Stevens v. St. Mary's Training School

Citations

• 144 Ill. 336
• 18 L.R.A. 832

Syllabus

<p>1. Counties — their powers. A county has power to make and do all acts in relation to its property and concerns necessary to the exercise of its corporate powers; and each county board has power to manage the county funds and the county business, and to examine and settle all accounts against the county.</p> <p>2. Same — judicial control. Counties are public corporations created for the purpose of convenient local government, and possess only such powers as are conferred upon them by law. Their powers are more limited than those of incorporated cities and villages. But in the exercise of such discretionary or legislative powers as are conferred on them by law, they are as much beyond judicial control as other municipal corporations.</p> <p>3. Municipal corporations — power of courts of equity to restrain them. Tax payers and property holders may resort to equity to restrain municipal corporations and their officers from making unauthorized appropriations of the corporate funds, and from misapplying the moneys of the corporation and from making payment of illegal claims. But, as a general rule, the restrictions upon the right of a court of equity to interfere with the action of municipal bodies extend to cases where these bodies are exceeding their lawful powers.</p> <p>4. The weight of authority and the tendency of the more recent decisions are in favor of the position that the restraining power of the courts should be directed against the enforcement, rather than the passage of unauthorized orders and resolutions or ordinances by municipal corporations.</p> <p>5. There are instances when this restriction upon the power of the courts will sometimes be disregarded, as when the corporate body is exercising mere business or ministerial, rather than legislative, powers, or is wrongfully disposing of property held by it as trustee for the public, or is attempting to act upon matters not, by its charter or by the law, subject to its jurisdiction.</p> <p>6. It is well s