County of Franklin v. Layman

Citations

• 145 Ill. 138
• 33 N.E. 1094

Syllabus

<p>1. County—may employ counsel to question the validity of its bonds— in a suit to which it is not a party. A county board may lawfully employ counsel to test the validity of bonds issued by the county, and for this purpose may agree with counsel to test the validity of a tax levied to pay interest on such bonds, by aiding a tax-payer in resisting application for judgment against him for such tax. While the board may not employ counsel solely for the purpose of aiding a tax-payer in his private litigation, yet when the purpose of the litigation is to test the validity of the tax for the benefit of the public, it may employ counsel for that purpose, and it will be liable to pay for the legal services performed by the attorneys at law so employed by it, although the county is not a formal party to the litigation.</p> <p>2. A contract of a county board for the employment of counsel to resist an application for judgment against a single tax-payer for taxes assessed for the payment of county bonds illegally issued, for the purpose of testing their legality, is within the object and spirit of the statute authorizing county boards to take suitable measures for prosecuting or defending suits by or against their counties. That which is within the object, spirit and meaning of a statute, is as much within the statute as if it were within its letter.</p> <p>3. County Board—power to contract concerning county affairs—questioning the validity of county bonds. A county board has, under the statute, power to make all contracts and do all other acts in relation to the property and concerns of the county, necessary to the exercise of its corporate powers; and under its general powers it may take such steps and perform such acts as may, in the exercise of its discretion, defeat the collection of a tax assessed to pay a debt illegally charged against the county.</p> <p>4. It is not to be supposed that because the State auditor, under an act of the legislature, has levied a tax to pay