City of Chicago v. People ex rel. Miller

Citations

• 80 Ill. 384

Syllabus

<p>1. School law—control of property and fund. The State has never granted irrevocably the title to the school property and fund to any body of persons. It has created corporate bodies to handle and control the fund for the use of the people, but has not parted with the power to control the fund in any mode the legislature may choose, for the use of schools. The Slate is virtually a trustee of the fund, and the municipalities and officers are but the agencies employed by the State in executing the trust.</p> <p>8. Same—constitutional guaranty. Article 8, section 3, of the constitution of 1870, securing the faithful application of the school fund and property to the objects of education, includes the lands and moneys embraced in the common school fund, and the college, seminary and university lands and funds in the hands of or under the control of the State, and clearly prohibits the perversion of the same to other purposes.</p> <p>3. Same—power to taw. As the State is prohibited from appropriating any of this fund to defray the expenses of the State, counties or other municipal bodies than those created for public school purposes, it can not do the same by the indirect means of taxation.</p> <p>4. Where moneys belonging to the school fund are loaned on mortgage security, and the title to real estate is acquired on foreclosure, and is held for school purposes only, the legislature has not the constitutional power to tax the same, although the legal title may be held in the name of a city which is entrusted with the fund and the public schools within its limits.</p> <p>5. Real estate acquired on foreclosure of mortgages given to secure the re-payment of school moneys loaned, in fact belongs to the State, in trust for school purposes, and, under the Revenue Law of 1874 (section 3), is exempted from taxation.</p>