McKinney v. State ex rel. Monroe County

Mississippi Supreme Court
McKinney v. State ex rel. Monroe County, 68 Miss. 284 (Miss. 1890)
Cooper

McKinney v. State ex rel. Monroe County

Opinion of the Court

Cooper, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiffs’ demurrers were properly sustained to all the pleas of the defendants.

If the third plea be construed as alleging that the money, on which the illegal commissions therein referred to were allowed, was received by McKinney during a prior term of office, for which term another and a different bond than that sued on had been given (Mann v. Yazoo City, 31 Miss. 574), the plea is nevertheless insufficient, because it not only fails to deny that the money was in his hands as his own successor at the time of the execution of the *288bond bere sued on, but on the contrary, by necessary inference, shows that it was then in his custody. All the pleas are bad, for the reason that an illegal allowance by the board of supervisors is not a breach of his bond by the treasurer.

Notwithstanding the unauthorized and void order of the board, the fund remained in the hands of the officer as the money of the county just as it was before. The order of a board of supervisors making an unlawful appropriation of money belonging to the county is in law as though it never had been. Howe v. The State, 53 Miss. 57.

Affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
J. B. McKinney v. State, use Monroe County
Status
Published
Syllabus
1. Principal and Surety. Official bond. Breach. Former term. In a suit on the bond of a county treasurer for failure to pay over funds to his successor, a plea alleging that the money was collected during a former term, for which a different bond was given, is demurrable if it fails to negative the inference that the amount was in the hands of the officer as his own successor when the bond in suit was executed. 2. Same. Excessive commissions. Suit. Statute of limitations. In such suit where the treasurer during his term retained money allowed him as excessive commissions by the board of supervisors, it cannot be pleaded that the mere retention was. a breach of the bond, and that the statute of limitations then commenced to run against its recovery. The money remains in the custody of the officer just as before the void allowance. Howe v. State, 53 Miss. 57.