The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-09-14
THE SCHOOL BONDS ARE LEGAL
The District Court Afiirms the Valid
ity of the $4,000 Issue Of
School Bonds.
Full Text of Judge BentOn's Decision
An Appeal to the Su-
preme Court.

question Of the validity Of the $4,000 in
school bonds which have been the SUBJ
ject of so much comment from the time
they were issued up to the present time.
The matter was brought before the
court by means OF a friendly suit In
stituted by James T. Stanford, vice
president of the Northwestern bank who
through his attorney NJ. M. Lyter asked
for an order restraining the board from
disposing of the bonds on account of
certain alleged Irregularities connected
with their issue. The school board was
represented by Thos. E.. Brady. The
court denies the injunction asked for
thus upholding the validity Of the issue.
As a great deal Of public interest has
been shown in the matter of these bonds
the courts reasons for the decision
which are attached in the shape of g
memorandum are printed in full.
The plaintiff bases his objections to
the issuance of the bonds by the defend.
ant in the sum of $4,000 upon the fol-
lowing grounds:
First. That the notice of the submis-
sion of the question of whether the board
should be authorized to issue the bonds
was insufficient. .
Second. That a new chairman and
secretary of said district No. l have been
elected since said question was submit
ted to a vote Of the people, and that the
coupons attached to said bonds have not
been signed by the new board, but were
signed by the chairman and secretary
who we're such officers at the time the
question was submitted to the vote of
the people.
Third. That such coupons were not
signed by such chairman and secretary,
but that copies of their respective sigma
lures were Autographed thereon.
Fourth. That notice of sale Vas only
given for ten days.
Fifth. That section 1850, compiled
statutes, provides that no additional
bonds shall be issued until the entire
outstanding bonds be paid; that a form
er series of bonds has been issued by the
district which are unpaid, and that the
said section 1850 is not repealed by the
act of 1893, approved February IA, 1893.
Sixth. That the statute provides that
no bonds shall be sold below par; that
the bonds are not to be delivered until
the supreme court has passed on their
validity, and that the interest on the
bonds from May l, 1898, may exceed the
premium paid before the supreme court
shall have passed upon such question.
| will note my views upon the objec
tions in the order in which they we're
presented.
Section 1850, as amended by act Of
1893, page So, provides as follows: "The
board of school trustees Of any district
in Montana, shall, whenever a majority
of the school trustees shall so decide,
submit to the electors of the district,
whether the board shall be authorized
to issue coupon bonds to a certain
amount, not to exceed 3 per cent Of the
taxable property in said district, provid-
ed that nothing herein contained shall
authorize the issuance of bonds to an
amount exceeding S250,000 in any one
school district and bearing a certain rate
of interest not exceeding 6 per centlm
per annum and payable and redeemable
at a certain time, for the purpose Of
building and furnishing one or more
school houses in said district and pur-
chasing land necessary for the same
The question to be submitted to the
electors is whether the board shall be
authorized to issue bonds to a certain
amount" The proviso following is a
limitation upon the power OF the trust
ees and | do not think it necessary that
the trustees give notice that they are
not exceeding such trust. The notice
discloses the amount of bonds to be issued
and the purpose for which they are
issued. The object of the statute is to
notify the electors of the district of the
amount and purpose cf the proposed
issue to the end that they may be
enabled to form an intelligent judgment
as to the propriety of creating the pro-
posed indebtedness for such purpose.
People vs.. Courts, 26 Pac. (Cal.) GLIB.
The second objection is that the cou-
pons are not signed by the present chair
man and secretary of the board. The Off
GERS who signed the bonds we're public
officers (Meacham vs.. Public officers, sec.
55) admitted to have been duly elected
and were authorized by section 95l to
sign such coupons when a majority vote
of the people authorized the issue, and l
do not think the objection we'll taken.
That the coupons were signed by a fac
smile Of the officers signature and not
written by their own hands does not
seem to be a valid objection to their le-
gality. Pennington vs. Baehr, As Cal.
565; Jones on corporate bonds and mort
cages, sec. 235; McKerr We. Vernon Co., 3
Dill 210.
The plaintiff contends that the act of
1893 does not repeal section 1850 Of the
compiled statutes and that the statute
prohibiting the issuing Of bonds until
outstanding bonds are paid is in force.
The act of 1873 provides "that sec. l of
act entitled an act to amend
section 1850, Of the fifth section of the
compiled statutes Of Montana concern
ing school bonds is hereby amended to
read a. follows: 1.-THE legislature in
using the above language expressly said
that such section 1850, should hereafter
read and be to effect following, and
then enacts a complete substitute for
the former provision and thus repeats all
contained in the original act, not re-
enacted. People We McNulty SO. Cal.
427; o, American and English Ency-
clopedia Of law, title statutes, page 488.
As to the last objection that the in
terest may exceed the premium before
the validity Of the bonds ars finally
determined. / do not think l am just
flied in declaring the bonds Invalid upon
a condition and contingency that does
not now exist and may never occur.