herein contained shall be construed to exempt the securities, of said county superintendent from any liability as such securities, but they shall still be liable to the fund injured the same as if the members of the county board were not liable to them for neglect of their duty.

ARTICLE XII.

SCHOOL FUND.

SECTION 1. The common school fund of this State shall consist of the proceeds of a two-mill tax to be levied upon each dollar's valuation of the property in the State, annually, until otherwise provided by law, the interest on what is known as the school fund proper, being three per cent upon the proceeds of the sales of the public lands in the State, one-sixth part excepted, and the interest on what is known as the surplus revenue, distributed by act of congress and made a part of the common school fund by act of the Legislature, March 4, 1837.

§ 2. The State shall pay the interest mentioned in the preceding section at the rate of six per cent per annum, annually, to be paid into, and become a part of said school fund.

§ 3. On the first Monday in January in each and every year next after taking the census in the State, by federal or State authority, the Auditor of Public Accounts shall ascertain the number of children in each county in the State, under twenty one years of age, and shall thereupon make a dividend to each county of the sum from the tax levied and collected under the provisions of the first section of this article of this act, and of the interest due on the school fund proper and surplus revenue in proportion to the number of children in each county under the age aforesaid, and issue his warrant to the superintendent of schools of each county upon the collector thereof. Upon presentation of said warrant by the county superintendent to the collector of his county, said collector or the treasurer shall pay over to the county superintendent the amount of said warrant out of the first funds which may be collected by him and not otherwise appropriated by law, taking said superintendent's receipt therefor.

§ 4. The said warrant issued by the Auditor of Public Acoounts for the school fund tax, and for the interest of the school fund proper and surplus revenue, shall be received by the State Treasurer in payment of amounts due the State from county collectors; and on presentation by the State Treasurer of said warrants to said Auditor, he shall issue his warrant to said treasurer on the school fund, for the amount of the school fund tax warrants, and on the revenue fund for the amount of the warrants for interest on the school fund proper and surplus revenue. Dividends shall be made as aforesaid, according to the proportions ascertained to be due to each county, annually, thereafter until another census shall have been taken, and then dividends shall be made and continued as aforesaid, according to the last census.

§ 5. If any collector shall fail or refuse to pay the amount of the aforesaid Auditor's warrant, or any part thereof, by the first day of March, annually, or as soon thereafter as it may be presented, it shall be competent for the county superintendent to proceed against said collector and his securities in an action for debt, in any court having competent jurisdiction, and the said collector shall pay interest at the rate af twelve per centum per annum, to be assessed as damages upon the amount due, and which interest shall be included in the judgment obtained against him: Provided, that if it satisfactorily appears to the court that on said first day of March, or on the day of presentation for payment thereafter, that said collector had not, as yet, collected funds aufficient to pay said warrant, said interest shall not be allowed upon said warrant.

§ 6. All bonds, notes, mortgages, moneys and effects which have heretofore accrued or may hereafter accrue from the sale of the sixteenth section of the common school lands of any township or county, or from the sale of any real estate or other property taken on any judgment or for any debt due to the principal of any township or county fund, and all other funds of every description which have been or may hereafter be carried to and made part of the principal of any township or county fund, by any law which has heretofore been, is now or may hereafter be enacted, are hereby declared to be and shall forever constitute the principal of the township or county fund, respectively; and no part thereof shall ever be distributed or expended for any purpose whatever, but the same shall be loaned out and held to use, rent or profit, as provided by law. But the interest, rents, issues and profits, arising and accruing from the principal of said township or county fund, shall be distributed in the manner and at the times as provided by this act; nor shall any part of such interest, rents, issues and profits be carried to the principal of the respective funds, except it appear on the first Monday in October in any year, that there is rent, interest or other funds on hand which are not required for distribution, such amount not required, as aforesaid, may, if the board of trustees see proper, forever be considered as principal in the funds to which it belongs, and loaned as such

§ 7. School funds collected from special taxes, levied by order of school directors, or from the sale of property belonging to any district, shall be paid out only on the order of the proper board of directors; and all other moneys or school funds liable to distribution, paid into the township treasury, or coming into the hands of the township treasurer, shall, after said funds have been apportioned by the township trustees, as required in section 26 of article 3 of this act, be paid out only on the order of the proper board of directors, signed by the president and clerk of said board, or by a majority of said board. For all payments made, receipts shall be taken and filed by said board of directors.

1. Where the board of directors have a president and clerk, and direct the payment of money from the treasury for any legitimate purpose, it is a very proper mode of executing the school order to have it signed by the president and clerk of the board. But this is not the only method of executing such an order. The school law, in express terms, authorizes a school order to be

signed by a majority of the board.

Under a fair and reasonable construction of the school law either method may be adopted, and whether a school order may be executed by the president and secretary of the board, or by a majority of the directors who constitute the board, can make no difference, so far as the legality of the transaction is concerned. Langdale v. The People, 100– 263.

2. The law provides for the election, in each school district, of three persons as school directors. When elected and qualified, they become a corporation, and have perpetual succession. Their duties are plainly defined by the law, and may be performed by a majority of its members. One director may not act for the others, with their consent or by their direction. The power to sign school orders can not be delegated by one to the other, but must be executed in person. It is a personal trust, and can not be delegated. Glidden v. Hopkins, 47-525.

3. The township school fund, by which the system is maintained, and all moneys belonging to the township devoted to schools, are placed in the custody of the township treasurer, no part of which can be distributed or expended for any purpose whatever, except the interest, and the rents and profits of such lands as may be acquired by the township, but should be loaned out and held to use, rent or profit, as is, or may be provided by law. Ibid.

4. Certain school funds collected from taxes levied by the order of the directors, or from the sale of property belonging to any district, can be paid out on the order of the directors, and all moneys and school funds liable to distribution, not being principal, paid into the township treasury, or coming into the hands of the township treasurer, can be paid out only on the order of the board of directors, signed by a majority of the board, or their president and clerk; and in all such orders, the purpose for which, or on what account drawn, shall be stated, and a form is given in which they may be drawn. Ibid.

5. From the various provisions of this act, a studied design on the part of the Legislature to protect the school fund, and guard it from all misapplication, is quite apparent. This provision, requiring orders to express on their face for what purpose drawn, must, in the light of this legislation, be regarded as mandatory, and the provision itself is so just, and so well calculated to protect the fund, that it cannot, and ought not, in any case, to be dispensed with. Ibid.

§ 8. In all such orders shall be stated the purpose for which or on what account drawn. Said order may be in the following form, viz:

The treasurer of township No.. will pay to.. .....or order.

.county.

.range No.. . . . . . . in..... .dollars and. ..cents (on his contract for repairing school house, or whatever the case may be.) By order of the board of directors of school district No.. township.

A..
C.

.B....

.D.

.in said

President.

Clerk.

Which order, together with the receipt of the person to whom paid, shall be filed in the office of the township treasurer: Provided, that when an order is paid in full, such order, if properly endorsed by the person in whose favor it was drawn, and his assigns, if any, shall be a sufficient receipt for the purpose of this section.

1. The statute describes the form of school orders to be drawn by the directors on the treasurer of the township, according to which form they are neither payable on time nor with interest. Clark v. School Directors, 78-474. 2. Orders are payable to the individual to whom they are issued, or bearer, and they may pass by endorsement, so as to vest the title in the assignee, and authorize him to institute suit thereon in his own name; but there is a marked and wide difference between the rights of the assignee of such orders, and rights of an assignee of a promissory note or bill of exchange, before maturity Newell v. School Directors, 68-514.

3. The purpose which the Legislature had in view in requiring it to be stated in the order the purpose for which, or on what account it is drawn, was, obviously, to place it beyond the powers of the directors to embezzle the school fund or to appropriate it to unauthorized purposes. The order is thus made to carry notice to every person who shall become its holder, of its validity. He is notified of the authority by which, as well as on what account it assumes to be issued, and he must, at his peril, ascertain what defenses can be interposed against its collection. In this it is entirely different from a promissory note or bill of exchange. Ibid.

4. The board of school directors, though a corporation, are possessed of specially defined powers, and can exercise no others, except such as result, by fair implication, from the powers granted. The statute gives no power to school directors to accept orders or bills of exchange. They have power to contract for the erection of a building and to provide for the payment thereof, but in order to the exercise of this power, it is not necessary that they should accept orders. The mode of making provision for the payment of the work prescribed by the statute is, to issue their own orders on the township treasurer, and not to assume obligations in respect to third persons. Peers v. Board of Education, 72-508.

5. The acceptance of orders respects alone the convenience and accommodation of third persons; it furthers no purpose of the school law, and subserves no interest of the school fund. The powers of school directors are very limited, and specially defined. The path marked out by the statute is clear and safe. By following it, school directors will best protect the interest of the school fund. School directors have no authority to bind a school district by the acceptance of an order, so as to create a right of action against it. Ibid.

6. Where a school house is completed according to contract for school directors, who accept the same and deliver school orders to the contractor, after a tax had been levied in pursuance to a vote of the people, for building purposes, collected and paid over to the treasurer of the township, it is held that the purchasers of such orders have a right to rely upon the fund thus obtained for payment. Pennington v. Coe, 57-118.

§ 9. When a district is composed of parts of two or more townships, the township treasurer or treasurers who do not receive the tax money of said district, shall when they hold any funds belonging to said district, notify the directors thereof of the amount of such funds, and the directors shall thereupon give the treasurer who receives the tax money of said district an order for such funds, and upon receipt thereof he shall hold them, to be paid out as aforesaid.

§ 10. In all cases where school funds are held by any person or persons in an official capacity, by virtue of any special charter defining the manner of loaning the same, such moneys may be loaned upon the same terms and conditions as are provided by this act, or may hereafter be provided, by the school laws of this State, for loaning the school funds of counties or townships.

ARTICLE XIII.

SCHOOL LANDS,

SECTION 1. Section number sixteen (16) in every township granted to the State by the United States for the use of schools, and such sections and parts of section as have been or may be granted, as aforesaid, in lieu of all or part of section number sixteen (16), and

also the lands which have been or may be selected and granted as aforesaid, for the use of schools, to the inhabitants of fractional townships in which there is no section number sixteen (16), or where such section shall not contain the proper proportion for the use of schools in such fractional townships, shall be held as common school lands; and the provisions of this act referring to common school lands shall be deemed to apply to the lands aforesaid.

1. Where a school township is divided, leaving the 16th section wholly in one division, such division grants to that portion of the township section 16, and the rents, issues and profits thereof, to be administered by the trustees of schools of that township for their own uses and purposes. This fund could not be legally administered in any other efficient and profitable manner; there would be a clashing of jurisdiction and interests, resulting injuriously to the schools. People v. Trustees of Schools, 86-613.

§ 2. All the business of such townships, so far as relates to common school lands, shall be transacted in that county which contains all or a greater portion of said lands.

§ 3. It shall be lawful for the trustees of schools in townships in which section number sixteen (16), or any other lands granted in lieu thereof, remain unsold or which has title to any other school lands whatsoever, to rent or lease the same for an annual rent, to be paid in money to the treasurer, by a written contract made by the president and clerk, under the direction of the board, with the lessee or lessees, which contract shall be filed with the records of the board, and a copy of the same transmitted to the county superintendent. In case of any default in the payment of the rent, the said board of trustees shall at once proceed to collect the same by distress, or otherwise, as may be provided by law for the collection of rents by landlords. No lease taken under the provisions of this act shall be for a longer period than five years, except where such lands are leased for the purpose of having permanent improvements made thereon, as may be the case in cities and villages: Provided, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to cities having a population of over one hundred thousand (100,000) inhabitants.

§ 4. The trustees of schools of any township concerned, are hereby authorized and empowered in their corporate capacity, to sell and convey to any railroad company which may construct a railroad across any of the public school lands of such township, the right of way and necessary depot grounds. All moneys received by such trustees for any right of way or depot grounds so sold, shall be turned over by such trustees to the township treasurer of the township for the benefit of the township school fund.

§ 5. If any person shall, without being duly authorized, cut, fell, box, bore, destroy or carry away any tree, sapling or log standing or being upon any school lands, such person shall forfeit and pay, for every tree, sapling or log so felled, boxed, bored, destroyed or carried away, the sum of eight (8) dollars, which penalty shall be recovered with costs of suit, by an action of debt or assumpsit, before any justice of the peace having jurisdiction of the amount claimed, or in the county or circuit court, either in the corporate name of the board of