Hessin v. City of Manhattan
Supreme Court of Kansas
Appeal from Riley district court; Sam Kimble, judge. STATEMENT. This is a suit to enjoin the city of Manhattan from using one of its buildings as a pesthouse. It is a city of the second class. The State Agricultural College is located in that city. About 2000 students attend this college. These students room and board at clubs and boarding houses in the city. In the early spring of 1909 the smallpox appeared among the students in some of these clubs and boarding houses.
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Appeal from Riley district court; Sam Kimble, judge. STATEMENT. This is a suit to enjoin the city of Manhattan from using one of its buildings as a pesthouse. It is a city of the second class. The State Agricultural College is located in that city. About 2000 students attend this college. These students room and board at clubs and boarding houses in the city. In the early spring of 1909 the smallpox appeared among the students in some of these clubs and boarding houses. The contagion spread so rapidly that the board of health was unable to control it with any quarantine regulations or by any…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Graves, J.:
The city insists that its officers were charged, at the time this action was commenced, with the duty of providing means to prevent an epidemic of *155smallpox; that the performance of that duty involved the exercise of official discretion, which can not be judicially controlled by injunction.
It appears that the smallpox made its first appearance among the students who were boarding and rooming in clubs and boarding houses throughout the city. The presence of the disease was concealed by the owners of the houses, to avoid being closed by…
2Cases cited7 opinions
- Mayor of Baltimore v. Fairfield Improvement Co.Court of Appeals of Maryland · 1898
- Frazer v. City of ChicagoIllinois Supreme Court · 1900
- Dwelling-House Insurance v. WilderSupreme Court of Kansas · 1889
- First National Bank v. PeckSupreme Court of Kansas · 1890
- Board of Commissioners v. State ex rel. BeebeSupreme Court of Kansas · 1891
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3Cited by9 opinions
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- Griffith v. City of Los AngelesCalifornia Court of Appeal · 1947
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