Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 12, 1835.

AN ACT providing for the security of School Funds.
1

Form of mortgage.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That mortgages to be taken by school commissioners and agents for the inhabitants of counties, may be in the following form: I, A. B., of the county of , and State of , do assign over and transfer to E. F., school commissioner and agent for the inhabitants of the county of , for the use of the inhabitants of township , range , (or of the county,) the following described real estate, (here describe the estate,) which real estate I declare to be in mortgage for the payment of dollars this day loaned to me by the said school commissioner, with per cent. interest per annum thereon until paid; and I hereby covenant that the title to said real estate is free from all encumbrance, that I will pay all taxes and assessments which may be levied upon said estate; and I further agree that if I do not pay the interest on said sum annually, and the principal when due, that the said real estate may be sold by the said commissioner in conformity with the laws of the State, and that I will deliver immediate possession to the purchaser. Witness my hand and seal, this day of , 18, which mortgage shall be accompanied with a note for the amount loaned, and shall be valid to all intents and purposes.

Failure to pay interest.

Failure to pay principal.

Sec. 2. If any person shall make default in the payment of interest as it becomes due and payable, such interest shall thereafter be considered principal, and interest at the rate of twenty per cent. per annum shall be chargeable and recoverable thereon; and if any person shall fail to pay the principal sum borrowed at the time the same becomes due and payable, such person shall be chargeable with interest on such principal sum at the rate of twenty per cent. per annum until paid; and the school commissioners of counties shall be authorized to recover the penalties aforesaid, in an action or suit on the note or mortgage given for the payment thereof.

Where additional security is required and not given.

Sec. 3. In all cases, where the school commissioner of any county shall require additional security from any person for the payment of money loaned, and such security shall not be given, the commissioner may sue for and recover the amount loaned such person, upon making proof of such requisition, together with the interest which may have accrued at the time of obtaining judgment.

Debts due the school fund by executors shall have preference over all others, except funeral expenses.

Sec. 4. In the payment of debts by executors or administrators, debts due to the school fund of the State, or any county, or township, shall have a preference over all other

<Page 2>
debts, except funeral and other expenses attending the last sickness, not including the physician’s bill.

School commissioners shall give bond annually.

Proviso.

Sec. 5. The county commissioners’ courts of the several counties, shall require of the school commissioner and agent for the inhabitants of such counties, to execute a new bond at the next June term of their respective courts, and to execute a new bond annually thereafter; and if any commissioner as aforesaid, shall fail to execute such new bond, the court shall thereupon remove such commissioner from office, and appoint a successor: Provided, That the court may allow further time to such commissioner to execute such bond, if in the opinion of the court, such further time may be allowed without injury to the school funds in the hands of such commissioner.

Record books, how paid for.

Sec. 6. All record books required to be kept by school commissioners, shall be paid for out of the County Treasuries of the counties in which such books shall be used.

County commissioners may require school commissioner to give additional security.

Failure to do so.

Sec. 7. That the county commissioners’ courts of the several counties in this State, shall be authorized, when they may deem it expedient, to require of their school commissioner additional security for the money he may have received from the sales of school lands; and on any school commissioner refusing or failing to enter into additional security that may be satisfactory to such court, his office shall be treated as vacant and filled accordingly; and for good cause, to be entered on the record of the county commissioners’ court, the commissioners of such county may remove their school commissioner from office.

Inhabitants of townships who have not returned schedules authorized to do so.

Sec. 8. The inhabitants of any township in this State that may have kept a schedule for the year 1834, according to the provisions of an act providing for the application of the interest of the money arising from the sales of school lands,2 and who have not made return thereof to the school commissioner according to law, shall be authorized to make out their schedule, and return the same to the school commissioner of such county, and such school commissioner shall be authorized to pay over such interest as may be due such township for the year 1834, as though the schedule had been returned according to law. This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, Feb. 12, 1835.

1Cyrus Edwards from the Committee on Seminary, School Land, and Education, to which the Senate referred Governor Joseph Duncan’s message as related to education, introduced SB 41 in the Senate on January 2, 1835. On January 3, the Senate committed it to the Committee of the Whole. On January 20, the Senate discharged the Committee of the Whole from further consideration. The Senate passed the bill on January 23. On January 26, the House of Representatives referred it to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 29 with amendments, in which the House concurred. On January 31, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 5 with sundry amendments, in which the House concurred. Members proposed further amendment, and the House referred the bill and proposed amendments to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 9 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended. The Senate concurred in the House amendments on February 10. On February 12, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 371, 382-83, 426, 462, 506-07, 527, 538, 549; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 170, 175, 286, 317, 473, 478, 503, 508; Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 384.

2Section four of this act required teachers to make and submit a schedule of their pupils for a given year, the corrected version of which became the criterion for the apportionment of interest.
“An act to provide for the application of the Interest of the Fund arising from the sale of the School Lands belonging to the several townships in this state,” 1 May 1833, Revised Laws of Illinois (1833), 563-64.