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JANUARY TERM, 1848.
341
Monet *. Jones.
4. By the aets of 1842, p. 181, and 1843, p. 79, the legislature entered into a contract as to the site of the county seat, which is broken by the act of 1846. The citizens under those acts, in good faith, have expended money and erected public buildings ; it is a breach of good faith to sustain the act of 1846.
W. P. Harris and D. C. Glenn, for appellee.
1.	By all sound rules of interpretation the act of 1846 was an unconditional location of the county seat. The first section is positive, and the seventh section shows that the legislature con* templated a removal to Gainesville, whether the public buildings were put up or not, and fixes the period for it. The location is in express words made “permanent”
2.	The argument of appellant is suicidal. If the whole act be merely a proposition to change the county seat on condition the public buildings be erected, then the argument, as to its unconstitutionality, falls to the ground, for the citizens may accept it or not, as they please, and are thus not compelled to obey tfie legislative bidding. But if the argument as to the unconstitutionality of the second section prevail, then the first section stands as an absolute and permanent location of the county site, unaffected by the second section if declared unconstitutional.
3.	The general law (H. & H. Dig. 466) provides for the erection and repair of public buildings when there are none, or they need repair; and if the citizens of Gainesville neglect or fail to provide suitable buildings, it is the power and duty of the board of police to provide buildings under the general law.
4.	It is difficult to define the exact character of the board of police, when Viewed with reference to the functions they perform. Looking at the various statutory enactments which confer or regulate the powers of these bodies, we would be inclined to regard them as a kind of municipal corporation. The language of the constitution, however, seems to fix upon them the character of courts, and to confine them to the exercise of such judicial functions as arise out of the administration of county affairs. 1st Because the word “ jurisdiction ” refers to the ex-
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