The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1898-03-02
AN IMPORTANT CASE,


OF the numerous cases tried durinI
the term of the Lincoln Chancer.
Court last week, the one Of most gen
eral and far.reaching Importance wa
one styled, w. l.. Lewis ct. al. VS.. tn
Village of Bogue Chitto. Last fall tn,
Board of Mayor and Aldermen o
Bogue Chitto declared that municip
ality a separate school district, as the!
were authorized to do under the com
mon school laws of the State, and pro
ceeded to levee tax of AZ mills fol
maintaining it three months in addi
tion to the four months provided fol
by the State. This action subsequent
ly caused w. L. Lewis and one or two
other taxpayers of Bogue Chitto tc
sue out an injunction to prevent the
collection of the school tax, the con
tention being that the Board of Mayor
and Aldermen had no right to levy q
tax of Az mills, because the law gave
them the authority to levy only three
The law cited to prove this was section
4014 of the Code of 1892, which is as
follows:
"The Mayor and Board of Aldermen
of municipality constituting sepa-
rate school district shall annually levy
a sufficient tax to pay for fuel and other
necessaries for its public free schools,
and shall make such levy of taxes as
may be necessary to maintain the
schools, after the expiration of the four
months term provided for by the
State, or to supplement, during the
four months, the funds distributed by
the State. And such municipality
may levy and collect taxes to erect and
repair school buildings and may issue
bonds for that purpose in the manner
provided in the Chapter on Municipal
tiles. But tax in excess of mills on
the dollar shall not not be levied or
collected without the consent of a ma
jority of the taxpayers of the muni-
cipality."
On the trial in the Chancery Court
the complainants were represented by
Thos. Brady, Esq, and the Corporation
of Bogue Chitto by Messrs. Cassidy &
Cassidy. The argument of counsel
was chiefly confined to the question of
what is the correct construction of
this section. Lawyer Brady contend
ed that the 3-mill limit prescribed in
the last sentence applied to the whole
section while counsel for the defense
held that, according to the established
rules of legal Interpretation, it only
applied to the sentence just preceding
it, beginning with the word "And";
that the first portion of the Section
was absolutely mandatory upon mu-
nicipal authorities of separate school
districts, compelling them to ANNUALLY
levy sufficient tax to pay for fuel
and other necessary expenses for its
public free schools" ETC., and that the
tax must be sufficient to meet these
"necessaries," though it exceed or
even AZ mills.
Chancellor Conn took the case under
advisement and has not as yet render
ed his decision, but it matters not
what the decision may be, it is under
stood the question will go to the Su-
preme Court, as it is one on which that
tribunal has never yet passed. Most
of the separate school districts of this
State, including Brookhaven, levy a
tax in excess of 3 mills to carry on
their public sch ools beyond the A
months provided by for by the State,
and if the Courts should decide this
illegal, it will seriously cripple, tenn
porarily at least, their free school in