Houston v. People ex rel. Peoria & Rock Island Railway Co.

Citations

• 55 Ill. 398

Syllabus

<p>1. Ministerial officers—not to decide whether they shall act—countersigning bonds by a town clerk. Where bonds issued by á township on a subscription to the stock of a railroad company, are required by law to be countersigned by the town clerk before being delivered, such act of countersigning is a mere ministerial act, and it is not the province of such clerk, when called upon to do the act, to determine whether the proper steps have been taken to authorize the issuance of the bonds.</p> <p>2. So upon an application for a mandamus to compel a town clerk to countersign such bonds, which had been executed by the town supervisor, it was held, the clerk could not set up matters affecting the legality of the steps required by law to be taken before the bonds could properly issue, as a reason for refusing to countersign them. The law provides another mode for determining such a question.</p>