Elmore v. Drainage Commissioners

Citations

• 135 Ill. 269
• 25 N.E. 1010

Syllabus

<p>1. Municipal corporations—negligence or torts of officers, etc.—corporate liability. Municipal corporations proper, such as villages, towns and cities, which are incorporated by special charters or voluntarily organized under general laws, are liable to individuals injured by their negligent or tortious conduct, or that of their agents and servants, in respect to corporate duties.</p> <p>2. Same—involuntary quasi corporations—as, counties, townships, etc. —liability for negligence. Public involuntary quasi corporations, such . as counties, townships, school districts, road districts, etc., are not liable to respond in damages in a civil action for neglect in the performance of duties, unless such action is given by the statute.</p> <p>3. These and other quasi corporations exist under general laws of ■.the State, which apportion its territory into local subdivisions for the purpose of civil and governmental administration, and impose upon the people residing in said several subdivisions, precise and limited public duties, and clothe them with restricted corporate functions, coextensive with the duties devolved upon them. In such organizations-the duties and their correlative powers are assumed in invitum, and there is no liability for civil damages for neglect in the performance of such duties.</p> <p>4. Same—drainage district—of its corporate character, and liabilities —remedy for wrongful act of commissioners. A drainage district formed .under the statute of 1879 is not a private corporation, but is a public corporation, and as such is not liable for the negligent or tortious acts of its commissioners. It is not, strictly speaking, a municipal corporation,</p> <p>5. Eor damages to a land owner in a drainage district, caused either by the tortious act of the commissioners in discharging additional water into a ditch over his land and overflowing the same, not contemplated in the original assessment of damages against the district, or by negligence or misconduct o