such townships or districts, at an election held pursuant to the provisions of section 38 of this act, establish and maintain in the same manner as in this act, it is provided for township high schools, a high school for the benefit of the inhabitants of the territory described in such petition, and the inhabitants of any territory composed of parts of adjoining townships who are now maintaining a high school and who have elected a board of education, may create such territory a high school district by a petition of fifty (50) legal voters of such district and by an affirmative vote in such district, and may elect a board of education therefor as in other high school districts. All such high schools may be discontinued in the same manner as township high schools: Provided, that any school district having a population of at least two thousand (2,000) inhabitants may, in the same manner as herein provided for establishing and maintaining a township high school, establish and maintain a high school for the benefit of the inhabitants of such school district, and elect a board of education therefor, with the same powers hereby conferred on township boards of education. All attempted high school districts in which the inhabitants are maintaining a high school, and have in good faith elected a board of education substantially as herein required, are hereby declared to be valid and lawful high school districts and the board of education elected therefor legal boards of education. (As amended by act approved May 11, 1901.)

1. If a township high school is organized under this section from two or more adjoining townships, or two or more adjoining school districts in the same or different townships, a board of education may be elected for such high school district, with power to levy necessary taxes to build the school house and support the school. Gale v. Knopf, 193-245; Greeley v. The People, 194-550.

2. Any school district having at least two thousand inhabitants may establish and maintain a high school for the benefit of such school district. In so doing it exercises a power which it already had, the only difference being that the high school is in charge of a different board of education. There is no warrant for saying that when a district establishes a high school it becomes two districts, the one within and co-extensive with the other or the one superimposed upon the other. It is within the power of the Legislature to provide for the establishment of a high school under the control of a board of education elected for that purpose, but it cannot, by multiplying the boards of education in the same territory, authorize the district to incur indebtedness beyond the constitutional limit. Russell v. High School Board of Education, 212-327.

3. The establishment of a high school by a school district under the control of a different board of education is a mere division of existing powers of the district between the two boards of education. What the new board of education can do, the district was already authorized to do through the existing board of education. If the Legislature, by authorizing a school district to establish a high school, can also authorize it to incur indebtedness beyond the constitutional limit, it could get rid of all the restrictions of the Constitution by authorizing the management of each grade or department of the public schools by a different board of education, with different buildings. Such a construction of our Constitution has never been adopted. Ibid.

§ 43. When any township, townships or parts of townships shall have organized a high school and wish to discontinue the same, upon petition of not less than a majority of the legal voters of said township, townships or parts of townships, filed with the township treas

urers of said townships at least fifteen days preceeding the regular election of trustees, it shall be the duty of said treasurers to notify the voters of the township, townships or parts of townships, that an election will be held on the day of said regular election of trustees for the purpose of voting "For" or "Against" discontinuing the township high school, which notice shall be given in the same manner, and for the same length of time, and may be in substantially the same form, as the notice provided for in section 38 of this article: Provided, that any township where a creek or river divides the same and it has been divided into towns with such creek or river as a boundary line between them, and each of said towns contains a city, and an election has been held in such township, and carried in favor of establishing a township high school, a site for which has been selected in one of said towns, and other proceedings had thereon, a petition, signed by not less than one-fourth of the voters of such township, as shown by the vote of the last general election, may be filed at any time with the township treasurer of said township for an election, for the purpose of voting "For" or "Against" discontinuing the township high school as to the town in which the site is not located. Within ten days after the filing of the petition, as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of such township treasurer to post the notices for an election to be held according to the prayer of such petition, and if the majority of the votes cast at such election shall be in favor of discontinuing the township high school in the town where the site has not been located, the same shall be so discontinued as to it. (As amended by an act approved and in force June 2, 1897.)

§ 44. The ballots for such election shall be received and canvassed in the same manner as provided for in section 39 of this article. If the majority of the votes of such election shall be found in favor of discontinuing the high school, it shall be the duty of the trustees to discontinue the same, and turn all the assets of the said high school over to the school fund of the township or townships interested therein, in proportion to the assessed valuation of said townships, to be used as any other township fund for school purposes.

§ 45. No trustee of schools shall be interested in the sales, proceeds or profits of any book, apparatus or furniture used in any school in this State with which such trustee may be in any manner connected. For offending against the provisions of this section, any such trustee shall be liable to indictment, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in a sum not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or may be imprisoned in the county jail not less than one nor more than twelve months, at the discretion of the court.

$46. Trustees of schools in newly organized townships shall lay off the township into one or more school districts, to suit the wishes or convenience of a majority of the inhabitants of the township, and shall prepare or cause to be prepared a map of the township, on which map shall be designated the district or districts, to be styled, when there are more districts than one, "District No......., in township No......., range No.......of the.. .......of the...... p. m. (according to the proper numbers), county of. ..and State of Illinois.

1. This section provides that the trustees of schools shall lay off the township into districts to suit the wishes and convenience of a majority of the inhabitants of their townships. But the law does not provide any mode by which these facts are to be ascertained. No petition is necessary, but the trustees are peremptorily required to lay off the township into districts, and they are directed in so doing to suit the wishes and convenience of the inhabitants of their township. There being no mode provided by the act by which this is to be accomplished, the board must necessarily take the responsibility of deciding the question, acting upon the best lights before them, and exercising their best judgment. They must perform that duty, and their honest action cannot be inquired into. Metz v. Anderson, 23-463.

2. To lay off and divide a township into school districts, and from time to time, alter them or create new ones, as circumstances may require, is a very difficult duty to perform, and it is not reasonable to expect, however just, wise and impartial they may be, that there will be no single complaint. It requires much deliberation and the exercise of sound judgment, and in such case a court could not well interfere, unless gross injustice had been done, or the marks of corruption in the board so evident as to compel the court to interpose. Ibid.

3. The trustees have power under the school law to district, and it is made their duty to district their townships into proper divisions to suit the wishes and convenience of a majority of the inhabitants thereof, for school purposes. The trustees are vested with a large discretion in the performance of these important duties, and courts will not attempt to control its exercise except in a palpable case, where a plain violation of the law is manifested. School Directors v. Trustees of Schools, 66–247.

4. In the matter of the formation of school districts, the trustees are invested by law with a large discretionary power which it is their duty to exercise for the best interests of the inhabitants of the township. There is no mode pointed out in the statute for ascertaining the wishes of the inhabitants of the townships, or what number and size districts would best suit their convenience. It is made the imperative duty of the trustees to lay off the township into districts, but the manner of doing so is left to their sound discretion. When this discretion is honestly exercised, a court of equity has no power to supervise the action of the trustees in the premises. Thompson v. Beaver, 63-353.

5. If there has been any flagrant abuse of the discretionary power with which the trustees are invested, or any corrupt conduct in laying off or changing districts, so that the same would be palpably inconvenient and oppressive to the inhabitants of the township, equity will interpose to afford the requisite relief. lbid.

§ 47. In a township where such division into districts has been made, the same trustees may, in their discretion at the regular meeting in April, when petitioned as hereinafter prescribed for, change such districts as lie wholly within their township, so as

First-To divide or consolidate districts.

Second-To organize a new district out of territory belonging to two or more districts.

Third-To detach territory from one district and add the same to another district adjacent thereto.

1. The power to change the boundaries of school districts is discretionary, and the board of trustees cannot be compelled to do so by mandamus. Trustees of Schools v. Kay, 8A-30.

2. The rule is well established that when public officers are invested with discretionary powers, a court of equity will not interfere to control or review the exercise of the power unless fraud, corruption, oppression or gross injustice is plainly shown. A court of equity cannot sit as an appellate tribunal to review the exercise of judgment where there is no gross abuse of the power,

and the law does not contemplate any supervisory power in the court for the purpose of correcting errors of judgment. School Trustees v. School Directors,

190-390.

3. A proposed change in a school district is not rendered unjust, unreasonable and oppressive by the fact that to carry out such a change, the district will have to be taxed to the statutory limit. Ibid.

4. The second clause of section 47, article 3, confers the power on the trustees to organize a new district out of territory belonging to two or more districts, and when a petition is presented, signed by two-thirds of the legal voters living within certain territory containing not less than ten families, asking that said territory may be made a new district as specified in clause 3, section 48, article 3, then the trustees are clothed with authority to act. Parr v. Miller, 146–596; People v. Rhodes, 109A-110.

5. Clause 2, section 47, article 3, which authorizes the trustees to organize a new district out of territory belonging to two or more districts, does not limit the new district to parts, only, of territory belonging to two or more districts. People v. Keechler, 194-235.

6. The formation of districts, changing their boundaries, detaching territory from one district and attaching it to another, is by law committed to the trustees of schools. Their determination of all such matters is final and conclusive. The discharge of this function affects the public interests, and the school directors are bound by their action, whether it is taken on their own motion or under the mandate of a court of competent jurisdiction. In either case the directors have no discretion, but must acquiesce and accept the district thus formed. School Directors v. School Directors, 135-464.

§ 48. No change shall be made as provided for in the preceding section, unless petitioned for

First-By a majority of the legal voters of each of the districts affected by the proposed change.

Second-By two-thirds () of the legal voters living within certain territory, described in the petition, asking that the said territory be detached from one district and added to another.

Third- By two-thirds () of all the legal voters living within certain territory, containing not less than ten (10) families, asking that said territory be made a new district.

1. Clause 3, section 48 provides, that a new district may be formed by taking portions of one or more districts already established, upon a petition signed by two-thirds of all the voters residing in the territory proposed to be formed into such new district without reference to the portion taken from any particular district. It does not require ten families to reside in the particular territory taken from any one district. Boone v. The People, 4A-231.

2. The first and second clauses of section 48, article 3, have nothing to do with the organization of a new district. They do not relate to that subject. The first relates to an application to divide or consolidate districts. The second, as is apparent from its language, relates to an application, addressed to the trustees, to detach territory from one district and add the same to another adjacent district. Parr v. Miller, 146-596; Parr v. Miller, 49A-48, affirmed.

3. Under section 47, and clause 3, section 48, article 3 of the school law providing for the making of union school districts from parts of old districts on petition of two-thirds of the legal voters residing in the territory of the proposed district, a voter moving into such territory at any time before the petition is signed, from another part of the same township, school district and voting precinct, is a legal voter, and must be counted in estimating the proportion of legal voters signing the petition. People v. Simpson, 168-127. 4. A petition to organize a new district, including all the lands of two old districts and parts of the lands of yet two others, is properly treated as a petition to organize a new distriet, and not as one to consolidate districts, or

to detach territory from one district and add it to an adjacent district. Peo ple v. Allen, 155-402.

5. It is sufficient to give the school trustees jurisdiction to act on such a petition if it is signed by two-thirds of the legal voters residing in the territory proposed to be organized into such new district, without regard to their particular location within that territory or their relation as residents to the former districts. Ibid.

6. Clause 3, section 48, article 3, providing for a petition to be signed by two-thirds of all the legal voters within certain territory containing not less than ten families, asking that said territory be made into a new district, relates to the organization of a new district out of territory belonging to two or more districts. People v. Keechler, 194–235.

7. A legal petition, such as is specified in section 48, article 3 of the school law, is necessary to confer power and jurisdiction on trustees of schools to divide or consolidate school districts, create new districts out of existing ones, or to detach territory from one district and add it to another. Hamilton v. Frette, 189-190.

8. If petitions to form a new school district by adding portions of other districts to one whole district comply with clause 3, section 48, article 3 of the school law, in having the signatures of two-thirds of all the legal voters residing within the territory proposed to be made into the new district, it is not necessary that they also comply with clause 2 of such section relating to detaching territory from one district and adding it to another, by having the signatures of two-thirds of the legal voters living in each of the different portions of the territory going to compose the new district. Ibid.

9. Where petitions to form a new school district out of different districts lying in three townships and two counties have been denied by the trustees of the respective townships, and an appeal is taken, the two county superintendents, who, with the county judge, decide to form the new district, such decision is final and conclusive of the question whether the petitions were designed to evade the requirements of the law relating to petitions to detach territory from one district and add it to another. Ibid.

10. The fact that a school district has been illegally formed, in violation of a statutory provision, yet, in a collateral proceeding, the legality of the formation of the district cannot be inquired into, but it must be taken as having been rightfully formed, and that the only mode in which such illegality can be inquired into and taken advantage of, is by information in the nature of a quo warranto. Trumbo v. The People, 75-562; Renwick v. Hall, 84-163; People v. Newberry, 87-43; Alderman v. School Directors, 91-180.

11. The limitation in the formation of new districts out of territory previously organized as one district, applies to each district. Neither must contain less than ten families. Both are, in fact, new districts, though, as a matter of convenience, for purposes of description in designating the duties of officers and providing for the disposition of property or funds, one may be denominated the old or original district, and the other a new district. Chessire v. The People, 116-493.

$ 49. In school districts having a population of not less than one thousand inhabitants, whether acting under the general school law or organized and acting under a special charter, desiring a change of boundaries, the question of such change may be submitted to the trustees by vote of the people, instead of by the petition provided for in the preceding section; and when petitioned so to do by twenty-five legal voters of the district, the school board of the district shall submit the question of the change desired to the voters of said district, at a special election called for that purpose, and held at least thirty days prior to the regular April meeting of trustees. If a majority of the votes cast at any such election shall be in favor of the change proposed, then, due return of the election having been made to the town