Worth County v. Sykes
Worth County v. Sykes
Opinion of the Court
To influence the removal of the county seat of Worth •county from Isabella to Sylvester, citizens of the latter community agreed in public advertisement to erect a new court-house and a jail in the event of such removal, and as a guaranty of good faith ■deposited with the ordinary of the county certified checks for $10,-■C00. The removal was duly authorized. Afterwards the ordinary, -acting for the county, decided that it would be wise to erect buildings more commodious than those originally planned, and costing more than $10,000. It was thereupon agreed between the ordinary and the committee representing the citizens of Sylvester that •out of the fund deposited the ordinary should buy lots for the ■court-house and the jail, and use the remainder in paying, as far •as it would go, other necessary expenses incident to removing the ■old offices and erecting the new buildings; but it was stipulated, in order to avoid charges for handling the fund, that the same should be disbursed by the ordinary directly, and should not be
In the argument of the case many nice questions were ably presented. We do not deem it necessary to enter at length upon a. discussion of them; for, after full consideration of them all, we think that the case finally turns upon the points herein decided.' While by the Political Code, §458, “All county funds are to-be paid to and disbursed by the county treasurer, except such as may be specially excepted by law, and then to be collected and disbursed as specially directed,” and while by the Political Code, §460, it is the dirty of that officer “to diligently collect from all officers and others all county dues,” yet we do not think that the-fund in controversy was a county fund in the sense used in the statute; nor do we think that the treasurer had the right to demand of the ordinary custody of the same. We concede that the citizens of Sylvester might have made a donation of money to the-county funds of the county (indeed, such seems to have been the result when, with their consent, the ordinary paid the $2,000 into the county treasury); and in that event such money would pass beyond the control of the donors and become subject to the sole control of the county authorities. On the other hand, there was no obstacle to prevent their making a donation on the condition that the money should not become conn tv funds, but should be so-
It is true that there is in the record an official order of the ordinary, sitting for county purposes, in Avhieh it is recited that he accepts the cash deposited with him in lieu of the former proposition of the citizens to erect the buildings; but other récitals in the same order restrict the meaning of the language so used, and it is clear from the parol proof that, even at the time of the passage of this order, the former agreement that the donation Should come finally into the custody of the county in the form of specifics bought Avith the money, and not of cash, was never abrogated. The trial judge held that this parol evidence had no probative value; that it could not vary the recitals of the order. In this he erred. This order was not such a contract as created an estoppel against the truth being shown in variance or explanation thereof. Besides, the treasurer could not make this question, as he aahs not
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.