Case Name: BUTLER vs. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (Saginaw)
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1872
Citations: 1 McGrath 1362
Docket Number: 
Parties: BUTLER vs. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (Saginaw),
Judges: 
Reporter: Mandamus cases decided in the Supreme court of Michigan
Volume: 1
Pages: 1362–1365

Head Matter:
BUTLER vs. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (Saginaw),
26 M., 21.

Opinion:
To compel respondent to levy a tax to pay certain drain orders held by relator.
Denied 1872.
The orders were issued for the construction of various drains. The petition is general and does not separate them or show what fund the orders were drawn against, or what ditches they had reference to.
Held, that relatpr, under such petition, assumes the burden of showing that the supervisors should have levied the tax for all the drains; and if insuperable objections exist to a tax for one out of all, the writ must be denied. A petition for mandamus must show a clear legal duty resting upon the persons or tribunal against whom the remedy is sought, which they refuse, on request, to perform; and it does not show this, if the request embraces anything which it would be illegal for them to do