shall be preserved and copied by the clerk of said board into a wellbound book kept for that purpose; and the list transmitted to the Auditor shall be filed, copied and preserved in like manner.

§ 24. Every purchaser of common school lands shall be entitled to a patent from the State, conveying and assuring the title. Patents shall be made out by the Auditor, from returns made to him by the county superintendent. They shall contain a description of the land granted, and shall be in the name of and signed by the Governor, countersigned by the Auditor, with the great seal of the State affixed thereto by the Secretary of State, and shall operate to vest in the purchaser a perfect title in fee simple. When patents are executed as herein required, the Auditor shall note on the list of sales the date of each patent, in such manner as to perpetuate the evidence of its date and delivery, and thereupon transmit the same to the county superintendent of the proper county, to be by him delivered to the patentee, his heirs or assigns, upon the return of the original certificate of purchase, which certificate, when returned, shall be filed and preserved by the county superintendent; and all such patents, heretofore or hereafter so issued, by the State for school lands, or duly certified copies thereof from any record legally made, shall, after a lapse of ten years from the date of such patent, and such sale having been acquiesced in for ten years by the inhabitants of the township in which the land so conveyed may be situated, be conclusive evidence as to the legality of the sale, and that the title to such land was, at the date of the patent, legally vested in the patentee.

1. The purchaser of school lands is entitled to receive a patent only upon the surrender of his certificate of purchase, and, if the purchase money has not been paid, then upon the execution and delivery to the commissioner of his mortgage. Clybourn v. Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Company, 4A-463.

2. The school commissioner may be considered the legally constituted agent of both parties to receive the patents, and, by delivering them in compliance with law, the title is divested out of the State and becomes vested in the purchaser. People v. The Auditor, 3–567.

3. The recital in the certificate of purchase, that a patent would issue on the payment of the balance of the purchase money, cannot be understood as in any manner affecting the provision of the law requiring the Auditor to forward the patents when he receives the returns, or as restraining him from issuing them before the expiration of the term of credit. Ibid.

§ 25. Purchasers of common school lands, and their heirs and assigns, may obtain duplicate copies of their certificates of purchase and patents, upon filing affidavit with the county superintendent in respect to certificates, and with the Auditor in respect to patents, proving the loss or destruction of the originals; and such copies shall have the force and effect of originals.

1. A certified copy of the original, under the seal of the office of the Auditor, was all that was contemplated by the Legislature. A compliance with the statute could not be had, if the word duplicate is assigned its technical meaning. Duplicates are issued simultaneously, each one possessing the same formalities of execution. In case of patents issued by a functionary of the government, whose term of office has expired, or who may be dead, no duplicate thereof, other than certified copies made by the officer, who is required to note the date of each patent on the lists of the land sold, which are in his custody, could possibly be made. Jackson v. Berner, 48-203.

2. These patents have no recorded existence in any public office, save that of the Auditor, and the law, in case an original patent is lost, would be valueless if such loss could not be supplied by a certified copy made by him and authenticated under his official seal. Ibid.

3. The preliminary proof here required is simply for the county superintendent, when certificates of purchase are lost, and for the Auditor, when patents are lost, to cause them to act and issue the duplicate copies, and in nowise affects the question of the admissibility or sufficiency of the duplicate copies as evidence, for such copies, when issued, shall have all the force and effect of the originals. Reich v. Berdel, 120-499.

4. There is nothing in the statute that limits the persons in behalf of whom the duplicate copies may be used as evidence; and it is therefore unimportant by what individual the affidavit upon which the Auditor acted was made. It is enough that he found it to be sufficient and acted upon it. Ibid.

§ 26. When any real estate shall have been taken for any debts due to any school fund, the title to which real estate has become vested in any county superintendent for the use of the inhabitants of one or more townships, or of the county, the county superintendent may lease or sell such real estate for the benefit of such township or townships, or of the county, as provided in section 37 of article 3 of this act, regulating the leasing and sales of lands by school trustees: Provided, that in case the real estate be held for the benefit of any township or townships, it shall not be sold except upon the written request of the school trustees of said township or townships. The said county superintendent is hereby authorized to execute conveyances of such real estate to the purchasers when so sold.

$27. The trustees of schools in any township are hereby authorized and empowered, in their corporate capacity, to lay out and dedicate to the public use, for street and highway purposes, so much of the common school lands, which is unimproved or unoccupied with buildings, as may be necessary to open or extend any street or highway which may be ordered opened or extended by the municipal authorities, which are by law empowered to open or extend streets or highways in the territory where said school lands are located: Provided, that said trustees of schools shall be of the opinion that the benefits to accrue from the opening or extending of said street or highway, to the remainder of said common school lands will compensate for the strip so dedicated: And, provided, further, that it shall not be lawful for any street or other railroad to lay down railroad tracks on any strip of the common school lands so dedicated, or use the same or any part of the common school lands for railroad or street railroad purposes, except upon the purchase or lease of the same from the proper authorities or upon the payment to the school fund of said township of the value of such use or land taken, the same as if no street or highway had been laid out thereon, to be determined by proceedings under an act entitled, "An act to provide for the exercise of the right of eminent domain," approved April 10, 1872, and all amendments thereto. And, provided, further, that this section shall not in any way affect existing leases or contracts for the lease or purchase of common school lands.

ARTICLE XIV.

FINES AND FORFEITURES.

SECTION 1. All fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed or incurred in any of the courts of record, or before any justice of the peace of this State, except fines, forfeitures and penalties incurred or imposed in incorporated towns or cities for the violation of the by-laws or ordinances thereof, shall, when collected, be paid to the county superintendent of schools of the county wherein such fines, penalties or forfeitures have been imposed or incurred, and the said county superintendent of schools shall give his receipt therefor to the person from whom such fine, forfeiture or penalty was received. The said county superintendent shall annually distribute such fines, penalties or forfeitures in the same manner as the common school funds of the State are distributed.

§ 2. It shall be the duty of the State's attorneys of the several counties to enforce the collection of all fines, forfeitures and penalties imposed or incurred in the courts of record of their respective counties, and to pay the same over to the county superintendent of the county wherein the same have been imposed or incurred, retaining therefrom the fees and commissions allowed them by law.

§ 3. It shall be the duty of the justices of the peace to enforce the collection of all fines imposed by them by any lawful means; and when collected the same shall be paid by the justice collecting the same to the county superintendent of the county in which the same was imposed.

1. The proper, just and legal course for justices of the peace, is to pay over to the county superintendent of schools, promptly, all fines and penalties collected by them, that the money may go to the public school fund. A justice of the peace has no legal claim against the people for fees in cases in which a prosecution instituted in their name has failed. Moore v. The People,

37 A-641.

$ 4. Clerks of courts of record, State's attorneys and all justices of the peace shall report, under oath to the county court of their respective counties, by the first of March, annually, the amount of such fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed or incurred in their respective courts, and the amount of such fines, forfeitures and penalties collected by them, giving each item separately, and if any such officer has collected no such fines, penalties or forfeitures, he shall make affidavit to such fact, and file the same with the county superintendent. The judges of the county court shall inspect the said reports, and may hear evidence thereon, and, if found correct and truthful, shall enter an order approving such report, and that any moneys in the hands of such officers so reporting shall be paid over to the superintendent of schools. If the court shall not approve of such report, he may order a new one to be made, and upon a failure to comply with the order of the court, or to make a satisfactory report, the court may state an account and enter an order to pay over as above provided. The court, for all purposes for carrying out the provisions of this section, shall have power to examine books and

papers as provided hereinafter in section 6 of this article, and shall have power to issue subpoenas for both books and persons: Provided, that no report shall be approved until the court shall have given the superintendent five (5) days' notice of the same, and he shall be allowed to inspect said report, and he shall be heard by the court upon the same if he desire; and the officers charged with the collection thereof, the said clerks, state's attorneys and justices of the peace, for a failure to make such a report, shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five (25) dollars for each offense, said fine to be recovered in a civil action, before any court, at the suit of the county superintendent of schools of the proper county.

1. The statute makes it the duty of the State's attorney to pay to the county superintendent of schools any balance in his hands, over his fees and commissions, on the first day of March of each year. The Constitution and statutes of the State create the offices and emoluments incident to them, and directs the application of the latter. It is not important, whether or not, the county court has approved the report and ordered the balance paid to the county superintendent, for the law regards that as done which ought to be done, and unless there is a dispute as to the correctness of the report for the court to settle, the law itself operates to declare the money due and payable to the county superintendent, and it could not be otherwise appropriated without a violation of the plain provision of the statute. Chadwick v. The People, 108A-620; Chadwick v. The People, 206-122.

§ 5. For a failure to pay any fine, forfeiture or penalty, on demand, to the person who is by law authorized to receive the same, the officer or person having collected the same, or having the same in his possession or control, shall forfeit and pay double the amount of such fine, penalty or forfeiture as aforesaid to be recovered before any court having jurisdiction thereof, in a qui tam action, one-half to be paid to the informer, and one-half to the school fund of the proper county.

§ 6. In case that any clerk of a court of record, State's attorney or justice of the peace shall fail to make the report provided for in section 4 of this article, the county court shall have power, and it is hereby made the duty of the judge of said court, to examine all records pertaining to the office of such delinquent officer and enforce the payment of whatever sum may be found due the school fund from such delinquent officer. For the purpose of making such examination, the said county court shall have the right to call for any paper or papers, docket, fee-book or other record belonging to the office of such delinquent officer, and in case such delinquent officer fails or refuses to furnish such paper, docket, fee-book or other record for the inspection or use of such county court, he shall forfeit and pay to the school fund the sum of one hundred (100) dollars to be recovered in an action of debt or assumpsit, before any court of this State having jurisdiction of the actions of debt and assumpsit, and such penalty, when collected, shall be paid into the school fund of the proper county.

ARTICLE XV.

LIABILITY OF SCHOOL OFFICERS.

SECTION 1. Whenever the county superintendent of schools of any county shall notify the board of trustees of any township, in writing, that the notes, bonds, mortgages, or other evidences of indebtedness which have been taken officially by the township treasurer, are not in proper form, or that the securities which the said township treasurer has taken are insufficient, it will be the duty of the said board of trustees at once to take such action as may be necessary to save and protect the property or fund of the districts and the township; and for a failure or refusual to take such action within 20 days after such notice, the members of the board, each in his individual capacity, shall be liable to a fine of not less than twenty-five (25) nor more than one hundred (100) dollars to be recovered before any justice of the peace, on information, in the name of the People of the State of Illinois (provided such insufficiency is proven), and, when collected, the said fine shall be paid to the county superintendent of the proper county, for the use of schools. And the payment of this fine shall not relieve the board of trustees from any civil liability they may have incurred from such neglect of duty.

§ 2. If the judges of any school election called for any legal purpose shall fail or neglect to deliver a copy of the poll-book of any such election, with a certificate thereon showing the result of such election, to the officer provided by law to whom such return shall be made, within ten days after such election shall have been held, the said judges of election shall be severally liable to a penalty of not less than twenty-five (25) dollars nor more than one hundred (100) dollars to be recovered in the name of the People of the State of Illinois, by an action of debt before any justice of the peace of the county; which penalty, when collected, shall be paid into the school fund of the township in which such election was held.

§ 3. It shall be the duty of the board of directors of every school district in this State to deliver to the township treasurer all teachers' schedules made and certified as required by law, and covering all time taught during the school year ending June 30, on or before the seventh day of July, annually; and the directors shall be personally liable to the district for any and all loss sustained by it through their failure to examine and deliver to the said township treasurer all such schedules within said time.

§4. For any failure or refusal to perform all the duties required of the township treasurer by law, he shall be liable to the board of trustees, upon his official bond, for all damages sustained by reason of such failure or refusual, to be recovered by action of debt by said board in their corporate name, for the use of the proper township, before any court having jurisdiction of the amount of damages claimed; but if the said treasurer, in any such failure or refusal, acted under and in conformity to a requision or order of said board, or a majority of them, entered upon their journal and subscribed by their president and clerk, then, and in that case, the members of said