COUNTY GOVERNMENT.

An act to amend section one hundred and ninety-seven of an act entitled "An act to establish a uniform system of county and township governments," approved March 14, 1883, as amended March 14, 1885. March 18, 1885, March 17, 1887, and March 16, 1889, relating to the salary of the county officers in the counties of the thirty-fifth class,

[Approved March 14, 1891; Stats. 1891, p. 106.]

SECTION 1. Section one hundred and ninety-seven of an act entitled "An act to establish a uniform system of county and township governments," approved March fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, as amended March fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, March eighteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, March seventeenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

197. Compensation of officers in counties of thirty-fifth class. In counties of the thirty-fifth class, the county officers shall receive as compensation for the services required of them by law or by virtue of their office the following salaries, to wit:

1. The county clerk, twelve hundred dollars per annum. 2. The sheriff, two thousand dollars per annum. 3. The recorder, six hundred dollars per annum. 4. The auditor, two hundred dollars per annum. 5. The treasurer, six hundred dollars per annum. G. The tax collector, five hundred dollars per annum. 7. The assessor, eight hundred dollars per annum, including deputy, at the option of the board of supervisors, at a salary not exceeding one hundred (100) dollars per

month.

8. The district attorney, six hundred dollars per annum. 9. The coroner, such fees as are now or may be here. after allowed by law.

10. The public administrator, such fees as are now or may be hereafter allowed by law.

11. The superintendent of schools, two hundred dollars per annum.

12. The surveyor, such fees as are now or may be hereafter allowed by law.

13. Justices of the peace, such fees as are now or may hereafter be allowed by law.

14. Constables, such fees as are now or may be hereafter allowed by law.

15. The supervisors, six dollars per day, not to exceed three hundred dollars per annum, and for each day employed in the discharge of the duties of their office, to gether with mileage at the rate of thirty cents per mile, in going only, from their residence to the county seat, at each session of the board.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after April first, eighteen hundred and ninety-one. An act to establish a uniform system of county and township governments.

[Approved March 31, 1891; Stats. 1891, p. 295.]

SECTION 1. Counties are bodies corporate and politic. The several counties of this state as they now exist, and such other counties as may be hereafter organized according to law, are bodies corporate and politic, and as such have the powers specified in this act, and such other pow ers as are necessarily implied.

SEC. 2. Who may exercise powers. Its powers can only be exercised by the board of supervisors, or by agents and officers acting under their authority, or authority of law.

SEC. 3. Corporate name. The name of a county designated in the law creating it is its corporate name, and it must be designated thereby in all actions and proceedings touching its corporate rights, property, and duties. SEC. 4. Power of county. It has power,

1. To sue and be sued.

2. To purchase and hold land within its limits.

3. To make such contracts and purchase and hold such personal property as may be necessary to the exercise of its powers.

4. To manage and dispose of its property as the interests of its inhabitants may require.

5. To levy and collect such taxes, for purposes under its exclusive jurisdiction, as are authorized by law.

SEC. 5. Credit not to be loaned. No county shall, in any manner, give or loan its credit to or in aid of any person or corporation. No county shall incur any indebtedness or liability, in any manner or for any purpose, exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided for it for such year without the assent of two thirds of the qualified electors thereof voting at an election to be held for that purpose, nor unless before or at the time of incurring such indebtedness provision shall be made for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such indebtedness as it falls due, and also to constitute a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof, within twenty years from the time of contracting the same. An indebtedness or liability incurred contrary to this provis ion shall be void.

SEC. 6. Liabilities void. All contracts, authorizations, allowances, payments, and liabilities to pay made or attempted to be made in violation of this act shall be absolutely void, and shall never be the foundation or basis of a claim against the treasury of such county; and all officers of said county are charged with notice of the condition of the treasury of said county, and the extent of the claims against the same.

SEC. 7. County officers liable on bonds. All supervisors and any other officer authorizing, or aiding to authorize, or auditing or allowing any claim or demand upon or against said treasury, or any fund thereof, in violation of any of the provisions of this act shall be liable in person and upon their several official bonds to the person or per sons damaged by such illegal authorization, to the extent of his loss by reason of the non-payment of his or their claims.

SEC. 8. District attorney to sue to recover moneys illegally paid. Hereafter, whenever any board of supervisors shall, without authority of law, order any money paid as a salary, fees, or for any other purposes, and such money shall have been actually paid, or whenever any other county officer

has drawn any warrant or warrants in his own favor, or in favor of any other person, without being authorized thereto by the board of supervisors, or by the law, and the same shall have been paid, the district attorney of such county is hereby empowered, and it is hereby inade his duty, to institute suit, in the name of the county, against such person or persous, to recover the money so paid, and twenty per cent damages for the use thereof; and no order of the board of supervisors therefor shall be necessary to maintain such suit; and provided further, that when the money has not been paid on such order or warrants, it is hereby made the duty of the district attorney of such county, upon receiving notice thereof, to commence suit, in the name of the county, for restraining the payment of the saine; and no order of the board of supervisors shall be necessary in order to maintain such suit.

SEC. 9. Duty of judge toward grand jury. It shall be the duty of the superior judge of each and every county, whenever a grand jury is impaneled, to call their atten tion to the provisions of the foregoing sections, and to instruct them to ascertain, by caretul and diligent investi gation, whether the provisions of said sections have been complied with, and to specially note the result of such in vestigation in their report.

SEC. 10. Classification of counties. The several counties of this state are hereby classified, and shall hereafter remain classified, according to their population as ascer tained by the federal census taken in the year eighteen hundred and ninety. And hereafter, whenever a new census is taken, the secretary of state shall, as soon as the same shall be officially ascertained by him, certify to the county clerks of the several counties in this state the popu. lation of each county as determined by such new census; and on the even-numbered years thereafter, the several counties are, by operation of law, classified thereunder; but such classification shall not operate to change the gov ernment of the county then in existence until the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding; except that the board of supervisors shall provide for the election of officers and such other matters as shall be nec essary to put the county government in operation on the

said first Monday after the first day of January, in accordance with the new classification.

SEC. 11. County seats. The county seats of the respective counties of this state as now fixed by law are hereby recognized as and declared to be the county seats of the respective counties. No county seat shall be removed unless two-thirds of the qualified electors of the county voting on the proposition at a general election shall vote in favor of such removal.

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SEC. 12. Removal thereof. Whenever there shall be sented to the board of supervisors of any county a petition, signed by the qualified electors of such county, in number equal to a majority of the votes cast at the preceding general election, praying for the submission of the question of the removal of the county seat of such county, it shall be the duty of the board of supervisors, by due proclamation, to submit the question of such removal of the county seat at the next general election to the qualified electors of such county. The election shall be conducted and the returns canvassed in all respects as provided by law for the conducting of general elections and canvassing the returns thereof; but a proposition of removal of a county seat shall not be submitted in the same county more than once in four years.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.

SEC. 13. Supervisors. Each county must have a board of supervisors, consisting of five members.

SEC. 14. Qualification. Each member of the board of supervisors must be an elector of the district which he represents, and must have been such for at least one year immediately preceding his election, and shall be elected by such district, and not at large.

SEC. 15. Term of office. The supervisors elected at the general elections held in the years eighteen hundred and eighty-eight and eighteen hundred and ninety, and every four years thereafter, shall hold office for four years. They shall take their office on the first Monday after the first day of January after their election.

SEC. 16. Boundaries of districts. The board of supervisors may, by a two-thirds vote of the members of said board, change the boundaries of any or all of the super