Sanbornton v. Tilton et al.

Sanbornton v. Tilton & a.

The amount awarded to the several towns in this state by the state commissioners, under the reimbursement acts, so called, was designed to be in the nature of, and to be treated as, a debt due from the state to the towns for a portion of the amount expended by the towns in furnishing men for the service of the United States in the late war.

Hence, when a town had been divided after the men had been furnished and after the war was over, the legislature took no notice of this change, but awarded the whole amount to the old town, which furnished the men.

The act, dividing the town of Sanbornton in 1869, provided that all property and “ all debts, claims, and demands of every kind, now Owned,by and due to the town of Sanbornton, * * should be divided between the two new towns in a certain proportion. Meld, that the amount assigned to the old tOAvn under the “reimbursement acts,” so called, of 1870 and 1871, should be divided in the same proportion between the new towns.

And, as the act of division provided that the county commissioners should make such divisions between the new towns — Held, that a bill in equity brought in this court to procure such division, in the first instance should be dismissed.

When the county commissioners have in such a case, upon proper application, heard the parties and made their report, their decision is final and conclusive, and can only be inquired into by this court on the ground of fraud, partiality, or other misconduct of the commissioners, or some irregularity in their proceedings.

TO THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT — belknap ss.

The town of Sanbornton, in said county, complains against Solon A. Carter, of Concord, in the county of Merrimack, treasurer of the state of New Hampshire, and the town of Tilton, in said county of Belknap, and says, that, by virtue of the act of the legislature of said state, passed at the June session, 1870, entitled “An act to authorize a reimbursement of the municipal war expenses,” and of the act in addition thereto, passed at the June session, 1871, there was found due to said town of Sanbornton towards said reimbursement the sum of $22,488.38, which sum is now in the possession of the said Solon A. Carter, treasurer as aforesaid, and stands, by the report of the commissioners appointed under said acts, as due to the said town of Sanborton.

That the said town of Tilton wrongfully claims that $12,365.83 of said sum of $22,483.33 legally belongs to said Tilton; that said Tilton has demanded the same of said Carter, treasurer as aforesaid, and that said Garter illegally threatens to pay over and deliver to said Tilton said sum of $12,365.83.

Wherefore the said town of Sanbornton prays that the said Solon A. Garter, treasurer of the state of New Hampshire, be restrained by injunction of this honorable court from paying over to said town of Tilton said sum of $12,365.83, or any part of said sum of $22,483.33; and that said town of Tilton be restrained by injunction from receiving the same, and for such other relief as may be just.

The town of Sanbornton, by Eastman, Page Allin, their solicitors.

IN THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT — %elknap ss.

To Mr. Chief Justice Sargent:'

The town of Sanbornton prays that the injunction sought in the foregoing bill be granted by the said chief justice, the said bill having been duly filed, and the said court not being in session.

Town of Sanbornton, by Eastman, Page Allin, their solicitors.

Upon the petition for a temporary injunction, in June, 1873, a hearing was had, and the following facts were proved:

In 1869, the town of Sanbornton was divided into two towns, Sanbornton and Tilton. In that division, Sanbornton was to have x4050-of of all the town property, and was to assume the same proportion of the town debts, as they then existed, and Tilton was to have x505¡r of the town property, and pay the same proportion of the existing town debts.. Nothing was said about any claim upon the state specifically. The proportion of property and of debts that should be assigned to each was a matter of compromise when the town was divided.

After the passage of the “reimbursement acts,” so called, of 1870 and 1871, upon an exhibition to the commissioners appointed by the state for that purpose, of the number of men furnished by the old town of Sanbornton for the United States service during the war of the rebellion, an award was made to Sanbornton of $22,483.33, and no award was made to the new town of Tilton. The award in every case was made to the town that furnished the men; and where such town had been divided after the men were furnished, and before the award was made, the whole amount was awarded as though no division had been made.

Tilton applied to the court by bill in equity for x5,y50-of the award, and the court dismissed the bill for want of jurisdiction, holding that, under the law by which the town was divided, the application must first be made to the county commissioners to make the division. Application was thereupon made by the towii of Tilton to the county commissioners of Belknap county to make a division of this award between the new towns, and they, after hearing the parties, decided that Tilton was entitled to receive and Sanbornton X05<r of said * award, and made report accordingly.

Thereupon this bill was filed by the new town of Sanbornton to p vent Tilton from obtaining the amount awarded them by the com commissioners, the plaintiff claiming,—

1. That there was no property here which had an existence.at t time of the division in 1869, which the county commissioners cm divide; and

2. The award by the state commissioners was to Sanbornton aloi and that Tilton has no right to interfere with it; that legislative acti is necessary before that town can receive any of the bonds or moi under the reimbursement acts.

The hearing upán the petition for the temporary injunction was: journed into this court', at its June law term, for the decision of < whole court.

Eastman, Page Albín, for Sanbornton.

Pike if Blodgett and Barnard Sanborn, for Tilton.