History of Tazewell county, Illinois ; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons and biographies of representative citizens. History of Illinois ... Digest of state laws online

are required to be acknowledged.

The following articles of personal property owned by the debtor
are exempt from execution, writ of attachment, and distress for rent:
The necessary wearing apparel. Bibles, school-books and family pic-
tures of every person; and one hundred dollars' worth of other prop-
erty, to be selected by the debtor, and in addition, when the debtor
is the head of a family and resides with the same, three hundred dol-
lars' worth of other property to be selected by the debtor, — provided
that such selection and exemption shall not be made h^ the debtor
or allowed to him or her from any money, salary or wages due him or
her from any person or persons or corporations whatever. When the
head of the family dies, deserts, or does not reside with the same,
the family shall be entitled to and receive all the benefit and priv-
ilege which are by this act conferred upon the head of a family
residing with the same. No personal property is exempt from exe-



DIGEST OF STATE LAWS. 767

cntion when judgment is obtained for the loages of laborers or ser-
vants. Wages of a laborer who is the head of a family cannot be
garnisheed except for the sum due him in excess of $25.

LANDLORDS AND TENANTS.

The ])rincipal obligation on the part of a landlord, which is in
fact always to be implied as a necessary condition to his receiving
any rent, is, that the tenant shall enjoy the quiet possession of the
premises, — which means, substantially, that he shall not be turned
out of possession of the whole or any material part of the premises
by any one having a title paramount to that of the landlord, or that
the landlord shall not himself disturb or render his occupation un-
comfortable by the erection of a nuisance on or near the premises,
or otherwise oblige him to quit possession. But if he be ousted by a
stranger, — that is, by one having no title, — or after the rent has
fallen due, or if the molestation proceeds from acts of a third person,
the landload is in neither case responsible for it. Another obligation
which the law imposes on the landlord, in the absence of any ex-
press stipulation in the lease, is the payment of all taxes chargeable
upon the property, or any ground rents or interest upon mortgages
to which it may be subject. Every landlord is bound to protect his
tenant against all paramount claims. And if a tenant is compelled,
in order to protect himself in the enjoyment of the land in respect
of which his rent is payable, to make payment which ought, as be-
tween himself and his landlord, to have been made by the latter, he
may call upon the landlord to reimburse him, or he may deduct
such payment from the rent due or to become due. But the land-
lord is under no obligation to make repairs, or to rebuild in case the
premises should be burned; nor does he guaranty that they are
reasonably fit for the purpose for which they are taken. And it is
not in the power of a tenant to make repairs at the expense of his
landlord, unless there be a special agreement between them author-
izing him to do so; for the tenant takes the premises for better or
worse, and cannot involve the landlord in expense for repairs without
his consent. Even if the premises have become uninhabitable by
fire, and the landlord, having insured them, has recovered the
insurance money, the tenant cannot compel him to expend the
money so recovered in rebuilding, unless he has expressly engaged
to do so ; nor can he in such an event protect himself from the payment
of rent during the unexpired balance of the term, unless exempted



768



DIGEST OF STATE LAWS.



therefrom by statute or the terms of the lease. The uninhabit-
ableness of a house is not a good defense to an action for rent. If
the landlord expressly covenanted to repair, the tenant cannot quit
and discharge himself of rent because the repairs are not made, un-
less there is a provision to that effect; and if a landlord is bound by
custom or by express agreement to repair, this obligation, and the
obligation of the tenant to pay rent, are independent of each other,
so that the refusal or neglect of the landlord to repair is no answer
to a demand for rent. The tenant is answerable for any neglect to
repair highways, fences, or party walls. He is also liable for all
injuries produced by the mismanagement of his servants, or by a
nuisance kept upon the premises, or by an obstruction of the high-
ways adjacent to them, or the like. One of the principal obligations
which the law imposes upon every tenant, independent of any agree-
ment, is to treat the premises in such a manner that no substantial
injury shall be done to them, and so that they may revert to the
landlord at the end of the term unimpaired by any willful or negli-
gent conduct on his part.

A tenancy from year to3^ear requires sixty days' notice in writing
to terminate the same at the end of the year; snch notice can be
given at any time within four months preceding the last sixty days
of the year.

A tenancy by the month, or less than a year, where the tenant
holds over without any special agreement, the landlord may termi-
nate the tenancy by thirty days' notice in writing.

When rent is due, the landlord may serve a notice upon the ten-
ant, stating that unless the rent is paid within not less than live
days, his lease will be terminated; if the rent is not paid, the land-
lord may consider the lease ended. When a default is made in any
of the terms of the lease, it shall not be necessary to give more
than ten days' notice to quit or of the termination of such tenancy;
and the same may be terminated on giving such notice to quit, at
any time after such default in any of the terms of such lease;
which notice may be substantially in the following form:

To , You are hereby notified that, in consequence of your

default [here insert the character of the default], of the premises
now occupied by you, being, etc., [here describe the premises], I
have elected to determine your lease, and you are hereby notified to
quit and deliver up ])ossession of the same to me within ten days of
this date [dated, etc].



' DIGEST OF STATE LAWS. 769

The above to be sif^ned by the lessor or his agent, and no other
notice or demand of possession or termination of such tenancy is
necessary.

Demand may be made or notice served by delivering a written or
printed, or partly either, copy thereof to the tenant, or leaving the
same with some person above the age of twelve years, residing on
or in possession of the premises; and in case no one is in actual
possession of said premises, then by posting the same on the prem-
ises. When the tenancy is for a certain time, and the term expires
by the terms of the lease, the tenant is then bound to surrender
possession, and no notice to quit or demand possession is necessary.

DISTRESS FOR RENT.

In all cases of distress for rent, the landlord, by himself, his agent
or his attorney, may seize for rent any personal property of his ten-
ant that may be found in the county where the tenant resides. Tiie
property of any other person, even if found on the premises, is not
liable.

An inventory of the property levied upon, with a statement of
the amount of rent claimed, should be at once filed with some
Justice of the Peace, if not over $200; and if above that sum, with
the Clerk of a Court of Record of competent jurisdiction. Pi'operty
may be released by a party executing a satisfactory bond for double
the amount.

The landlord may distrain for rent any time within six months
after the expiuation of the term of lease, or when terminated.

In all cases where the premises rented shall be sub-let, or the
lease assigned, the landlord shall have the same right to enforce
lien against such lessee or assignee, that he has against the tenant
to whom the premises were rented.

When a tenant abandons or removes from the premises, or any
part thereof, the landlord, or his agent or his attorney may seize
upon any grain or crops grown or growing upon the premises, or
part thereof so abandoned, whether the rent is due or not. If such
grain or other crops, or any part thereof, is not fully grown or
matured, the landlord, or his agent or attorney shall cause the same
to be properly cultivated, harvested or gathered, and may sell the
same, and from the proceeds pay all his labor, expenses and rent.
The tenant may, before the sale of such property, redeem the same



770 DIGEST OF STATE LAWS.

by tendering the rent and reasonable compensation for the work
done, or he may replevy the same.

EXEMPTION.

The same articles of personal property which are by law exempt
from execution, except the crops, as above mentioned, are also
exempt from distress for rent.

If any tenant is about to, or shall permit, or attempt to sell or
remove from the premises, without the consent of his landlord,
such portion of the crops raised thereon as will endanger the lien
of the landlord upon such crops, for the rent, it shall be lawful for
the landlord to distress before rent is due.

CRIMINAL LAW

Is that branch of jurisprudence which treats of criminal offenses.
The extreme importance of a knowledge of criminal law is self-
evident; for a mistake in point of law, which every person of dis-
cretion not only may know, but is bound and presumed to know, is
in criminal cases no defense. This law is administered upon the
principle that every one must be taken conclusively to know it,
without proof that he does know it. This doctrine has been carried
so far as to include the case of a foreigner charged with a crime
which was no offense in his own country. And further, the
criminal law, whether common or statute, is imperative with refer-
ence to the conduct of individuals; so that, if a statute forbids or
commands a thing to be done, all acts or omissions contrary to the
prohibition or command of the statute are offenses at common law,
and ordinarily indictable as such. When a statute punishes a
crime by its legal designation without enumerating the acts which
constitute it, then it is necessary to resort to the common law for a
definition of the crime with its distinctions and qualifications. So,
if an act is made criminal, but no mode of prosecution is directed
or no punishment provided, the common law (in the absence of a
statute to the contrary) furnishes its aid, prescribing the mode of
prosecution by indictment, and its mode of punishment by fine and
inprisonment. So far, therefore, as the rules and principles of com-
mon law are applicable to the administration of the criminal law,
and have net been altered or modified by legislation or judicial
decisions, they have the same force and effect as laws finally enacted.



DIGEST OF STATE LAWS. 7Yl

Tlie following are some of the leading principles of the criminal
law:

1. Every man is presumed to be innocent till the contrary is
shown; and if there is any reasonable doubt of his guilt, he is en-
titled to the benefit of the doubt.

2. In general, no person can be brought to trial till a grand jury
on examination of the charge has found reason to hold him to trial.

3. The prisoner is entitled to trial by a jury of his peers, who are
chosen from the body of the people with a view to impartiality, and
whose decision on questions of facts is final.

4. The question of his guilt is to be determined without reference
to his general character, previous history, or habits of life.

5. The prisoner cannot be required to criminate himself, nor be
compelled even to exculpate himself by giving his own testimony
on trial.

6. He cannot be twice put in jeopardy for the same ofiense.

7. He cannot be punished for an act which was not an ofiense by
the law existing at the time of its commission; nor can a serverer
punishment be inflicted than was declared by the law at the time of
its commission.

Crimes are sometimes classified according to the degree of pun-
ishment incurred by their commission. They are more generally
arranged according to the nature of the offense. The following is,
perhaps, as complete a classification as the subject admits:

I. Offenses against the sovereignty of the State — 1, treason; 2
misprision of treason.

II. Offenses against the lives and persons of individuals — 1,
murder; 2, manslaughter; 3, attempt to kill or murder; 4, may-
hem; 5, rape; 6, robbery. 7, kidnapping; 8, false imprisonment;
9, abduction; 10, assault and battery.

III. Offenses against ^luhlic property — 1, burning or destroying
public property; 2, injury to same.

ly. Offenses against private property — 1, arson; 2, burglary;
3, larceny; 4, obtaining goods under false pretenses; 5, embezzle-
ment ; 6, malicious mischief.

V. Offenses against piihUc justice — 1, perjury; 2, bribery; 3,
destroying public records; 4, counterfeiting public seals ; 6, jail
breach; 6, escape; 7, resistance to officers; 8, obstructing legal
process; 9, barratry; 10, maintenance; 11, champerty; 12, cou-



T72 DIGEST OF STATE LAWS.

tempt of court; 13, oppression; 1-i, extortion; 15, suppression of
evidence; 16, compounding felony; 17, misprision of felony.

VI. Offenses against the jnthlic 2>ec('Ce — 1, challenging or accept-
ing a challenge to a duel; 2, unlawful assembly; 3, rows; 4, riot;
5, breach of the peace ; 6, libel.

YII. Offenses against chastity — 1, sodomy; 2, bestiality; 3,
adultery; 4, incest; 5, bigamy; 6, seduction; 7, fornication; 8,
lascivious carriage; 9, keeping and frequenting houses of ill-fame.

VIII. Offenses against piiblic policy — 1, false currency; 2, lot-
teries; 3, gambling; 4, immoral shows; 5, violation of the right
of suffrage; 6, destruction of game, fish, etc.; 7, nuisance.

IX. Ofenses against the currency^ and pullic and private
securities — 1, forgery; 2, counterfeiting; 3, passing counterfeit
money.

X. Offenses against religion and morality — 1, blasphemy; 2,
profanity; 3, Sabbath-breaking; 4, obscenity; 5, cruelty to ani-

. mals; 6, drunkenness; 7, promoting intemperance. ' '*

XI. Offenses against the public^ i7idividuals, or their property
— 1, conspiracy,

TAXES.

The owners of real and personal property, on the first day of
March of each year, are liable for taxes thereon.

Assessments should be completed before the fourth Monday in
June, at which time the Town Board of Review meets to examine
assessments, hear objections, and make such changes as ought to be
made. The County Board have also power to correct or change
assessments.

The tax-books are placed in the hands of the Town Collector on
or before the tenth day of December, who retains them until the
tenth day of March following, when he is required to return them
to the County Treasurer, who then collects all delinquent taxes.

ISTo costs accrue on real estate taxes until advertised, which takes
place on the first day of April, when three weeks' notice is required
ijefore judgment. Cost of advertising, twenty cents each tract of
land, and ten cents each lot.

Judgment is usually obtained at the May term of County Court.
Costs six cents each tract of land, and five cents each lot. Sale
takes place in June. Costs, in addition to those mentioned, twen-



DIGEST OF STATE LAWS. 773

ty-eiglit cents each tract of land, and twenty-seven cents each
town lot.

Eeal estate sold for taxes^may be redeemed any time before the
expiration of two years from the date of sale by payment to the
County Clerk of the amount for which it was sold, and twenty-five
per cent, thereon if redeemed within six months, fifty per cent, if
redeemed between six and twelve months; if between twelve and
eighteen months, seventy -five per cent., and if between eighteen
months and two ye/irs, one hundred per cent. ; and, in addition, all
subsequent taxes paid by the purchaser, with ten per cent, interest
thereon; also, one dollar each tract, if notice is given by the pur-
chaser of the sale, and a fee of twenty-five cents to the Clerk for
his certificate.

SUBSCRIPTION.

The selling of books by subscription is so frequently brought
into disrepute by agents making representations not authorized by
the publishers, that the public are often swindled. That there
may be more general knowledge of the relation such agents bear
to their principal, and the law governing such cases, we give the
following rules, which, if followed, will save a great deal of trouble
and perhaps serious loss.

A subscription is the placing of a signature below a written or
printed engagement. It is the act by which a person contracts, in
writing, to furnish a sum of money for a particular purpose: as, a
subscription to a charitable institution, a subscription for a book,
and the like. In the case of a book, the consideration is concur-
rent that the publisher shall publish the book named, and deliver
the same, for whicli the subscriber is to pay the price named. The
prospectus and sample should be carefully examined before sub-
scribing, as they are the basis and consideration of the promise to
pay, and not the too often exaggerated statements of the agent,
who is merely employed to solicit subscriptions, for which he
usually receives a commission for each subscriber, and has no
authority to change or alter the conditions upon which the sub-
scriptions are authorized to be made by the publishers. Should
the agent assume to agree to make the subscription conditional, or
modify or change the agreement of the publisher, as set out by
the prospectus and sample, in order to bind the publishers, the



774: DIGEST OF STATE LAWS.

subscriber should see that such condition or change is stated over,
or in connection with his signature, so the publishers may have
notice of the same.

When several persons promise to contribute to a common object,
desired by all, the promise of each may be a good consideration for
the promise of others. In general subscriptions on certain condi-
tions in favor of the party subscribing, are binding when the acts
stipulated are performed. Subscription is in the nature of a con-
tract of mutual promises. All persons should remember that the
law as to written contracts is, that they can not he altered, varied, or
rescinded verbally, but if done at all, must be done in writing. It
is therefore important that all persons contemplating subscribing
should distinctly understand that all talk before or after the sub-
scription is made is not admissible as evidence, and is no part of
the contract. Persons before signing their names to any subscrip-
tion book, or any written instrument, should carefully examine
what it is; if they cannot read, they should call on some one dis-
interested who can.

Persons who solicit subscriptions are known to the trade as can-
vassers. They are agents appointed to do a particular business in
a prescribed mode, and have no authority to do it in any other way
to the prejudice of their principal, nor can they bind their principal
in any other matter. They can not collect money, or agree that
payment may be made in anything else than money. They cannot
extend the time of payment beyond the time of delivery, nor bind
their principal for payment of expenses incurred in their business.

Where you pay money to an agent you should satisfy yourself of
his authority to collect money for his employer.

CONTRACT FOR PERSONAL SERVICES.

When a contract is entire and has been only partially fulfilled,
the party in fault may nevertheless recover from the other party for
the actual benefit received and retained by the other party, less the
damao-es sustained by such other party by reason of the partial
non-fulfillment of the contract. This may be done in all cases
where the other party has received benefit from the partial fulfill-
ment of the contract, whether he has so received the same from
choice or from the necessities of the case. Where D hired B to
work for him for seven months at $15 per month, and B worked



DIGEST OF STATE LAWS. 775

for D only fifty-nine days, and then quit without any reasonable
excuse therefor, it was held that B might nevertheless recover from
D for what the work was reasonably worth, less any damage that
D may have sustained by reason of the partial non-fulfillment of
the contract.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL.

Allowing the most liberal rule as to the liability of persons in
public employment to criticism for their conduct in which the
public are interested, there never has been a rule which subjected
persons, private or public, to be falsely traduced. No publication
is privileged except a bona fide representation, itiade without
malice, to the proper authority, complaining on reasonable grounds.
The nearest approach to this license is where the person vilified
presents himself before the body of the public as a candidate for an
elective office. But even then there is no doctrine which will sub-
ject him without i*emedy to every species of malevolent attack.

TENDER.

If the tender be of money, it can be a defense only when made
before the action was brought. A tender does not bar the debt as
a payment would, for in general he is bound to pay the sum which
he tendered, whenever he is required to do so. But it puts a stop
to accruing damages or interest for delay in payment, and saves
the defendant costs. It need not be made by the defendant person-
ally; if made by a third person, at his request, it is sufiicient; and
if made by a stranger without his knowledge or request, a subse-
quent assent of the debtor will operate as a ratification of the
agency, and make the tender good. Any person may make a valid
tender for an idiot. If an agent, furnished with money to make a
tender, at his own risk tender more, it is good. So, a tender need
not be made to a creditor personally; but it must be made to an
agent actually authorized to receive the money. If the money be
due to several jointly, it may be tendered to either, but must be
pleaded as made to all. The whole sum due must be tendered, as
the creditor is not bound to receive a part of his debt. If the
tender be of the whole debt, it is valid. If the obligation be in the
alternative, one thing or another, as the creditor may choose, the
tender should be of both, that he may make his choice. To make
a tender of money valid the money must be actually produced and



776 DIGEST OF STATE LAWS.

proffered, unless the creditor expressly or impliedly waives this
production. The debtor is not bound to count out the money, if he
has it and oilers it. No conditions must be annexed to the tender,
which the creditor can have any good reason whatever for objecting
to; as for instance, that he should give a receipt in full of all
demands. The tender should be made in money made lawful by
the State in which it is offered. Generally, a tender is valid and
effectual if made at any time after the debt is due; and a demand
made after the tender if for more than the sum tendered, will not
avoid the tender. Certainly not, if the demand is for more than
the real debt, although the excess was for another debt truly due.

Tender of Chattels. — The thing tendered may not be money, but
some specific article. If one is bound to deliver chattels at a partic-
ular time and place, it may not be enough if he has them there; they
may be mingled with others of a like kind which he is not to
deliver. Or they may need some act of separation, or identifica-
tion, or completion, before they could become the property of the
other party. Generally, if no time or place be specified, the articles
are to be delivered where they are at the time of the contract,
unless collateral circumstances designate a different place. If the
time be fixed, but not the place, then it will be presumed that the
deliverer was to bring the articles to the receiver at that time, and
for that purpose he must go with the chattels to the residence of the
receiver, unless something in their very nature or use, or some other
circumstances of equivalent force, distinctly implies that they are
to be left at some other place. It may happen, from the cumbrous-
ness of the chattels or other circumstances, that it is reasonable and
just for the deliverer to ascertain from the receiver, long enough
beforehand, where they shall be delivered; and then he would be
held to this as a legal obligation. So, too, in such a case, the
receiver would have a right to designate to the detiner, a reasonable
time beforehand, a place of delivery reasonably convenient to both
parties, and the deliverer would be bound by such directions. If
no place be indicated, and the deliverer is not in fault in this, he
may deliver the chattels to the receiver, in person, at any place