trustees of the township to which the land belongs, or by qui tam action in the name of any person who will first sue for the same, onehalf of the judgment for the use of the person suing and the other half for the use of the township aforesaid. When two or more per. sons shall be concerned in the same trespass, they shall be jointly and severally liable for the penalty herein imposed.

§ 6. Every trespasser upon common school lands shall be liable to indictment, and upon conviction, shall be fined three times the amount of the injury occasioned by said trespass, and shall stand committed as in other cases of misdemeanor.

§ 7. All penalties and fines collected under the provisions of the foregoing sections shall be paid to the township treasurer, and be added to the principal of the township fund.

§ 8. When the inhabitants of any township or fractional township shall desire the sale of the common school lands of a township or fractional township, they shall present a petition to the county superintendent of the county in which the school lands of the township or the greater part thereof, lie, for the sale thereof; which petition shall be signed by at least two-thirds of the legal voters of the township, or fractional township. The signing of the petition must be done in the presence of at least two adult citizens of the township, after the true meaning and purpose thereof has been explained; and when signed an affidavit must be affixed thereto by the two citizens witnessing the signing in the manner aforesaid, which affidavit shall state the number of inhabitants in the township; or fractional township, of, and over, 21 years of age; and said petition, so proved, shall be delivered to the county superintendent for his action thereon: Provided, that in townships having a population of more than 10,000 inhabitants, such petition shall be signed by at least one-tenth of the legal voters of the township, or fractional township, and not twothirds thereof, and that such petition shall be delivered to the county superintendent at least 15 days preceding the regular election of trustees, or the date of a special election which may be called for such purpose; and thereupon it shall be the duty of said county superintendent to notify the voters of such township that an election for or against the proposition to sell common school lands of the township, or a portion thereof, will be held at the next regular election of trustees, or at a special election called for that purpose, by posting notices of such election in at least ten of the most public places throughout such township, for at least ten days before the date of such regular or special election, which notice may be in the following form, to-wit:

ELECTION FOR SALE OF COMMON SCHOOL LANDS.

Notice is hereby given that on.

an election will be held at

the........day of.....

A. D.. .for the purpose

of voting "For" or "Against" the proposition to sell common school lands of the township, to-wit: (here insert description of said lands.) The polls of said election will be open at..... .and close at..

.o'clock of said day.

County Superintendent.

The ballots of such election shall be received and canvassed as in other elections provided for in this act, and returns of the result thereof made to the county superintendent, and if it shall appear that two-thirds of the vote upon such proposition shall have been cast in favor of the sale of said lands, then the said county superintendent shall act thereon: And, provided, no whole section shall be sold in any township containing less than 200 inhabitants; and common school lands in fractional townships may be sold when the number of inhabitants and the number of acres are in a ratio of 200 to 640, but not before. (As amended by act approved May 10, 1901.)

1. The commissioner must determine whether or not a township contains the number of inhabitants necessary to authorize the sale of a school section, before making such sale. Trustees of Schools v. Allen, 21-120.

§ 9. Any fractional township not having the requisite number of inhabitants to petition for the sale of the school lands therein, as provided in section 8 of this article of this act, which has not heretofore been united with any other township, for school purposes, and which does not contain a sufficient number of inhabitants to maintain a free school, is hereby attached to the adjacent congressional township having the longest territorial line bordering on such fractional township, for school purposes; and all the provisions of this act shall apply to such united townships, the same as though they were one and the same township.

§ 10. When the petition and affidavits are delivered to the county superintendent, as aforesaid, he shall notify the trustees of said township thereof, and said trustees shall immediately proceed to divide the land into tracts or lots, of such form and quantity as will produce the largest amount of money.

§ 11. After making the division required by the foregoing section, said trustees shall cause a correct plat of the same to be made, representing all divisions, with each lot numbered and defined, so that its boundaries may be forever ascertained.

1. It would seem from the general terms of this act, that the trustees may lay off the school lands in such sized tracts or lots, as they deem most advantageous to the school fund. Barger v. Jones 4-613.

2. These sections under which lands may be subdivided and platted, make no reference whatever to the laying out of roads or highways, and the subdivisions there contemplated do not involve the necessity of creating highways. It is a mere division of the land for the purpose of putting it on the market in parcels smaller than the entire tract, leaving the purchasers to acquire easements in the nature of public or private ways in the ordinary mode. Seeger v. Mueller, 133-86.

3. As the laying out of roads is not necessary to, and is not therefore implied in the power to make ordinary subdivisions of land, it does not exist, and the acts of the trustees of schools in attempting to lay out roads, streets and alleys, is ultra vires and void. Nor can any force be given to the suggestion that the purchasers of land, having bought with reference to the plat, are entitled to an easement in the roads delineated thereon upon the principle of estoppel. Ibid.

4. Undoubtedly a private owner of land who has the entire control and dominion over it as his own property, and who plats his land and makes sales of the different parts of it according to the plat, will be estopped to deny the right of the several purchasers to an easement in the roads and ways de

picted on the plat, even though the plat may not be executed according to the statute. And it may be admitted that the several purchasers would be enabled to assert such right as against each other. But the rule is different where the plat is made by municipal officers whose powers in the premises are limited and defined by statute. Ibid.

§ 12. In subdividing said common school lands for sale, no lot shall contain more than eighty acres, and the division may be made into town or village lots, with roads, streets or alleys between them and through the same; and all such division, with all similar divisions hereafter made, are hereby declared legal,.and all such roads, streets and alleys, public highways.

1. Where lands are divided into town or village lots, the laying out of streets and alleys is a necessary part of the subdivision. A town or village plat cannot be laid out without streets, and is not usually laid out without both streets and alleys. The laying out of roads, streets and alleys as provided for in this section, plainly relate to town or village plats, and not to subdivisions of land where there is no town or village. Seeger v. Mueller, 133

86.

2. The power conferred on trustees of schools to lay out roads, streets and alleys, is confined to cases where they lay out school lands into town or village lots. In other cases they have no power to lay out roads, or to appropriate or dedicate any part of such land for public highways. The powers granted to the trustees will not be extended by implication, but in determining their intent and scope, a strict interpretation will be adopted. Ibid.

§ 13. After such division into lots has been made and platted, the trustees of schools shall fix a value on each lot, having regard to the terms of sale, certify to the correctness of the plat, stating the value of each lot per acre, or per lot if less than one acre, and referring to and describing the lot in the certificate, so as fully and clearly to distinguish, and identify each lot; which plats and certificate shall be delivered to the county superintendent, and shall govern him in advertising and selling such lands.

§ 14. Upon the reception by the county superintendent of the plat and certificate of valuation from the trustees, he shall proceed to advertise the said land for sale in lots, as divided and laid off by said trustees, by posting notice thereof in at least six (6) public places in the county forty days before the day of sale, describing the land and stating the time, place and terms of sale; and if any newspaper is published in said county, said advertisement shall be printed therein for four weeks before the day of sale; if no newspaper is published in said county, then said land may be sold under the notice aforesaid, which notice may be in the following form, viz:

SALE OF SCHOOL LAND.

.day of.

the

.....county will sell .door of the court

Public notice is hereby given that on the.... A. D., 19...., between the hours of 10:00 o'clock a. m. and 6:00 o'clock p. m., undersigned superintendent of schools of.... at public vendue to the highest bidder, at the.. house in.. (or on the premises) the following described real estate, the same being a part of the school lands of township No.......range No......as divided and platted by the trustees of schools of said township, to-wit: (Here insert full and complete description of said premises.) Said lands will be sold for cash in hand, with the privilege to any purchaser of

borrowing from the undersigned, the whole or any part of the amount of his bid, for not less than one nor more than five years, upon his paying interest and giving security, as required in case of a loan obtained from the township school fund.

Dated this..

.day of.....

.A. D., 19....
A..

.B. County Superintendent, ...County.

1. The school commissioner is a ministerial officer or agent appointed by the law to do certain things, and among others, to sell the school lands. In doing this he exercises a power delegated to him by the legislature. The law has specified the extent of the credit, and the character of the security. This might have been left to the discretion of the commissioners had it been thought advisable. Kidder v. Trustees, 10–191.

2. Misrepresentations on the part of a school commissioner in the sale of lands must be such, that care and prudence could not have provided against the deception, as the law will not extend its protection to those who, through negligence or inattention to their business, suffer an advantage to be taken of their credulity. Cooke v. School Commissioner, 6–537.

3. Where lands are sold on a credit of one, two and three years, and the notes of the purchaser are taken for the several installments, the commissioner omitting to take a mortgage to secure the purchase money, the lien upon the land is not lost thereby, and may be enforced against subsequent purchasers. School Trustees v. Wright, 12-432.

§ 15. The place of selling common school lands shall be at the court house of the county in which the lands are situated; or the trustees of schools may direct the sale to be made on the premises.

§ 16. The terms of selling common school lands shall be to the highest bidder for cash, with the privilege to each purchaser of borrowing from the county superintendent the amount or any part of the amount of his bid, for any period not less than one year nor more than five years. upon his paying interest and giving security, as in case of money loaned by a township treasurer as provided in this act.

§ 17. Upon the day appointed for such sale, the county superintendent shall proceed to make sales as follows, viz: He shall begin at the lowest numbered lot and proceed regularly to the highest numbered, till all are sold or offered. No lot shall be sold for less than its valuation by the trustees. Said sale shall be made between the hours of 10:00 o'clock a. m., and 6:00 o'clock p. m., and may continue from day to day. The lots shall be cried separately, and each lot cried long enough to enable any person present to bid who desires to bid.

§ 18. Upon closing the sales each day, the purchasers shall each pay, or secure the payment of the purchase money, according to the terms of sale; or in case of his failure to do so by 10:00 o'clock the succeeding day, the lot purchased shall again be offered at public sale, on the same terms as before, and if the valuation or more shall be bid, shall be stricken off; but if the valuation be not bid, the lot shall be set down as not sold. If the sale is or is not made the former purchaser shall be required to pay the difference between his bid and the valuation of the lot, and in case of his failure to make such payment, the county superintendent may forthwith institute an action of debt or assumpsit in his name, as superintendent, for the use of

the inhabitants of the township where the land lies, for the required sum; and upon making proof, shall be entitled to judgment, with costs of suit; which, when collected, shall be added to the principal of the township fund. If the sum claimed does not excced $200.00, the suit may be commenced before a justice of the peace; if the sum demanded exceeds $200.00, then suit may be brought in the circuit court of any county wherein the party may be found.

§ 19. All lands not sold at public sale, as herein provided for, shall be subject to sale at any time thereafter, at the valuation; and the county superintendents are authorized and required, when in their power, to sell all such lands at private sale, upon the terms at which they were offered at public sale.

§ 20. In all cases where common school lands have been heretofore valued, and have remained unsold for two years, after having been offered for sale, or shall hereafter remain unsold for that length of time, after being valued and offered for sale, in conformity to this act, the trustees of schools where such lands are situated may vacate the valuation thereof by an order to be entered in book A of the county superintendent, and cause a new valuation to be made, if, in their opinion, the interests of the township will be promoted thereby. They shall make said second valuation in the same manner as the first was made, and shall deliver to the county superintendent a plat of such second valuation, with the order of vacation, to be entered, as aforesaid; whereupon, said county superintendent shall proceed to sell said lands in all respects, as if no former valuation had been made: Provided, that the second valuation may be made by the trustees of schools, without petition, as provided in this act for the first valuation.

§ 21. Upon the completion of every sale by the purchaser, the county superintendent shall enter the same in book B, and shall deliver to the purchaser a certificate of purchase stating therein the name and residence of the purchaser, describing the land and the price paid therefor, which certificate shall be evidence of the facts therein stated

1. Section 15, article 2, which requires the county superintendent to keep certain books for purposes connected with the sale of school lands is directory to the superintendent, but the title to the land he might sell, if legally and fairly sold, could hardly be made to depend on his obeying these directions. Trustees of Schools v. Allen, 21-120.

§ 22. At the first regular term of the county board in each year, the county superintendent shall present to the county board of his county a statement showing the sale of school lands made subsequent to the first regular term of the previous year, which shall be a true copy of the sale book (book B).

§ 23. The county superintendent shall, also, at the time aforesaid, transmit to the Auditor of Public Accounts, a full and exact transcript from book B of all the sales made subsequent to each report. The statement required to be presented to the county board