Supervisors v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
In error to the Circuit Court for tlie District of Iowa; the case being thus: On the 13th of May, A.D. 1869, one Reynolds obtained in the court' just named a judgment against Carroll County, Iowa, for the sum of $19,946. The judgment was for the amount due upon sundry county warrants issued for the ordinary expenditures of the county; all issued after January 1st, 1865. An execution having been awarded upon the judgment and returned “ nulla bona,” Reynolds sued out a writ of…
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In error to the Circuit Court for tlie District of Iowa; the case being thus: On the 13th of May, A.D. 1869, one Reynolds obtained in the court' just named a judgment against Carroll County, Iowa, for the sum of $19,946. The judgment was for the amount due upon sundry county warrants issued for the ordinary expenditures of the county; all issued after January 1st, 1865. An execution having been awarded upon the judgment and returned “ nulla bona,” Reynolds sued out a writ of mandamus to compel the board of supervisors of the county .to levy a specific tax sufficient to pay the debt, interest,…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Strong
court.
It is very plain that a mandamus will not be awarded to compel county officers of a State to do any act which they are not authorized to do by the laws of the State from which they derive their powers. Such officers are the creatures of the statute law, brought into existence for public purposes, and having no .authority beyond that conferred upon them by the author of their being. And it may be observed that the office of a writ of mandamus is not to create duties, but to compel the discharge of those already existing. A relator must always have a clear right to the performance of a…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Green v. Lessee of NealSupreme Court of the United States · 1832
- McKeen v. Delancy's LesseeSupreme Court of the United States · 1809
- Clark, Dodge & Co. v. City of DavenportSupreme Court of Iowa · 1863
- Appleton v. BaconSupreme Court of the United States · 1863
3Cited by60 opinions
- Douglass v. County of PikeSupreme Court of the United States · 1880
- Supreme Lodge, Knights of Pythias v. MeyerSupreme Court of the United States · 1924
- United States v. County of ClarkSupreme Court of the United States · 1877
- Grand Island & Northern Wyoming Railroad v. BakerWyoming Supreme Court · 1896
- Puget Sound Gillnetters Ass'n v. MoosWashington Supreme Court · 1977
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