained by the court, and to these decisions the appellants excepted. They then withdrew the first paragraph of their answer, and, declining to amend or plead further, judgment of ouster and exclusion was rendered against them, on the demurrers, as demanded in the information. Their motion to modify and reform the judgment having been overruled, and their exception saved to this ruling, they have appealed to this court, and have here assigned, in substance, the following errors:

1. The circuit court erred in sustaining the demurrer to the second paragraph of their answer;

2. The court erred in sustaining the demurrer to the third paragraph of their answer;

3. The coui’t erred in sustaining the demurrer to the fourth paragraph of their answer;

4. The relator’s information did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; and,

5. The court erred in rendering a judgment against the corporation named in the information, which was not a party to the action, and in refusing to reform and correct its finding and judgment against said corporation.

It is necessary, we think, to a proper understanding of the case, and of the questions for decision therein, that we should first give a summary of the facts stated in the information. It was alleged therein, in substance, that the appellants were, and had been for one year last past, at Wayne county, Indiana, under the assumed corporate name of the “ Wayne and Union Straight Line Turnpike Company,” assuming, claiming and pretending to be a legally incorporated turnpike corporation, under the laws of this State, to wit, under and pursuant to the provisions [481]*481of an act, approved March 5th, 1859, entitled “ An act authorizing the purchasers of railroads, plank roads, turnpike roads and macadamized roads, or parts thereof, under mortgage sale or sales made according to the terms of deeds of trust, to organize as incorporated companies, and prescribing their powers and duties,” 1 R. S. 1876, p. 668; that then and continuously during the said past year, at said county, the appellants, under said assumed corporate name, and claiming a legal incorporation and the right to act as a corporation solely under the above entitled act, had acted as a turnpike corporation, in this, that they had then and there taken possession of a certain turnpike and gravel road then and there being, and had erected and taken possession of certain toll-gates thereon, and had posted toll-rates thereon, and, through their gatekeepers, had charged and collected toll for travel on said road, and had held pretended-corporate meetings, and had elected directors and officers for said pretended corporation, and had arrogated and taken to themselves the said corporate name, and had passed by-laws for the government of said pretended corporation, and had exercised many other of the rights, franchises and immunities of a turnpike corporation ; that the gravel and turnpike road, so operated .by the appellants under such pretended incorporation, commenced at a point a little south of the city of Richmond, in said county, where the Boston and Richmond turnpike left the west line of section 9, township 12, and range 1 west, and running thence south to the line between Wayne and Union counties, and thence south one mile on the section line to an east and west road, said gravel and turnpike road being six and one-half miles in length; that the appellants were not then, and never had been, a legal turnpike corporation, under any law of this State, and that they had no right, title or privilege to be a turnpike corporation, and to enjoy or possess the rights, privileges, [482]*482franchises or immunities of such a corporation, under the laws of this State.

And the relator further alleged, that the sole manner of the attempted organization and incorporation of the appellants into said pretended turnpike corporation was as follows : That, at and long before the year 1872, there existed in Wayne and Union counties a gravel road corporation, known as the “Wayne and Union Straight Line Turnpike Company,” duly and legally incorporated under.the act of May 12th, 1852, entitled “An act authorizing the construction of plank, macadamized and gravel roads,” which said corporation owned and operated, in its corporate capacity, the said gravel and turnpike road, thereinbefore described; that said last named corporation possessed all the rights and franchises conferred by law on such corporations, was managed by its directors- duly chosen, and had erected toll-gates, and was collecting toll for travel upon said road ; that at the April term, 1872, of the court of common pleas of Wayne county, to wit, on May 2d, 1872, a judgment for the foreclosure of a certain mortgage previously executed by the said last named company, to secure the payment of money previously borrowed for the completion of its road, was rendered against said company, in favor of one John Raper and Zachariah Osborn, in an action then and there pending, wherein the said Raper and Osborn were plaintiffs, and the said company and others were defendants: that afterward, on June 14th, 1872, an order of sale duly certified was legally issued on said judgment, out of said court, to the sheriff of said Wayne county, for the sale of its said gravel road, by virtue of which said order of sale, the said sheriff, after due and legal notice, in due form of law, sold the said gravel road of said last named company, at sheriff’s sale, to said Raper and Osborn, on the 13th day of July, 1872, for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars; that, on the pur[483]*483chase of said road, at said sale, the said Raper and Osborn received from the sheriff a certificate of said purchase, which certificate they held and owned until January 24th, 1873, at which date they sold, assigned and delivered the said certificate to said Jacob S. Moore, one of the appellants in this action, for the sum of twelve hundred dollars, or thereabouts; and that afterward, on July 30th 1873, the said sheriff executed and delivered to said Jacob S. Moore, the assignee and holder of said certificate of purchase, a sheriff's deed for said gravel road.

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Bluebook (online)
71 Ind. 478, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-state-ex-rel-johnson-ind-1880.