Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1898 — Insures Better Roads. [ARTICLE]

Insures Better Roads.

Qotline ot an Important Decision of .Supreme Court Recently. A road supervisor is bound to keep the roads in his district in repair. If he does not, a court may issue a writ of mandamus to compel him to do so, besides which he may be fined. John Obertate was a road supervisor in Ohio county, who permitted part of the road in his charge to become almost “impassable, by reason of it being washed into gullies and the deposit of driftwood, stones and other debris thereon by heavy rains.” John F. Cutter, who frequently traveled that road, brought suit to oompel him to have the road repaired. The circuit court refused to issue the order, and the supreme court yesterday reversed its judgment. In the opinion, Judge Monks said: “The statute plainly imposes on the road supervisor the duty to keep the highways in his district in good repair, and he is authorized to call out the hands of the district to complete the repairing if the labor and! tax are sufficient therefor. If a highway is out of repair the statutes require that he place it in good repair. The plan and manner of making repairs, and the material used in making them may rest in his discretion, but his duty to put the road in good repair is a publio duty, and is imperative and not discretionary. Even if the alleged gullies were an obstruction of the highway within the meaning of the statute. If the adjacent land owners failed to remove the obstructions as required by law, it was the duty of appellee Obertate, as supervisor, to have it done. If he had no funds, and could not give receipts for labor on the highway, thejn it was his duty to call out the hands in the district.” The laws upon which this decision is based applv to cit’es and towns, as well as to country districts, and it is surmised that on the same principle, the authorities can be compelled to keep the streets in repair by similar proceedings.