State ex rel. Howard v. Gordon

94 S.W. 987, 197 Mo. 55, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 17
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 19, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 94 S.W. 987 (State ex rel. Howard v. Gordon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Howard v. Gordon, 94 S.W. 987, 197 Mo. 55, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 17 (Mo. 1906).

Opinion

GRAVES, J.

Relators, who constitute the commissioners of “The Nevada Special Road District” in Vernon county, Missouri, bring this action of mandamus to compel respondents, who constitute the township board of Center township, in said county, to turn over to them five-sixths of twelve hundred dollars and five-sixths of certain other personal property alleged to be held by said respondents for the road districts of said Center township. The petition was filed at the May term, 1905, and the alternative writ issued. [57]*57Respondents filed motion to quash the alternative writ, which being by the court sustained, relators appealed to this court.

The alternative writ is lengthy and in substance the facts recited therein, which were taken from the petition, are as follows: That on November 8, 1898, Vernon county adopted the Township Organization law, and from that time on has been and still is acting under that law; that on January 17, 1905, at an election held for that purpose, article 10 of chapter 153, Revised Statutes 1899, was duly adopted by the voters in a special road district composed of congressional sections 19 to 36 inclusive, in Washington township (being congressional township 36, of range 31), and congressional sections 3. to 30 inclusive, in Center township (being congressional township 35, of range 31), and also congressional sections 1, 2, 11, 12, 13,14, 23, 24, 25 and 26 in Deerfield township (being congressional township S5, of range 32), and also congressional sections 23, 24, 25, 26, 35 and 36 in Lake township (being in congressional township 36, of range 32), all in Vernon county, Missouri, being a district eight miles square; that there was in said district a city containing 7,461 inhabitants, the city of Nevada; that said district created as above, and composed of the territory as above indicated, organized according to law under the name of ‘ ‘ The Nevada Road District; ’ ’ that the relators were the duly appointed commissioners of said road district, W. D. Howard being chairman, H. M. Duck, treasurer, and D. L. Thornton, secretary; that the respondents were the duly elected and qualified members of the township board of Center township, five-sixths of which territory was included in said road district; that said township board, through its treasurer, C. A. Tater, had and held as a road and highway fund of said township the sum of $1200 in money; that said township board also held a lot of tools and machinery, [58]*58for -working the roads of said Center township; that the relators had demanded five-sixths of said money and five-sixths of said tools and machinery, which demand was refused by respondents; and the said alternative writ closed with the usual order to deliver the property and money or to appear and show cause why the same should not be done.

The motion to quash the alternative writ chai- ■ lenges, first, the sufficiency of the facts recited; and, secondly, the failure of the relators to state and allege that they had no other adequate remedy.

The foregoing sufficiently sets out the pleadings and facts for all necessary purposes.

The principal question presented is whether or not article 10, chapter 151, Revised Statutes 1899, and acts amendatory thereto, apply to counties which have adopted or may adopt what is known as the Township Organization law, being chapter 168, Revised Státutes 1899. If not, then the motion to quash the alternative Arit was properly sustained on that ground alone, and it is not necessary to seek further. We are of the opinion that article 10, supra, does not apply to counties having township organization. It is true that article 10 of chapter 151 has for its subject and relates to roads, highways and bridges as also does article 14 of chapter 168-. In fact, all of chapter 151 relates to roads and highways and article 10 to the organization of special road districts. Article 14 of chapter 168 is the road law in counties having township organization. In reaching the conclusion we have reached, as above, we have noted the origin of the several road statutes and what seems to us the legislative intent at the time, as appears from the statutes themselves. The first reasonably complete draft of chapter 151 appears in Revised Statutes 1835, page 544, although crude fragments thereof previously appeared in the statutes of 1825, volume 2, page 688, and even in previous acts. Chapter 168, including article 14 [59]*59thereof, first appeared, in substantial form as now, in the laws of 1871-2, at pages 180 to 211, inclusive, which is the original Township Organization law, the act being approved March 18, 1872. Express constitutional authority for a township organization law does not appear until the Constitution of 1875, in sections 8 and 9 of article 9 thereof, although there was no constitutional inhibition against such a law, and the act of 1871-2, neither in spirit nor letter, was violative of constitutional provisions. In 1879, the act of 1871-2 was practically re-enacted (Laws 1879, page 2.18) and this, with the subsequent amendments thereto, constitute the present chapter 168, or the Township Organisation law.

From an examination it will be seen that chapter • 151 was first adopted when the legislative mind had no conception of township organization, and upon its face the act clearly discloses the legislative intent to make it apply to counties as a whole and not to subdivisions thereof. No amendments since made to it evince a different intent, but on the contrary each subsequent amendment and change would tend to indicate that the legislative mind had in view a law, the provisions of which should apply to county organization, purely and simply.

On the other hand, chapter 168 and the various acts amendatory thereto and thereof, clearly point to the legislative intent to make this particular code of laws applicable to counties having township organization, as first conceived by the legislative act of 1871-2. The two systems are so widely divergent that one general law cannot be made applicable to both, although each system must of necessity embrace laws touching the same subject, as for instance, roads and highways, as in the statutes under consideration in the case at bar.

On examination of chapter 151, of which article [60]*6010 in question is a component part, there will be found provisions which could not be carried into effect in counties having township organization under chapter 168. For instance, section 9619 of article 10 provides for a county court, not for a township board, to levy a poll tax for road purposes, and a property tax for road purposes, such property tax to be not less than ten nor more than twenty cent's on the $100 valuation, whereas under section 10324, the Township Organization law, the levy must be made by the township board and not by the county court, and upon property a tax not exceeding twenty cents on the $100 valuation can be levied. The methods of getting the poll tax lists are different; the methods of collecting, and the officers to collect, are different; a contract system is provided for by both statutes, but are so essentially different that the governmental agencies under the one would have no authority under the other.

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Related

State ex rel. Monett Special Road District v. Hackmann
213 S.W. 449 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1919)
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149 S.W. 603 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1912)
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111 S.W. 472 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1908)

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Bluebook (online)
94 S.W. 987, 197 Mo. 55, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-howard-v-gordon-mo-1906.