Case Name: BECKER, Appellant, v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY, Respondent
Court: Montana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Montana
Decision Date: 1892-01-25
Citations: 11 Mont. 490
Docket Number: 
Parties: BECKER, Appellant, v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY, Respondent.
Judges: Blake, C. J., concurs.
Reporter: Montana Reports
Volume: 11
Pages: 490–498

Head Matter:
BECKER, Appellant, v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY, Respondent.
[Argued December 31, 1891.
Decided January 25, 1892.]
Pleading — Cause of action — Publication by county cleric under statute__In an action brought by a publisher to recover from a county compensation for the publication of matter furnished to him by a county clerk, under a statute requiring county clerks to cause certain matters to be published in one or more county newspapers, a complaint which states that such matter was furnished by the county clerk for publication, but does not aver that such clerk caused it to be published, or that the newspaper named in the complaint was designated by the clerk as the one in which publication was to be made, is bad on demurrer.
Appeal from Seventh Judicial District, Yellowstone County.
Action to recover for the publication of a copy of a proposed State constitution. Judgment on demurrer was rendered for the defendant by Milbttrn, J.
Statement of the case by the judge delivering the opinion.
This action is brought by appellant to recover compensation from respondents, the commissioners of Yellowstone County, for publishing in appellant’s daily newspaper, in said county, a certified copy of a proposed constitution.
Parts of sections 10 and 14, Act March 13, 1889, are as follows: “ Sec. 10. At least ten days before an election to fill any public office .... the county clerk of each county shall cause to be published in one or more newspapers within the county the nominations to office certified to him under the provisions of this act. The county clerk shall make such publication daily, until the election, in counties where daily newspapers are published; but, if there be no daily newspaper published within the county, two publications in each newspaper will be sufficient.....” “Sec. 14. Whenever a proposed constitution or constitutional amendment or other question is to be submitted to the people of the Territory for popular vote, the secretary of the Territory shall duly, and not less than thirty days before election, certify the same to the clerk of each county in the Territory, and the clerk of each county shall include the same in the publication provided for in section 10 of this act.”'
In the month of October, 1889, a proposed constitution for the State of Montana was submitted to the people of the Territory of Montana for popular vote. At this time the appellant had a contract with the respondents to do all the printing for which the county of Yellowstone should be liable, said contract being made under the provisions of section 1653, division 5 of the Compiled Statutes. The secretary of the Territory of Montana duly certified the proposed constitution to the county clerk of Yellowstone County, as provided by section 14 of said act, above quoted. The county clerk of Yellowstone County furnished the appellant with said certified copy of said proposed constitution for publication in appellant’s newspaper.
The complaint sets forth these facts, and then further alleges the publication of the said constitution in appellant’s Daily-Billings Gazette, the amount of his claim, its non-payment} etc. A demurrer to the complaint was sustained on the ground that the complaint did not set forth facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment.
O. F. Goddard, for Appellant.
H. J. Haskell, Attorney-General, and Jas. A. Goss, County Attorney, for Respondent.
The complaint must show the existence of facts authorizing the plaintiff to publish said copy of the constitution, as it is upon these facts and these alone that the liability of the defendant is predicated. (Blanchard v. Beideman, 18 Cal. 262.) The amended complaint does not allege that the county clerk caused or ordered or requested the plaintiff to print the certified copy of the constitution in a daily newspaper, or in any paper of the plaintiff. This allegation was essential to plaintiff’s cause of action. (People ex rel. v. Williams, 64 Cal. 87; People v. Baihache, 52 Cal. 310.) The reasonable construction of section 10 would make the order, request, or the act of the county clerk causing the certified copy of the constitution to be published a statutory condition precedent, which must be pleaded or there is a fatal defect in the cause of action. When a pleader wishes to avail himself of a privilege or right given by particular facts he must show the facts. Those facts which statutes require as the foundation of the right must be stated in the complaint. (Dye v. Dye, 11 Cal. 163.) Performance of statutory conditions precedent must always be specially averred. (People ex rel. v. Jaekson, 24 Cal. 630; Himmelman v. Danos, 35 Cal. 441; Bhoda et ad. v. Alameda Co, 52 Cal. 350.) The county clerk for the purposes of the publication of the constitution was the agent of the State, and the county could not be held liable for his misfeasance or nonfeasance. (Territory ex rel. v. Board of Commrs. 8'Mont. 396.) In the absence of statutory authority there is no county liability. (Crawford Co. v. Be Clerk, 4 Chand. 56; Shawnee Co. v. Carter, 2 Kan. 115; Heller v. Shawnee Co. 23 Kan. 128; Ashen v. Hale, 54 Ala. 639; 25 Am. Bep. 730.)

Opinion:
De Witt, J.
The first ground of the demurrer which we will examine is this: It is contended by the county that the complaint does not allege facts showing that the county clerk of Yellowstone caused to be published in appellant's daily newspaper the certified copy of the constitution. The allegation of the complaint upon this point, upon which appellant relies, is that " the county clerk furnished the plaintiff with the said certified copy of the said proposed constitution for publication in the plaintiff's newspaper."
This complaint is an amended one. The plaintiff, therefore, once attempted to better his pleading. Courts are liberal in allowing amendments to pleadings; and appellant could doubtless have obtained leave to amend again, and could easily have stated in his complaint, in unequivocal language, that the county clerk caused the constitution to be published in his said daily newspaper. He did not do so. Of course, on demurrer, the allegations of the complaint are taken as true. The conduct of the appellant in adhering to his allegation as made, and not amending so as to state his cause of action clearly within the statute, when he could so readily have done so, if such allegation would have been true, gives the court the more reason to hold that we cannot aid the pleading by implication or forced construction. We therefore read the complaint as it is written. If the appellant were authorized to print the constitution in his said daily newspaper as a charge against the county of Yellowstone,, he was so authorized by the county clerk. The county clerk was a public officer. The appellant was charged with knowledge of the official and not personal character of him with whom he dealt; and he should have known whether the county clerk ordered him to publish this constitution, or caused it to be published in appellant's daily newspaper, or whether the county clerk furnished it to him as a matter of general news, for his accommodation, or for publication in some other newspaper of his than his daily newspaper, or for any other purpose. (Lebcher v. Commissioners, 9 Mont. 320.)
It cannot be contended that this publication by the appellant would be a charge against the county if the county clerk did not cause it to be published, or order or request it, and if it was done voluntarily by the appellant, even if it were furnished by the clerk, knowing that it was to be published. Public officers constantly furnish to newspapers matters of public interest for publication because the newspapers, in their ambition for news and the service of the public, want them. But it cannot be said that publications so made are on the order or request of, or caused by such public officers. If it were the fact that the county clerk furnished this copy of the constitution to appellant under the precise circumstances last above suggested, the allegátions of the complaint would describe just such a transaction; and such transaction would not constitute a charge against the county under the law and the other facts alleged.
Again, assume for the moment that the county clerk did cause the copy of the constitution to be published in appellant's daily newspaper — not that the complaint alleged it, but assume that it was a fact. Then the language, as it is found in this complaint, would not be untrue. It would be consistent with the fact that the clerk caused the publication. But, because the language of a pleading is not inconsistent with a state of facts, that is not alleging such state of facts. The complaint must allege the cause of action, and not simply set up matter which happens not to negative a cause of action. The cause of action must be found in the words of the complaint.
Again, even if it were considered that the allegation of the complaint should® be construed to the effect that the county clerk caused the publication to be made by appellant, the complaint does not state that it was to be made in appellant's daily newspaper named in the complaint, or in what newspaper of appellant.
It was such a simple matter to allege these facts constituting a cause of action — the appellant had such abundant opportunity to allege them, if they were true — and as he refused to do so, apparently with deliberation, it would seem that the pleader considered that he had set out his alleged cause of action as fully as the facts warranted; and those facts, as disclosed by the complaint, we are of opinion, for the reasons above expressed, were not sufficient.
The demurrer was properly sustained and the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed"
Blake, C. J., concurs.