People ex rel. Munson v. Bartels

Citations

• 138 Ill. 322
• 27 N.E. 1091

Syllabus

<p>1. Official action—when judicial—liability of officer. A judicial* officer will not be held, liable for acts done by him in the exercise of his judicial functions, if the act is within the scope of his jurisdiction-official action is judicial when it is the result of judgment or discretion.</p> <p>2. Where an officer has the authority to hear and determine the rights of person or property, or the propriety of doing an act, he is vested with judicial powers. When the powers confided to him are so far discretionary that he can exercise them or withhold them, according to his own judgment as to what is necessary and proper, the power will be judicial or quasi judicial.</p> <p>3. Same—when ministerial—liability of officer. Official duty is ministerial when it is absolute, certain and imperative, involving merely the execution of a set task, and when the law which imposes it prescribes and defines the time, mode and occasion for its performance with such certainty that nothing remains for judgment or discretion. Official action is ministerial when it is the result of performing a certain and specific duty arising from fixed and designated facts.</p> <p>4. Where the duty imposed on an officer is purely ministerial, he ■will be held liable for any injury to another which results from his failure to perform it, or from his performance of it in a negligent or unskillful manner.</p> <p>5. Where the same officer is charged with the performance of both judicial and ministerial duties, he will not be protected by the judicial privilege while in the exercise of his ministerial functions.</p> <p>6. Acknowded g-ment oe deed — under former law — quasi judicial. Under prior laws not now in force in this State, the taking of the acknowledgment of a deed of a husband and wife, in which the officer was required to make a privy examination of the wife, was a quasi judicial act.</p> <p>7. Same—under the present law—purely ministerial. The taking of an acknowledgment of a deed or mortga