Whalim v. City of Macomb

Citations

• 76 Ill. 49

Syllabus

<p>1. Statute—when directory only. Where a statute specifies the time within which a public officer is to perform an official act regarding the rights and duties of others, it will be considered as directory merely, unless the nature of the act to be performed or the language used by the legislature shows that the designation of the time was intended as a limitation of the power of the officer.</p> <p>3. Where the charter of a city required the city authorities to publish a digest of its ordinances within one year after the grant of the charter, and every five years thereafter, it was held, in a suit by the city for the violation of an ordinance, that this requirement was only directory, and a neglect to observe it presented no ground for defeating a recovery.</p> <p>3. Ordinance—right to recover under not defeated because act was a breach of party's bond. In a suit by a city to .recover the penalty fixed by ordinance, for selling liquors contrary to the terms of his license, it is no defense that the defendant is liable to the city on his license bond for the same act, the ordinance prescribing that the penalties thereby imposed might be recovered in an action of debt, or as damages in a suit on the bond. The fact that the acts complained of were breaches of the bond, makes them none the less violations of the ordinance.</p> <p>4. Charter—forfeiture, how questioned. Whether a city has forfeited its charter, can only be raised in a direct proceeding bj7 scire facias or quo warranto. The question can not be raised in a suit for a violation of its ordinances.</p>