§ 51. Prosecution of officers for illegal acts. All officers, agents,\ncommissioners and other persons acting, or who have acted, for and on\nbehalf of any county, town, village or municipal corporation in this\nstate, and each and every one of them, may be prosecuted, and an action\nmay be maintained against them to prevent any illegal official act on\nthe part of any such officers, agents, commissioners or other persons,\nor to prevent waste or injury to, or to restore and make good, any\nproperty, funds or estate of such county, town, village or municipal\ncorporation by any person or corporation whose assessment, or by any\nnumber of persons or corporations, jointly, the sum of whose assessments\nshall amount to one thousand dollars, and who shall be liable to pay\ntaxes on such assessment in the county, town, village or municipal\ncorporation or by any person who owns shares in a cooperative housing\ncorporation where the pro rata share of the assessment attributable to\nsuch shares shall amount to one thousand dollars (or by any number of\nsuch persons, jointly, the sum of whose pro rata shares shall amount to\none thousand dollars) and where the cooperative housing corporation\nshall be liable to pay taxes on such assessment in the county, town,\nvillage or municipal corporation to prevent the waste or injury of whose\nproperty the action is brought, or who have been assessed or paid taxes\ntherein upon any assessment of the above-named amount within one year\nprevious to the commencement of any such action, or who has been so\nassessed but has not paid nor shall be liable to pay any or the full\namount of taxes on such assessment because of a veteran's exemption\ntherefrom pursuant to section four hundred fifty-eight of the real\nproperty tax law, or who has been so assessed but has not paid nor shall\nbe liable to pay any or the full amount of taxes on such assessment\nbecause of an exemption therefrom granted to persons sixty-five years of\nage or over or their spouses pursuant to the real property tax law. Such\nperson or corporation upon the commencement of such action, shall\nfurnish a bond to the defendant therein, to be approved by a justice of\nthe supreme court or the county judge of the county in which the action\nis brought, in such penalty as the justice or judge approving the same\nshall direct, but not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, and to be\nexecuted by any two of the plaintiffs, if there be more than one party\nplaintiff, providing said two parties plaintiff shall severally justify\nin the sum of five thousand dollars. Said bond shall be approved by\nsaid justice or judge and be conditioned to pay all costs that may be\nawarded the defendant in such action if the court shall finally\ndetermine the same in favor of the defendant. The court shall require,\nwhen the plaintiffs shall not justify as above mentioned, and in any\ncase may require two more sufficient sureties to execute the bond above\nprovided for. Such bond shall be filed in the office of the county clerk\nof the county in which the action is brought, and a copy shall be served\nwith the summons in such action. If an injunction is obtained as herein\nprovided for, the same bond may also provide for the payment of the\ndamages arising therefrom to the party entitled to the money, the\nauditing, allowing or paying of which was enjoined, if the court shall\nfinally determine that the plaintiff is not entitled to such injunction.\nIn case the waste or injury complained of consists in any board, officer\nor agent in any county, town, village or municipal corporation, by\ncollusion or otherwise, contracting, auditing, allowing or paying, or\nconniving at the contracting, audit, allowance or payment of any\nfraudulent, illegal, unjust or inequitable claims, demands or expenses,\nor any item or part thereof against or by such county, town, village or\nmunicipal corporation, or by permitting a judgment to be recovered\nagainst such county,
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