Martin v. People ex rel. Huck

Citations

• 87 Ill. 524

Syllabus

<p>1. Town—what is meant by the word in a statute. The word “ town,” as found in our statute, is not always used in the same sense. Under the township system, a town is a species of municipal incorporation, and constitutes an integral part of a county; and such towns are clearly interwoven with the management of county affairs, and generally embrace a township according to government surveys. The word, as used in the Rev. Stat. of 1845, referred to a different kind of incorporation. Such an organization was formerly always called “ an incorporated town,” while in our later statutes they are frequently called “villages,” but mean the same thing.</p> <p>2. Same—town of Lake. The town of Lake, in Cook county, under its special charter, is merely an incorporated town, or, in other words, an incorporated village, possessing all the powers usually conferred upon cities and villages, and of the character conferred upon cities and villages, by the general law of 1872.</p> <p>3. The town of Lake was and is a village, in the sense in which that word is used in section 168 of the general act of 1872, relating to cities and villages, and as such is authorized to adopt the provisions of article 9 of that act, for the collection of taxes and special assessments, by way of amendment to its charter.</p>