Hewitt v. Board of Education

Citations

• 94 Ill. 528

Syllabus

<p>1. Practice—affirmance by Appellate Court is a finding of facts as in court below. Where there is evidence on the trial of a cause tending to prove the issues of fact in favor of the successful party, and the Appellate Court affirms the judgment below, this court must take the affirmance as a finding of the facts as they were found by the circuit court.</p> <p>2. Municipal bonds—of their validity—innocent purchasers. Municipal corporations, unless authorized by their charters, have no power to make and place in the market commercial paper, and all persons dealing in municipal bonds issued by the officers of a school district must see that the power to issue them exists. There is no presumption that such paper has been issued within the scope of their power, as is the case with corporations created for business purposes.</p> <p>3. Municipal bonds issued without power are void in whosesoever hands they may be found. So, a bond issued by the board of education of a school district, not for the purpose of raising money to purchase a school site, or for erecting a school building, they having no power under the statute to issue such paper for any other purpose, is void even in the hands of a person taking without notice, as no one can be an innocent purchaser of such void paper.</p> <p>4. Same—trustees of fund can not purchase bonds issued by themselves. Members of a board of education for a school district are virtually trustees of the school funds, and as such they are incapable of dealing with the fund as purchasers or donees, and bonds issued by them to raise money for the district and negotiated to members of the board are void, even though sold without any discount.</p>