State Ex Rel. Allen County Law Library Assn. v. Welker

190 N.E. 150, 47 Ohio App. 42, 16 Ohio Law. Abs. 577, 1934 Ohio App. LEXIS 295
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 31, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 190 N.E. 150 (State Ex Rel. Allen County Law Library Assn. v. Welker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Allen County Law Library Assn. v. Welker, 190 N.E. 150, 47 Ohio App. 42, 16 Ohio Law. Abs. 577, 1934 Ohio App. LEXIS 295 (Ohio Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

Guernsey, J.

This is an action in mandamus wherein the relator, the Allen County Law Library Association, alleges in its petition that it is the duly organized law library association of Allen county, Ohio, with duly elected, qualified and acting trustees; that Stanley A. Welker is the duly elected, qualified and acting Clerk of the Municipal Court of Lima, Ohio; that as such clerk he has received and collected during the year 1933, and now has in his possession, fines and penalties collected in state cases in the amount of only $26, and costs in like cases in the amount of $391.03; that on May 1, 1933, said Welker paid over to the relator the sum of $125, being an installment due April 1, 1933, from him to relator for the first quarter of 1933; that since May 1, 1933, said Welker has paid no part of such fines and penalties and costs to relator, although on July 1, 1933, there became due and payable to relator the sum of $125, and on September 1, 1933, a like sum of $125 became due; that relator has demanded of defendant the payment of such sums so due and payable, but the defendant without any good and sufficient reason has refused and still refuses.to pay said sums or any part thereof to relator.

The prayer of the petition is that a writ of mandamus issue against the defendant requiring him to pay over to relator the money that is rightfully due and payable to the relator from defendant, and for such orders in the premises as are just and proper.

To this petition the defendant demurred, on the *44 ground that the petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

The claim of relator to the fund, to compel payment of which a writ of mandamus is sought, is based on the provisions of Section 40 of an act of the Legislature creating a municipal court styled “The Municipal Court of Lima, Ohio” (114 Ohio Laws, 302, 314), which became effective August 4, 1931, and is now designated as Section 1579-1359, General Code. The pertinent part of such section is as follows: “He [the clerk of the municipal court] shall pay over to the proper parties all monies received by him as clerk; he shall receive and collect all costs, fines and penalties, and shall pay therefrom annually five hundred dollars in quarterly installments to the Allen county law library association as provided for in Title X, division IV, chapter I, of the General Code and shall pay the balance thereof monthly to the treasurer of the city of Lima and take proper receipts therefor, but money deposited as security for costs shall be retained by him pending the litigation * *

Chapter 1, Division IV, Title X, of the General Code, which comprises Sections 3054 to 3058, both inclusive, General Code, relates' to law libraries.

Section 3054, General Code, among other things provides that the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of any county in which there is a law library association which furnishes to all of the county officers and the judges of the several courts in the county admission to its library, and the use of its books free of charge, upon the appointment by the trustees of such library association of a person to act as librarian thereof shall fix his compensation which shall be paid from the county treasury.

Section 3055, among other things, provides that for the use of such library the board of county commissioners of the county shall provide at the expense of the county a suitable room or rooms with sufficient and *45 suitable book cases in tbe county court house, or, if there is no suitable room or rooms to be had therein, any other suitable room or rooms at the county seat, and shall heat and light them, and that the books and furniture of the association used exclusively in such library shall be free from taxation.

Section 3056 (113 Ohio Laws, 249), which became effective July 22, 1929, was amended at the same session of the Legislature at which the act creating the municipal court was passed, and the amendment (114 Ohio Laws, 89) became effective July 24, 1931, eleven days before the Municipal Court Act became effective, and, as amended, reads as follows:

“All fines and penalties assessed and collected by a municipal or police court for offenses and misdemeanors prosecuted in the name of the state, except a portion thereof equal to the compensation allowed by the county commissioners to the judge of the municipal court presiding in police court, clerk and prosecuting attorney of such court in state cases shall be retained by the clerk and be paid by him monthly to the trustees of such law library associations, but the sum so retained and paid by the clerk of said municipal or police court to the trustees of such law library association shall in no month be less than 15 per cent, of the'fines and penalties collected in that month without deducting the amount of the allowances of the county commissioners to said judges, clerk and prosecutor.
“In all counties the fines and penalties assessed and collected by the common pleas court and probate court for offenses and misdemeanors prosecuted in the name of the state, shall be retained and paid monthly by the clerk of such courts to the trustees of such library association, but the sum so paid from the fines and penalties assessed and collected by the common pleas and probate courts shall not exceed five hundred dollars per annum. The money so paid shall be expended *46 in the purchase of law books and the maintenance of such association.
“It is provided, * * * however, that not to exceed five hundred dollars per annum of the county’s share and not to exceed one thousand dollars per annum of the municipality’s share of the fines and penalties collected by the common pleas, probate, or a municipal or police court for the violation of the prohibition laws shall be subject to the provisions of this section, and provided further that the total amount paid hereunder in any one calendar year by the clerk of any municipal or police court to the trustees of such library association shall in no event exceed six thousand dollars per annum; and when that amount shall have been so paid to the trustees of such law library association, in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section, then no further payment shall be required hereunder, in that calendar year, from the clerk of such court.”

Section 3057 provides that justices of the peace in the county, and officers of the townships, villages and cities therein, shall have the same free use of the books of the library receiving such moneys that the judges and county officers have.

Section 3058 provides for the making of an annual report by the trustees of the association to the County Auditor of the fines and penalties received and the money expended by the association.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State ex rel. Allen County Law Library Ass'n v. Walker
16 Ohio Law. Abs. 577 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
190 N.E. 150, 47 Ohio App. 42, 16 Ohio Law. Abs. 577, 1934 Ohio App. LEXIS 295, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-allen-county-law-library-assn-v-welker-ohioctapp-1934.