Bullitt County v. Washer

Citations

• 130 U.S. 142
• 9 S. Ct. 499
• 32 L. Ed. 885
• 1889 U.S. LEXIS 1733

Syllabus

<p>Amendments are discretionary with the court below, and are not reviewable here.</p> <p>In Kentucky when the record of a County Court, composed of the county judge and a majority of the justices of the peace of the county, shows affirmatively an adjudication of the necessity of a construction contract ; an appropriation for preliminary work uponyt: the appointment of an agent to make the contract; and the levy o”f taxes to pay for work done Under it, it is not necessary, fir order to fix liability on the county,' that the record should further show that the contract was reported to the court with the name of the person making it; that it was filed in the court, or that-it was accepted by the county judge.</p> <p>When a body like the county courts of Kentucky has judicial powers, and also large administrative and executive powers, and is by law authorized to employ agents in the execution of. the latter branch of powers, the acts ' of the agents are hot in every case required to appear of record.</p> <p>' When a County Court in Kentucky, constituted as the law requires, enters into a construction contract on behalf of the county in the manner prescribed by law, and charges the county with the amount specified therein, its jurisdiction in that special mode of organization ceases; and it is then the legitimate' province of the County Court, held by the county judge alone, to superintend and control the erection of the structure.</p> <p>As a general rule ,in Kentucky, when any power is conferred or duty imposed . by statute upon a County Court, the^term is understood to mean a court held by the presiding judge alone, and not in conjunction with the justices, and should be held so to mean, even when used in connection with fiscal matters, if it relates to mere ministerial duties.</p>