Washington Township v. Coler, et al., 2 C. C. A. 272.......... Watson v. City of Huron, 38 C. C. A. 264............. Weber v. Lee County, 6 Wall. 210. Webster v. Fargo, 181 U. S. 394. Wells v. Supervisors, 102 U. S. 625. Wesson v. Saline County, 20 C. C. A. 227. Numbers of citations. ...160, 354 .64, 173, 407, 788 .843, 1082 707 17, 88, 615, 1026 .104, 185 .283, 485, 963 498 Wesson v. Town of Mt. Vernon, 39 C. C. A. 301. Weyawega, Town of, v. Ayling, 99 U. S. 112.. Superior, 78 C. C. A. 169, 148 Fed. 1.. Wight v. Davidson, 181 U. S. 371... Wilkes County v. Coler, 180 U. S. 506... Wilkes County v. Coler, 190 U. S. 107, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 738.. Wilson County v. National Bank, 103 U. S. 770... Wilson County v. Oswego Township, 151 U. S. 56. Wilson v. Salamanca, 99 U. S. 499.. Wolff v. New Orleans, 103 U. S. 358. Woods v. Lawrence County, 1 Black, 386. 325 138 203 705 1031 132, 1042 .35, 332 999 327 .628, 675, 676 179 380 Wright v. East Riverside Irr. Dist., 70 C. C. A. 603, 138 Fed. 313.. CHAPTER I. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS AND OTHER PUBLIC BODIES; THEIR CHARACTER, POWERS, AND PURPOSES GENERALLY. A. Legislative control of public corporate bodies, restricted only by constitutional provisions. B. Municipal corporations; powers and functions as state agencies and local governmental bodies. C. Counties, townships, school districts,.etc.; corporate powers and character. The several States, for the purpose mainly of facilitating the administration of the State government, are divided and subdivided into counties, townships, school districts, precincts, etc.; and cities, villages, and incorporated towns organized by, or under express authority of, the State, though performing some similar functions as State governmental agencies, are designed especially to exercise powers and duties of local administration, not independent of, but in pursuance of, and in accordance with, the laws and policy of the State. These public bodies are all endowed by the State, in its discretion, with corporate powers suitable to, and coextensive with, the purposes of their creation. They are all properly designated as public corporations; but the latter class only cities, villages, etc.— are properly termed municipal corporations, though that term is usually applied to all such public corporate bodies. A municipal corporation proper is organized at the request, or with the consent, of the inhabitants of the territory included within its limits. It voluntarily assumes the powers, duties, and liabilities conferred upon it and incident to the purposes of its creation. On the other hand, counties, townships, school districts, and other similar bodies are organized or formed by, and at the will of, the State, and, possessing comparatively limited corporate powers, are really but quasi-corporate bodies. The fundamental differences in the character and purposes of these public bodies are generally recognized in the Constitutions of the several States, and in some instances their character, functions, and powers are in a measure prescribed or limited by those instruments; but, subject to such constitutional provisions and others intended to control or restrict the powers and discretion of the legislature, all such public bodies are subject to the control of, and derive all their powers from, the legislature of the State, which may, in its discretion, confer or withhold any of the usual powers, or change, modify, or abolish those which have been conferred, and may prescribe, in its discretion, the manner in which, and the agencies by which, such powers shall be exercised. It follows that a correct understanding of the character and extent of the legitimate functions and powers of any such body involves a knowledge of all constitutional and statutory provisions relating thereto. As such public bodies can only exercise delegated powers, all grants of authority to them are strictly construed, and generally no such powers will be implied unless their exercise is deemed to be necessary to carry out some power which has been expressly granted. A. Legislative Control of Public Corporate Bodies, Restricted only by Constitutional Provisions. No inherent power of legislation. Municipal corporations creatures of legislature. 2. (Wis. 1865.) "Municipal corporations are created by the legislature, and they derive all their powers from the source of their creation; and those powers are at all times subject to the control of the legislature. Such powers, also, in the absence of any con stitutional regulation forbidding it, may be enlarged or diminished, extended or curtailed, or withdrawn altogether, as the legislature shall determine." Rogers v. Burlington, 3 Wall. 654, 18 L. Ed. 79, affd. in Mitchell v. Burlington, 4 Wall. 270, 18 L. Ed. 350. Subject to legislative control. 3. (Ill. 1872.) "Such corporations are created by the legislature and they derive all their powers from the source of their creation, and those powers are at all times subject to the control of the legislature." St. Joseph Township v. Rogers, 16 Wall. 644, 21 L. Ed. 328. Counties, cities, and towns are instruments of the state. 4. (Neb. 1872.) "Counties, cities, and towns exist only for the convenient administration of the government. Such organizations are instruments of the State, created to carry out its will. When they are authorized or directed to levy a tax, or to appropriate its proceeds, the State through them is doing indirectly what it might do directly. It is true the burden of the duty may thus rest upon a single political division, but the legislature has undoubted power to apportion a ་ public burden among all the taxpayers of the State or among those of a particular section. In its judgment, those of a single section may reap the principal benefit from a proposed expenditure, as from the construction of a road, a bridge, an almshouse, or а hospital. It is not unjust, therefore, that they should alone bear the burden. This subject has been so often discussed, and the principles we have asserted have been so thoroughly vindicated, that it seems to be needless to say more, or even to refer at large to the decisions. A few only are cited." Railroad Co. v. County of Otoe, 16 Wall. 667, 21 L. Ed. 375. Are created by, and derive all their Powers from, the legislature. 5. (Wis. 1879.) Counties, cities, and towns are municipal corporations created by the authority of the legis lature, and they derive all their powers from the source of their creation, except where the Constitution of the State otherwise provides. They have no inherent jurisdiction to make laws or to adopt governmental regulations, nor can they exercise any other powers in that regard than such as are expressly or impliedly derived from their charters or other statutes of the State. Corporations of the kind are composed of all the inhabitants of the territory included within the political organization, each individual being entitled to participate in its proceed ings; but the powers of the organization may be modified or taken away at the mere will of the legislature, according to its own views of public convenience, and without any necessity for the consent of those composing the body politic. Corporate rights and privileges are usually possessed by such municipalities; and it is equally true that they are subject to certain legal obligations and duties, which may be increased or diminished at the pleasure of the legislature, from which all their powers are derived. "Institutions of the kind, whether called cities, towns, or counties, are the auxiliaries of the State in the important business of municipal rule; but they cannot have the least pretension to sustain their privileges or their existence upon anything like a contract between themselves and the 8. (S. Car. 1895.) When a township has been created by law, as a territorial division of a State, with no express grant of corporate powers, and with no definition or restriction of the purposes for which it is created, we are of opinion that it is within the power of the legislature, at any time, to declare it to be a corporation, and to confer upon it such and so many corporate powers, appropriate to be vested in a territorial corporation for the benefit of its inhabitants, as the legislature may think fit." Folsom v. Ninety-six, 159 U. S. 611, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 174, 40 L. Ed. 278. Corporate powers of county subject to legislative control. 66 9. (Colo. 1897.) A county is an organized political subdivision of the State. It has such power, and such only, to contract loans and incur other forms of indebtedness as is expressly or by fair implication granted to it by the legislature of the State, which has plenary authority over that sub ject, as it has over all ordinary subjects of legislation, except in so far as its authority is taken away, curtailed, or restricted by the controlling force and effect of the provisions of the State Constitution." Dudley v. Board of Comrs. of Lake County, Colo., 26 C. C. A. 82, 80 Fed. 672. B. Municipal Corporations; Powers and Functions as State Agencies and Local Governmental Bodies. Legislative control. 10. (Ind 1860.) “ 'Municipal corporations are created by the authority of the legislature, and Chancellor Kent says they are invested with subordinate legislative powers, to be exercised for local purposes connected with the public good, and such powers are subject to the control of the legislature of the State. 2 Kent's Com. p. 275." Bissell v. City of Jeffersonville, 24 How. 287, 16 L. Ed. 664. Are subordinate branches of the domestic government of the state; the powers of taxation, borrowing money, etc. 11. (Tenn. 1873.) "A municipal corporation is a subordinate branch of the domestic government of a State. It is instituted for public purposes only; and has none of the peculiar qualities and characteristics of a trading corporation, instituted for purposes of private gain, except that of acting in a corporate capacity. Its objects, its responsibilities, and its powers are different. As a local governmental institution, it exists for the benefit of the people within its corporate limits. The legislature invests it with such powers as it deems adequate to the ends to be accomplished. The power of taxation is usually conferred for the purpose of enabling it to raise the necessary funds to carry on the city government and to make such public improvements as it is authorized to make. As this is a power which immediately affects the entire constituency of the municipal body which exercises it, no evil consequences are likely to ensue from its being conferred; although it is not unusual to affix limits to its exercise for any single year. The power to borrow money is different. When this is exercised the citizens are immediately affected only by the benefit arising from the loan; its burden is not felt till afterwards. Such a power does not belong to a municipal corporation as an incident of its creation. To be possessed it must be conferred by legislation, either express or implied. It does not belong, as a mere matter of course, to local governments to raise loans. Such governments are not created for any such purpose. Their powers are prescribed by their charters, and those charters provide the means for exercising the powers; and the creation of specific means excludes others. Indebtedness may be incurred to a limited extent in carrying out the objects of the incorporation. Evidences of such indebtedness may be given to the public creditors. But they must look to and rely on the legitimate mode of raising the funds for its payment. That mode is taxation. "Our system of local and municipal government is copied, in its general features, from that of England. No evidence is adduced to show that the practice of borrowing money has been used by the cities and towns of that country without an act of Parliament authorizing it. We believe no such practice has ever obtained." The Mayor v. Ray, 19 Wall. 468, 23 L. Ed. 164. A city a political subdivision of state. 12. (La. 1877.) "A city is only a political subdivision of the State, made for the convenient administration of the government. It is an instrumentality, with powers more or less enlarged, according to the requirements of the public, and which may be increased or repealed at the will of the legislature. In directing therefore a particular tax by such corporation, and the appropriation of the proceeds to some special municipal purpose, the legislature only exercises a power through its subordinate agent which it could exercise directly." New Orleans v. Clark, 95 U. S. 644, 24 L. Ed. 521. Are local governmental agencies of the state, with only delegated powers. 13. (III. 1883.) "Municipal corporations are created to aid the State gov ernment in the regulation and administration of local affairs. They have only such powers of government as are expressly granted them, or such as are necessary to carry into effect those that are granted. No powers can be implied except such as are essential to the objects and purposes of |