menced by the trustees of the district for school moneys not paid over by former trustees, unless by a special resolution of the district.

Both resolutions mentioned in the appeal were adopted, under a misapprehension of the powers and duties of the inhabitants when assembled in school district meetings.

Every trustee is bound by law yearly to render an account to the district, of the moneys received and paid out by him, and to file said account with the district clerk, and also upon going out of office to pay over any balance of money remaining in his hands to his successors in office.

For any neglect or refusal to render such account or to pay over such balance, the delinquent forfeits to the use and benefit of the district the sum of $25.00, to be sued for and recovered either by his successors in office or by the town superintendent. The town superintendent (supervisor) may also sue the trustees for unpaid balances in their hands. It requires no vote of the district to authorize such suit to be brought, and a vote directing such suits to be brought, or not to be brought, is a nullity.

Per Morgan, March, 1848.

The trustees of a school district have no power to correct a tax list after a portion of the tax has been collected without permission from the department of public instruction.

The town superintendent of Crown Point, having, February 19, 1847, regularly formed a new district in said town, served a notice upon Aaron T. Townsend, a taxable inhabitant of said district, together with a copy of the order forming the district, requiring him to notify each taxable inhabitant of a district meeting to be held on the first of March following. Accordingly notice was given to the inhabitants by notifying them of the time and place of holding the meeting.

A meeting was held on the 1st of March, and adjourned to the 15th, at which a tax was voted to build a school-house. The tax list was made out by the trustees within thirty days, as required by law, and was put into the hands of the collector on the 22d of January, 1848. On the 5th of February, the trustees corrected the tax list without the approval of this department, having discovered errors in it and attaching the corrected list to the old warrant delivered it to the collector. This was an irregularity on the part of the trustees after a portion of the tax had been collected. The original tax list is the one which is in force, and if the trustees have discovered an error in it they may, after refunding any amount that may have been collected on such tax list, if the same shall be required, amend and correct such tax list in conformity to law, and redeliver it to the collector with the old warrant attached.

Per Morgan, June, 1848.

Where one trustee engages a teacher to teach in the place designated by a district meeting and the other two engage a teacher to teach in a place selected by themselves, neither is a legal school.

One trustee cannot legally engage a teacher for the district, neither can two trustees legally engage a teacher, to teach in a place designated by themselves when the district have selected another place.

The school-house in District No. 7, Guilford, Chenango county, was destroyed by fire in January, 1847. In February following, the inhabitants in district meeting, voted to hire a temporary place for the school. Accordingly a school was regularly opened on the 12th of May, 1847, in the place so designated. In the following winter two of the trustees opened a school in another place, without the vote of the district and gave an order upon the town superintendent for two-thirds of the teacher's money apportioned to the district, which was paid.

In the meantime, Mr. Mills, the other trustee opened a school in the house which had been designated by the district for the summer school. Each party claims a right to the public money, but neither is entitled to it, as neither school was legally established.

In all cases the inhabitants of a district are to designate the place where the school shall be kept, and trustees alone are responsible for the expenses incurred in support of a school opened by them without this authority from the district.

One trustee cannot hire a teacher or open a school without the concurrence of at least one other trustee. Nor is any act of the trustees valid, without all being consulted, and without a concurrence of a majority.

The public money obtained on the order of the two trustees, could not be applied to the payment of their teacher, as the school was not a district school.

It is therefore hereby adjudged and decided, that the public money apportioned to District No. 7, Guilford, for teachers wages, cannot be applied to the payment of either of the teachers employed in the schools hereinbefore mentioned.

Per Morgan, July 14, 1848.

Trustees have no lien on moneys belonging to the district, for expenses incurred by them in its behalf.

they have been directed by the district to act, they can indemnify themselves by levying a tax without a vote of the district for that purpose.

Mr. Charles Kendall, a trustee of District No. 3, Bethany, Genesee county, had in his hands $18.18 belonging to said district. At a special meeting, held May 6, 1848, said sum was appropriated by a vote of the district for the purchase of a stove and other purposes.

Mr. Kendall claims that the district should pay him for the use of a stove bought by him, and placed in the school-house without the authority of a vote of the district. The district refused to purchase the stove of Mr. Kendall, bought by him in good faith, and he retains in his hands $3 for the use thereof. The good or bad designs either of

Mr. Kendall or of the district, can in no wise affect the case, so as to render the district liable for the stove.

Mr. Kendall also claims that he should be allowed $3, which he alleges he paid for the district, in pursuance of a vote of the district. It is not stated when nor for what purpose the $3 were expended, nor are any dates given, except that the annual report of the trustees in 1847, acknowledged the $3, as a debt due Mr. Kendall from the district. But the district clerk certifies that the records of the district contain no mention of the said $3.

Mr. Kendall fails to establish a good claim against the district for the $6.

Per A. G. Johnson, Dep. Supt., August 5, 1848.

The official acts of two trustees, performed without notifying or consulting the other, are illegal and void.

At a district meeting held in District No. 7, Guilford, Chenango county, September 5th, 1848, a resolution was passed directing the school to be kept in a room near Samuel Godfrey's, three years from the 1st day of April preceding.

It appears that the school-house in District No. 7, was burned in January, 1847. On the 20th of February, 1847, a meeting was held in the district, at which a site for a school-house was designated. This meeting was adjourned to the 27th of the same month, when the vote establishing the site was rescinded. Two of the trustees called

a special meeting, to be held on the 15th of September, 1847, without notifying or consulting the other trustee. At this meeting, a tax was voted to pay for the site of a school-house, without designating the same, and also a tax to build a school-house.

The two trustees made out a tax list, dated December 24, 1847, and delivered it with their warrant attached, to the collector, on the 4th of January following, more than three months after the tax was voted. With the money thus raised, a school-house was built upon the site selected by the district, on the 20th day of February, but which was annulled by said district, at the adjourned meeting of the 27th of the same month.

The proceedings, in raising the tax and building the school-house cannot be sustained. The meeting called by two trustees, without consulting or notifying the other trustee, was illegal, and the votes of that meeting were void.

It is therefore decided that the house built upon the site not established by the district, and with a tax not legally raised, is not the school-house of the district, and that the vote of the district taken at the meeting of the 5th of September, 1848, ordering the school to be kept "in the room near Samuel Godfrey's," was legal.

Per Morgan, November 16, 1848.

Where a person voted at a district meeting on the ground that he had $50 in personal property liable to taxation, it is the duty of the trustees to include him in their tax list, even though his name be not on the assessment roll of the town, and if they neglect to do so, the department will set aside their assessment, and order them to include the person so left out.

At a district meeting held in District No. 8, Marcy, Oneida county, on the 18th day of August, 1848, a tax of $100 was voted to be raised by two equal installments, for the purpose of building a schoolhouse.

The trustees made out a tax list for the whole amount, and after giving the notice required by law, and no one appearing before them to claim reduction, delivered it with their warrant attached to the collector.

Objection is now made to this assessment, because persons are not included in the tax list who voted at the meeting to raise the tax, upon the qualification of having personal property to the amount of $50 liable

to taxation.

In making out the tax list, trustees should assess all the taxable inhabitants of their district, whether they are included in the last assessment roll of the town or not. But they are not required to include a person in a tax list, upon the supposition that he has personal property liable to taxation. They must have satisfactory proof of it, as

⚫ that a person has come into possession of property since the last assess

ment roll of the town, by inheritance or otherwise, or as in the present case, that a person voted at a district meeting under the qualification of having $50 personal property liable to taxation.

The trustees must include such persons in their tax list. It is therefore hereby decided that the tax list made out by the trustees of District No. 8, Marcy, in which all the taxable inhabitants of the district were not included, is illegal.

Per Morgan, November 20, 1848.

Trustees of a school district have the sole power of making contracts relating to their districts, and of accepting the work performed under them.

The trustees of District No. 7, Depuyster, St. Lawrence county, by authority from the district, contracted with a builder to construct a school-house, to be completed by the 1st of November, 1848. The house was not completed until about a month after the time specified, and was not such an one in every particular as was contemplated in the

contract.

After consultation, the trustees accepted the building, thinking it better to do so than to subject themselves and the district to further trouble.

The acceptance of the building is appealed from, on the ground that the taxable inhabitants of the district have been wronged.

The trustees of a school district have the sole power of making contracts relating to their district, and of accepting the work performed under them. And in the absence of fraud or bad faith, there appears to be no way of rendering them liable for their acts.

In the present case, there appears to be no evidence of bad faith or intention to defraud the district. This department cannot therefere interfere.

Per Morgan, January 27, 1849.

The trustees of a district are the only legal authority by which the vote of a district can be carried into execution.

At a special meeting held in District No. 2, Centreville, Allegany county, November 4th, 1848, it was voted to change the site of the school-house, by a majority of votes. The district being an altered one this vote was sufficient.

The site selected is situated at the extreme southern part of the district, making the distance which children residing in the extreme northern part of the district would be compelled to travel, about four miles.

The inhabitants authorized Mr. Asa Robbins to superintend the removal of the house, without being associated with the trustees.

The trustees forbade Mr. Robbins to move the house from the old site. He, however, disregarding their remonstrance, located it upon the new site.

The trustees of a district are the only legal authority by which the votes of the district can be carried into execution. And although the inhabitants at a district meeting may direct that the trustees shall contract with a certain person to perform certain work, and that such person shall be associated with the trustees in such work, they cannot authorize such person to do any act, nor can the district contract with him, except through the trustees

The vote directing Mr. Robbins to superintend the removal of the school-house without the intervention of the trustees, was therefore illegal. And Mr. Robbins became a trespasser, after being forbidden by the trustees to move the school-house.

Per Morgan, February 3, 1849.

It is the duty of the inhabitants of a school district to dispose of the old schoolhouse, and to apply the avails thereof towards purchasing a new house and site. Neglecting so to do, this department will set aside proceedings to raise a tax for building the new house.

The points relied upon by the appellants are in substance, as follows: 1st. That the district not being an altered one, and the site having been changed by a majority vote, and without the certificate of the town superintendent, the proceedings were invalid on this account.

To this it is a sufficient answer that the district had no title to the site on which the school-house stood, and it was therefore lawful for a majority of the inhabitants to direct the purchase of a site without the certificate of the town superintendent.