State ex rel. Dawson v. City of Harper

Citations

• 94 Kan. 478
• 146 P. 1169
• 1915 Kan. LEXIS 111

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Quo Warranto — City of Second Class — Jurisdiction Over Added Territory — Ouster—Burden of Proof on the State. In a proceeding by the state in courts of general jurisdiction to inquire by what authority a municipality exercises governmental functions the doctrine that the burden of proof is upon the defendant and that the state is not required to show anything rests upon the common-law theory as to the nature and character of informations in quo warranto and has no application in this state.</p> <p>2. Same — Writ of Quo Warranto Abolished — Civil Action Substituted — Presumptions as Buies of Evidence. Section 679 of the code abolishes the writ of quo warranto and substitutes therefor a civil action governed by the same rules of procedure as other actions. Presumptions as rules of evidence may be invoked against the state in such an action as readily as against an individual in ordinary -civil actions.</p> <p>8. Same — City of Second Class — Added Territory — Ouster— Answer, of - City — Stated Good Defense. The state brought proceedings in quo warranto to oust the city of Harper, a city of the second class, from exercising authority over certain territory. The answer alleged that in 1884, when the defendant was a city of the third class,' the then owner of the land executed and filed for record a plat of the land as and for an addition to the city; that part of the land was platted and part unplatted, and that the land in controversy has ever since been treated by the owner and by the city in every respect as part of and within the corporate limits of the city; that in 1889, as part of the proceedings by which the defendant changed from a city of the third to a city of the second class, the mayor and council certified to the governor an accurate description by metes and bounds of all lands within the limits of the city as it then existed, which description included the territory now in controversy, and that thereupon the governor i