Case Name: DAVIS vs. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (Ontonagon)
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1887-01-20
Citations: 1 McGrath 1395
Docket Number: 
Parties: DAVIS vs. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (Ontonagon),
Judges: 
Reporter: Mandamus cases decided in the Supreme court of Michigan
Volume: 1
Pages: 1395–1397

Head Matter:
DAVIS vs. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (Ontonagon),
64 M., 404.

Opinion:
To compel respondent to pay a bonus for building a State road.
Denied January 20, 1887.
By Act No. 19, Session Law of 1879, the counties of Baraga and Ontonagon had been authorized to construct a State road, for which an appropriation of swamp lands had been made. Tbe proposed contractor being unwilling to build the road for the appropriation, the board of supervisors of Ontonagon passed a resolution agreeing that the county should pay the contractor, on said road, a specified sum per mile in cash as a bonus, on its completion.
Held, that the road was a State enterprise and the bonus voted a.mere gift to the contractor, which the board had no power -to make.