No. 7.

Statement of Tax-paying Brokers, the amount of tax they pay, the amount of capital on which they pay, and the date of payment for the last fiscal year.

Ledger Balances on Auditor General's Books, Nov. 30, 1854,

To the above balance charged State Treasurer, is to be added $147 98 for outstanding Warrants, making actual cash balance, in State Treasurer's hands, $553,004 08.

No. 5.

LEGISLATURE, 1855.

ANNUAL REPORT of the Attorney General.

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, }

Lansing, January 1, 1855.

To the Legislature of the State of Michigan:

The undersigned respectfully submits to the Legislature the following report:

The following is a synopsis of the principal cases and proceedings that have received the attention of this office during the past year: The case of the people against Charles S. May, which was set down for re-argument, was heard and determined at the last January term of the Supreme Court. The respondent had received a majority of the votes of the county of Calhoun, at the annual election of eighteen hundred and fifty-two, for the office of Prosecuting Attorney, but was not at the time of such election an attorney at law. An Information was filed at the relation of D. Darwin Hughes, to enquire by what warrant he assumed to exercise that office. The Court held upon the re-argument of the case, that the respondent, not being an attorney at law, was ineligible to the office of Prosecuting Attorney, and judgment of ouster was accordingly rendered against him.

In the case of the People against the Auditor General, an application was made at the January term of the Supreme Court for a Man

damus to compel him to make conveyance of certain lands, purchased by the relator, Sidney Sweet, at a sale of delinquent tax lands. The application was denied upon the return of the Auditor, showing informalities in the sale.

The case of Henry Hock, who was convicted upon an indictment for perjury, in Hillsdale county, which was brought before the Supreme Court by writ of error, was argued and submitted at the January

term.

The judgment of the Circuit Court of Kent county, in the case of the People against Charles J. Burnham, upon writ of error, sued out by the defendant, was affirmed by the Supreme Court.

Numerous cases originating before Justices of the Peace, or the Circuit Courts, involving questions of the constitutionality of the act of eighteen hundred and fifty-three, prohibiting the manufacture of intoxicating beverages, and the traffic therein, were argued before the Supreme Court, at the January term. The history of these cases is well known. The Court being equally divided in opinion upon the important points presented, no judgments were rendered.

In the case of the people against Esbon G. Fuller, upon Information to enquire by what warrant he exercised the office of Circuit Court Commissioner, the respondent was adjudged guilty of usurpation of that office, and judgment of ouster was accordingly pronounced against him.

In the month of March last, upon the complaint, and at the relation of John P. Clark, I filed an Information in the Circuit Court of Wayne county, against John Ives, George Ives and others, to remove an alleged obstruction from the highway, below Detroit, occasioned by the construction and use of a swing bridge, over a narrow channel, leading to a dry dock, belonging to those individuals-the case is still pending.

In the month of July last, I filed an Information on behalf of the people of the State, in the Wayne Circuit, against the Commissioner of the State Land Office, to restrain that officer from proceeding in the sales of swamp lands, which were to commence on the 18th of that month. The principal gronnd upon which an injunction was prayed for and obtained, was, that the action of the Commissioner was premature; that the title of the lands had not vested in the State, as contemplated by the act of the Legislature authorizing a sale. This view of

the power and duty of the Commissioner was fully sustained by the Court, on the argument of the motion for the dissolution of the Injunction; and it was accordingly ordered that the Injunction should stand until the final hearing of the case. The reasons assigned by the Court were of so conclusive a character, as to induce the Commissioner to withdraw at once, any further opposition to the proceeding, and to abandon the sales.

Informations in the nature of writs of quo warranto, have been filed in the Supreme Court, against the River Raisin and Grand River Railroad Company, the Bank of Tecumseh, the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad Bank, and the Bank of Washtenaw. The proceedings have been commenced to procure judicial forfeitures of the charters of these corporations.

The Schedule hereto annexed, marked A, contains abstracts of the Reports of the Prosecuting Attorneys of the several Counties, so far as the same have been received at this office.

WILLIAM HALE,

Attorney General.