State v. Levy Court

Citations

• 17 Del. 597
• 1 Penne. 597
• 43 A. 522
• 1899 Del. LEXIS 69

Syllabus

<p>Mandamzis—Construction of Constitution—State Appropriations— Political Subdivisions of State—Appropriations to Private Corporations—Public Appropriations.</p> <p>1. Counties, cities &c., are political subdivisions of the state, which is the concrete whole. When an appropriation is made by the financial agents of the county under and by virtue only of authority given by the legislature of a state, it is an appropriation made by the state through one of its subdivisions. This doctrine takes the Ferris Industrial School, in part sustained by appropriations of the Levy Court, out of the operation of Section i, of Article 9, of the Constitution, and the amendment of May 20; 1898, to its charter, is therefore constitutional and valid, even though it should be considered a private corporation.</p> <p>2. The appropriation authorized by said amendment is not to the cor-as such, but by its express language is “ towards the maintenance and education of each boy committed to the custody of the board of managers by the courts and it may be considered nothing more nor less than a contribution on the part of the state towards the maintenance of the minors in some other place than the common jail. The right so to maintain in some other place cannot be disputed. An appropriation towards the maintenance of the inmates of The Ferris Industrial School who have been committed to its custody by the state authorities, is not within either the letter or spirit of Section 8, Article 8, of the Constitution which forbids a county to lend its credit or appropriate money to, or assume the debt of, or become a shareholder or joint owner in or with any private corporation or any company or person whatever. Such appropriation is broadly public and impersonal in its scope.</p>