Hessin v. City of Manhattan

Citations

• 81 Kan. 153
• 105 P. 44
• 1909 Kan. LEXIS 319

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Injunction —• Public Officers — Duties Involving Discretion. Public officers who are required by law to perform duties involving the exercise of judgment and discretion can not be controlled by injunction while in good faith performing such duties.</p> <p>2. Contagious Diseases —■ Official Duties — Discretion—Injunction. The mayor and councilmen of a city of the second class, while in good faith providing means for the control and sup pression of smallpox which exists in the city and has increased so rapidly and to such an extent as to make an epidemic imminent, can not be controlled in such work by injunction.</p> <p>3. - Same. In a city of the second class large numbers of students were located in clubs and rooming houses throughout the city. The disease of smallpox appeared among such students, and increased to such an extent that the health officers were unable to control or diminish the contagion by the ordinary methods of quarantine. The officers of the city decided that a pesthouse was necessary to manage successfully the threatened epidemic. A stone building belonging to the city and formerly used for a floral hall when fairs were being . held stood in the city park, unoccupied. This building was prepared for temporary use as a pesthouse, and twelve patients were placed therein. No other building suitable for such purpose could be obtained in' the city. A citizen whose residence was 500 feet from this building, being afraid of contagion, caused the district judge to enjoin such officers from placing any more patients in the building and to remove those already there within ten days. Held, error.</p>