Houston v. People ex rel. Peoria & Rock Island Railway Co.
Illinois Supreme Court
Houston v. People ex rel. Peoria & Rock Island Railway Co., 55 Ill. 398 (Ill. 1870)
McAllister
Houston v. People ex rel. Peoria & Rock Island Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
The appellant being town clerk, the act of countersigning the bonds in question was a mere ministerial act. It was not the province of such clerk to determine whether the proper steps had been taken to authorize the issuance of the bonds. If valid reasons existed why they should not be issued, the law provides a mode in which that question could be properly determined. The People v. Dean, 3 Wend. 438. The judgment of the court below must be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Mr. Justice Scott took no part in the decision of this case.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Henry C. Houston v. The People of the State of Illinois, ex rel. The Peoria & Rock Island Railway Co
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Ministerial officers—not to decide whether they shall act—countersigning bonds by a town clerk. Where bonds issued by á township on a subscription to the stock of a railroad company, are required by law to be countersigned by the town clerk before being delivered, such act of countersigning is a mere ministerial act, and it is not the province of such clerk, when called upon to do the act, to determine whether the proper steps have been taken to authorize the issuance of the bonds. 2. So upon an application for a mandamus to compel a town clerk to countersign such bonds, which had been executed by the town supervisor, it was held, the clerk could not set up matters affecting the legality of the steps required by law to be taken before the bonds could properly issue, as a reason for refusing to countersign them. The law provides another mode for determining such a question.