Kamp v. People ex rel. Selby

Citations

• 141 Ill. 9
• 30 N.E. 680
• 1892 Ill. LEXIS 954

Syllabus

<p>1. Village organization—questioned by quo warranto—duties of county judge. The duties imposed by the statute upon the county judge in respect of the steps to be taken for the organization of a village under the general law, are not judicial duties, and his acts in that respect are purely ministerial. Therefore, his action in calling an election for village trustees has not the conclusive effect of a judgment. He decides nothing, and therefore the validity of the organization is open to attack, and may be questioned by quo warranto.</p> <p>2. Same—petition and finding of county judge not conclusive as to number of inhabitants. The calling of an election to determine whether certain territory, not exceeding two square miles, shall be organized into a village, the holding of such election, the declaring of the result, and the declaring the organization of the village, all presuppose that the proposed territory contains at least three hundred inhabitants residing therein. But the county judge is not required to find that fact, and the statute does not make the petition conclusive evidence of the facts therein stated.</p> <p>3. Same—attaching village organization—what answer must contain— three hundred inhabitants requisite to village organization. Where the validity of the organization of a village is contested by quo warrantoy those exercising corporate acts must justify, and in doing so, must in their answer state particularly the organization, and this can not be done without stating the jurisdictional fact of the residence of at least three hundred inhabitants in the territory composing the village. The People are not bound to show anything.</p> <p>4. In such case, the failure of the defendants to set up, by answer, the residence of the requisite number of inhabitants, on no principle will excuse them from proving that fact, that being essential to their justification.</p> <p>5. A State’s attorney, by introducing in evidence on a quo warranto a petition for the o