Township

maintained.

CHAPTER XI.

LIBRARIES.

(130.) § 4752. SECTION 1. A township library shall be libraries to be maintained in each organized township, which shall be the property of the township, and shall not be subject to sale or alienation from any cause whatever. All actions relating to such library, or for the recovery of any penalties lawfully established in relation thereto, shall be brought in the name. of the township.

Who are en

leges of library.

(131.) § 4753. SEC. 2. All persons who are residents of titled to privi- the township shall be entitled to the privileges of the township library, subject to such rules and regulations as may be lawfully established in relation thereto: Provided, That persons residing within the boundaries of any school district in which a district library has been established shall be entitled to the privileges of such district library only.

Proviso.

Inspectors to

library and

library

(132.) § 4754. SEC. 3. The township board of school inhave charge of spectors shall have charge of the township library, and shall apply for and receive from the township treasurer all moneys appropriated for the township library of their township, and shall purchase the books and procure the necessary appendages for such library.

moneys.

Inspectors accountable

for care, etc., of library. Power of inspectors.

Township library.

Librarian, duties, etc.

School district may establish library.

Entitled to books and

moneys.

(133.) § 4755. SEC. 4. Said board shall be held accountable for the proper care and preservation of the township library, and shall have power to provide for the safe keeping of the same, to prescribe the time for taking and returning books, to assess and collect fines and penalties for the loss or injury of said books, and to establish all other needful rules and regulations for the management of the library, as said board shall deem proper, or the superintendent of public instruction may advise.

(134.) § 4756. SEC. 5. The board of school inspectors shall cause the township library to be kept at some central or eligible place in the township, which it shall determine. Such board shall also, within ten days after the annual township meeting, appoint a librarian, for the term of one year, to have the care and superintendence of said library, who shall be responsible to the board of school inspectors for the impartial enforcement of all rules and regulations lawfully established in relation to said library.

(135.) § 4757. SEC. 6. Any school district, by a twothirds vote at any annual meeting, may establish a district library, and such district shall be entitled to its just proportion of books from the library of any township in which it is wholly or partly situated, to be added to the district library, and also to its equitable share of any library moneys remaining unex

to have

pended in any such township or townships at the time of the establishment of such a district library, or that shall thereafter be raised by tax in such township or townships, or that shall thereafter be apportioned to the township to the inspectors of which the annual report of its director is made. (136.) § 4758. SEC. 7. The district board of any school District board district in which a district library may be established in ac- charge of cordance with the provisions of this act, shall have charge of district such library; and the duties and responsibilities of said district board in relation to the district library, and all moneys raised or apportioned for its support, shall be the same as those of the board of school inspectors are to the township library.

Libraries are within the proper range of school apparatus; and there is nothing in our laws which cuts off public corporations from accepting benevolent offerings to enable them to extend their usefulness and benefit their people, by enlarging their opportunities for culture and refinement without multiplying or increasing their burdens.-Maynard v. Woodard, 36 / 425, 427.

library.

intendent.

(137.) § 4759. SEC. 8. The school inspectors shall give Inspectors to in their annual report to the superintendent of public instruc- statistics to report library tion, such facts and statistics relative to the management of State superthe township library and the library moneys, as the superintendent of public instruction shall direct; and the district board of any school district having a library, shall cause to be given in the annual report of the director to the board of school inspectors, like facts and statistics relative to the district library, which items shall also be included by the said inspectors in their annual report.

of moneys

of moneys

(138.) § 4760. SEC. 9. In case the board of school in- Failure to spectors of any township, or the district board of any school report or district, shall fail to make the report required by the preced- to cause ing section, or in case it shall appear from the reports so made forfeiture that any township or school district has failed to use the thereafter. library money in strict accordance with the provisions of law, such township or district shall forfeit its share of the library moneys that are apportioned, and the same shall be apportioned to the several other townships and districts in the county as hereinafter provided: Provided, That in townships Proviso. where the boards thereof shall determine and report to the superintendent that the public will be better served by using the said money for general school purposes, no such forfeiture shall occur.

provide

with state

(139.) § 4761. SEC. 10. The superintendent of public state superinstruction shall annually, and previous to the tenth day of intendent to May, transmit to the clerk of each county a statement of the county clerk townships in his county that are entitled to receive library ment. moneys, giving the number of children in each of such townships between the ages of five and twenty years, as shall appear from the reports of the boards of school inspectors for the school year last ending; said clerk shall file such statement in his office, and shall forthwith furnish a copy thereof to the county treasurer.

Fines for

breach of penal laws

to be apportioned for township

and district libraries.

Voters may levy tax for support of libraries.

(140.) § 4762. SEC. 11. The clear proceeds of all fines for any breach of the penal laws of this State and for penalties or upon any recognizance in criminal proceedings, and all equivalents for exemption from military duty when collected in any county and paid into the county treasury, together with all moneys heretofore collected and paid into said treasury on account of such fines or equivalents, and not already apportioned, shall be apportioned by the county treasurer before the first day of June in each year, among the several townships in the county, according to the number of children therein, between the ages of five and twenty years, as shown by the statement of the superintendent of public instruction provided for in the preceding section, which money shall be exclusively applied to the support of the township and district libraries, and to no other purpose.

FINES, ETC.: See Const. xiii, 12, and notes thereto.

(141.) § 4763. SEC. 12. The qualified voters of each township shall have power at any annual township meeting, to vote a tax for the support of libraries established in accordance with the provisions of this act, and the qualified voters of any school district, in which a district library shall be established, shall have power, at any annual meeting of such district, to vote a district tax for the support of said district How tax to be library. When any tax authorized by this section shall have been voted, it shall be reported to the supervisor, levied and collected in the same manner as other township and school district taxes.

reported, assessed and collected.

District board may give or

sell books to township library.

(142.) § 4764. SEC. 13. The district board of any school district may donate or sell any library book or books belonging to such district to the board of school inspectors of the township or townships in which said district is wholly or partly situated, which book or books shall thereafter form a part of the township library.

Penalty on inhabitant for neglect of duty.

Penalty on district officer

for neglecting

CHAPTER XIII.

PENALTIES AND LIABILITIES.

(143.) § 4765. SECTION 1. Any taxable inhabitant of a newly formed district receiving the notice of the first meeting, who shall neglect or refuse duly to serve and return such notice, and every chairman of the first district meeting in any district, who shall wilfully neglect or refuse to perform the duties enjoined on him in this act, shall respectively forfeit the sum of five dollars.

(144.) § 4766. SEC. 2. Any person duly elected to the office of moderator, director, treasurer, or trustee of a school or refusing to district, who shall neglect or refuse, without sufficient cause, to accept such office and serve therein, or who, having entered

perform duties.

upon the duties of his office, shall neglect or refuse to perform any duty required of him by virtue of his office, shall forfeit the sum of ten dollars.

Am. 1901, Act 165.

Hinman v. Sch. Dist., 4/170.

If the district, by an officer's wilful act or neglect of duty, is subjected to suit or judgment, the district in its corporate capacity must recover the amount, but individual citizens, who have been taxed to satisfy the judgment, cannot recover their taxes from such officer.-Wall v. Eastman, 1 / 268.

neglect or

(145.) § 4767. SEC. 3. Any person duly elected or ap- Penalty on pointed a school inspector, who shall neglect or refuse, with- inspector for out sufficient cause, to qualify and serve as such, or who, hav- refusal. ing entered upon the duties of his office shall neglect or refuse to perform any duty required of him by virtue of his office, shall forfeit the sum of ten dollars.

neglecting to

(146.) § 4768. SEC. 4. If any board of school inspectors Liability of shall neglect or refuse to make and deliver to the township inspector for clerk their annual report as required by this act, within the report. time limited therefor, they shall be liable to pay the full amount of money lost by their failure, with interest thereon, to be recovered by the township treasurer in the name of the township, in an action of debt, or on the case; and if any town- Liability of ship clerk shall neglect or refuse to transmit the report herein township mentioned within the time limited therefor, he shall be liable to pay the full amount lost by such neglect or refusal, with interest thereon, to be recovered in an action of debt, or on the case.

clerk.

county clerk

for neglect

reports.

(147.) § 4769. SEC. 5. Any county clerk who shall neg- Liability of lect or refuse to transmit to the superintendent of public instruction the reports required by this act, within the time to transmit therefor limited, shall be liable to pay to each township the full amount which such township, or any school district therein, shall lose by such neglect or refusal, with interest thereon, to be recovered in an action of debt, or on the case. *(148.) § 4770. SEC. 6. All the moneys collected or re- How moneys ceived by any township treasurer under the provisions of account of either of the two last preceding sections, shall be apportioned neglected disposed of. and distributed to the school districts entitled thereto, in the same manner and in the same proportion that the moneys lost by any neglect or refusal therein mentioned would, according to the provisions of this act, have been apportioned and distributed.

collected on

supervisor

(149.) § 4771. SEC. 7. Any township clerk who shall Liability of township neglect or refuse to certify to the supervisor any school district clerk and taxes that have been reported to him as required by this act, in regard to and any supervisor wilfully neglecting to assess any such tax district taxes. shall be liable to any district for any damage occasioned thereby, to be recovered by the treasurer in the name of the district, in an action of debt, or on the case.

Am. 1901, Act 165.

When township board to

remove certain officers.

Township clerk to record order for removal.

(150.) § 4772. SEC. 8. The township board of each township, and in the case of fractional school districts, the township board of the township in which the district schoolhouse thereof is situated, shall have power and is hereby required to remove from office, upon satisfactory proof, after at least five days' notice to the party implicated, any district officer or school inspector who shall have illegally used or disposed of any of the public moneys entrusted to his charge, or who shall persistently and without sufficient cause refuse or neglect to discharge any of the duties of his office. And in case of such removal it shall be the duty of the township clerk of such township to enter in the records of such township the resolution or order of such board, for such removal; and such record of such resolution or order so entered, or a certified copy thereof, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the jurisdiction of such board and of the regularity of the proceedings for such removal, and (unless the party so removed shall, within thirty days after such removal, institute proceedings before a court of competent jurisdiction for the order of town- removal of such order for removal, or if after such thirty days such proceedings to obtain such removal shall be discontinued or dismissed) shall be conclusive evidence of jurisdiction and regularity, if it shall appear that the party so removed had five days' notice of the time and place fixed by said board for the hearing of the case as aforesaid.

Party removed may institute proceedings for removal of

ship board.

REMOVAL: When a member of the board is interested in the subject for consideration in the matter of removal, he is not competent to act.-Stockwell v. Twp. Bd. of White Lake, 22 / 341. When interest deemed too remote to disqualify. Hamtramck Twp. Bd. v. Holihan, 46/127. Proceedings to remove are not invalidated because the board did not meet to agree on the notice under which the proceedings were taken.-Wenzel v. Dorr Twp. Bd., 49/25. The statute contemplates that no steps shall be taken until the action of the proper authorities has been invoked by complaint of some definite violation of duty. But preliminary formalities may be waived.-Geddes v. Thomastown Twp., 46/318. The action of the board is final unless speedily brought up for review.-Id. The proceedings are in the nature of a judicial investigation. -Stockwell v. White Lake Twp. Board, 22 / 341.

CAUSES FOR REMOVAL: The township board is the exclusive judge of the facts on which it is authorized to remove a school officer.-Hamtramck Twp. Bd. v. Holihan, 46 / 127. Refusal to sign the director's orders for the payment of money is not alone sufficient cause for removal of the moderator, for he has a right to determine for himself whether the order should be issued. -Stockwell v. White Lake Twp. Bd., 22/341. Persistent refusal by a director, without cause, to make needed repairs in the school-house furniture, etc., is sufficient cause for removal.-Hamtramck Twp. Bd. v. Holihan, 46 / 127. Wilful refusal of a director to sign a teacher's contract, or to accept and file it, or to draw pay orders under the contract, and obstinate neglect to furnish necessary school supplies may be taken into account in proceedings for removal.-Geddes v. Thomastown, 46 / 316. A woman moderator cannot be removed for hiring her husband to teach the school.-Hazen v. Akron Twp. Bd., 48/188. Nor a director for the purchase, in his discretion, of new seats for the school-house, under an order of the annual meeting "to fix the school-house for the winter term."-McLaren v. Akron Twp. Bd., 48 / 189.

CERTIORARI: Lies to review the proceedings of a township board in removing a school officer.-Stockwell v. White Lake Twp. Bd., 22/341; Crawford v. Twp. Boards, 22 / 405; 24/248; Merrick v. Arbela Twp. Bd., 41 / 630. But mere insufficiency of evidence to establish the cause for removal will not warrant a reversal of the board's determination, the board being the exclusive judge of the facts.-Hamtramck Twp. Bd. v. Holihan, 46 / 127. Township clerk's return as to testimony taken by the board presumed true.-Taylor v. Shimmel, 107 / 676.