by John Marshall Harlan, Oshkosh Waterworks Company v. Oshkosh…
“ But it is earnestly insisted by the waterworks company that the provision requiring an appeal from the disallowance of a claim to be perfected within twenty days thereafter is so unreasonable, in the matter of time, as, by its necessary operation, to impair the obligation of its contracts with the city. We cannot assent to this view. The time within which the creditor must perfect his appeal is undoubtedly short. ”
by John Marshall Harlan, Oshkosh Waterworks Company v. Oshkosh…
“ Equally without merit is the objection to that clause of the revised charter making the disallowance of a claim, in whole or in part, by the council, final and conclusive unless an appeal be taken to the circuit court of the county within a prescribed time. We take it that the purpose of that provision was to protect the public against the dangers attending persistent and frequent applications to the common council after it had once acted, and to compel claimants to proceed with promptness while all the facts connected with their demands were fresh in the minds of the members of the council. ”
by John Marshall Harlan, Oshkosh Waterworks Company v. Oshkosh…
“ It only stays his hand until the city has full opportunity to look into his claim before paying or refusing to pay it. Nor does the above regulation unduly obstruct the creditor; for by it the city is, in effect, allowed only sixty days for such examination, and the creditor is protected against a vexatious or indefinite delay by the provision that the failure of the council, for sixty days, to pass upon the claim shall be deemed a disallowance thereof, and the creditor may at once appeal to the circuit court of the county. ”
