The People ex rel. George M. Thompson, Respondent, v. The Board of Supervisors of Hamilton County, Appellant

The People ex rel. George M. Thompson, Respondent, v. The Board of Supervisors of Hamilton County, Appellant. The power given to the comptroller by the act of 1855 (§ 62, chap. 427, Laws of 1855), in case two newspapers were not published in a county, to cause notices for the redemption of lands sold for taxes to be published “in the two newspapers which the comptroller shall believe to be most generally circulated in such county,” was superseded as' far as the county of Hamilton is concerned by the act of 1866 (chap. 690, Laws of 1866), providing for the publication of legal notices in said county. That act left the comptroller no power in any case to designate the paper unless both of the papers named in the act should refuse to publish, in which case he could cause it to be published in any newspaper in Fulton county; unless both the designated papers were willing to publish, a publication in one was sufficient. The power of the comptroller was not restored by the act of 1870 (chap. 662, Laws of 1870), repealing the Law of 1866 and giving to the board of supervisors the power to designate a “newspaper or newspapers ” in which shall be published the session laws, “and all legal notices and advertisements required by the laws of this State or any local or special laws ” to be published in said county; this act gives the board authority to determine whether there should be one or more papers, and if they determine that there should be but one, all legal notices were required to be and are sufficiently published in that one. Accordingly held, where the board of supervisors of said county, there being no newspaper published therein, designated a paper in Fulton county, that that was the only paper in which the comptroller's notices were required to he published; and where the comptroller designated another paper which published the notice, that the designation was unauthorized and the expense thereof not a proper county charge. People ex rel. y. Board of Supervisors (9 Hun, 60), reversed. (Argued March 28, 1878 j decided April 9, 1878.) This was an appeal from an order of General Term granting a peremptory mandamus requiring defendant to re-convene and audit and allow plaintiff^ account. (Reported below, 9 Hun, 60.) In 1873 the relator was the publisher of the Hamilton County Journal a newspaper published in Fulton county. The State comptroller selected such paper to publish the notice for the redemption of lands in Hamilton county sold for taxes, and at his request such notice was published therein. The relator presented his bill therefor to defendant for audit, but it was disallowed. At the annual meeting of defendant in 1872 it designated the Hamilton County Democrat, a newspaper published in Fulton county, as the paper in which the session laws, and all legal notices and advertisements required to be published in the county of Hamilton, should be made for the year 1873. The relator requested defendant to designate his paper also, but this it refused to do. There was no newspaper published in the county of Hamilton. The action of the comptroller was based upon the provisions of the act (chap. 427, Laws of 1855, §§ 61, 62) requiring him to cause such notice to be prepared for each county and to be published in the newspapers designated by the board of supervisors to publish the session laws; and, in case no newspapers had been designated, to publish in two newspapers in the county to be selected by him, and if there were not two newspapers published in the county then in the two newspapers which the comptroller shall believe to be most generally circulated in such county.” Held, as above stated. J. M. Carroll for appellant. R. H. Rosa for respondent. [MAJORITY — Earl, J.] Earl, J. reads for reversal of order of General Term and for affirmance of order of Special Term. All concur, except Rapallo and Miller, JJ., absent. Ordered accordingly.