Humboldt Township v. Long/Opinion of the Court

by William Strong

United States Supreme Court

92 U.S. 642

Humboldt Township  v.  Long

The first question certified from the court below, is, whether the bonds to which the coupons in suit were attached are negotiable bonds, such as to entitle the plaintiff to the rights of a bona fide holder of negotiable paper taken in the ordinary course of business before maturity.

They are certificates of indebtedness to the railroad company, or bearer, each for $1,000, lawful money of the United States, payable on a day certain, with interest at the rate of seven per cent, payable annually on the first days of January in each year, at a specified banking-house, on the presentation and surrender of the respective interest-coupons thereto annexed. If this were all, there could be no doubt of their complete negotiability. But, it is said, the subsequent language of the certificates controls the absolute promise, and shows that payment was to be made only on a contingency. This is argued from the recital contained in the instrument, and from what follows it. We quote: 'This bond is issued for the purpose of subscribing to the capital stock of the Fort Scott and Allen County Railroad, and for the construction of the same through the said township, in pursuance of, and in accordance with, an act of the legislature of the State of Kansas, entitled, 'An Act to enable municipal townships to subcribe for stock in any railroad, and to provide for the payment of the same, approved Feb. 25, 1870;' and for the payment of the said sum of money and accruing interest thereon, in manner aforesaid, upon the performance of the said condition, the faith of the aforesaid Humboldt Township, as also its property, revenue, and resources, is pledged.' Relying upon this clause of the certificate, the township contends that the construction of the railroad through the township was a condition upon which the payment was agreed to be made. We think, however, this is not the true construction of the contract. The construction of the road, as well as the subscription for stock, were mentioned in the recital as the reasons why the township entered into the contract, not as conditions upon which its performance was made to depend. It was for the purpose of subscribing, and to aid in the construction of the road, that the bond was given. The words, 'upon the performance of the said condition,' cannot then refer to any thing mentioned in the recital, for there is no condition there. A much more reasonable construction is, that they refer to a former part of the bond, where the annual interest is stipulated to be payable at a banker's, 'on the presentation and surrender of the respective interest-coupons.' Such presentation and surrender is the only condition mentioned in the instrument. But that stipulation presents no such contingency as destroys the negotiability of the instrument. It is what is always implied in every promissory note or bill of exchange,-that it is to be presented and surrendered when paid. As well might it be said that a note payable on demand is payable upon a contingency, and therefore non-negotiable, as to affirm that one payable on its presentation and surrender is, for that reason, destitute of negotiability.

The next question certified is, whether the bonds are invalid because of the fact that the election was held within less than thirty days after the day of the order calling for it.

The act of the legislature under which the bonds purport to have been issued (passed in 1870) is the act under which the bonds considered in the case of Marcy v. Township of Oswego, supra, p. 637, were issued. We held in that cause, that, by its provisions the board of county commissioners, who caused the bonds to be issued, were constituted the authority to determine whether the conditions of fact, made by the statute precedent to the exercise of the authority granted to execute and issue the bonds, had been performed, and that their recital in the bonds issued by them was conclusive in a suit against the township brought by a bona fide holder. In so ruling, we but decided what had often before been decided, and what ought to be regarded as a fixed rule. Applying it to the solution of the question now before us, it is plain that the bonds are not invalid, bacause all the notice of the popular election was not given which the legislative act directed. The election was a step in the process of execution of the power granted to issue bonds in payment of a municipal subscription to the stock of a railroad company. It did not itself confer the power. Whether that step had been taken or not, and whether the election had been regularly conducted with sufficient notice, and whether the requisite majority of votes had been cast in favor of a subscription, and consequent bond issue, were questions which the law submitted to the board of county commissioners, and which it was necessary for them to answer before they could act. In the present case, the board passed upon them and issued the bonds, asserting by the recitals that they were issued 'in pursuance of and in accordance with the act of the legislature.' Thus the plaintiff below took them, without knowledge of any irregularities in the process through which the legislative authority was exercised, and relying upon the assurance given by the board, that the bonds had been issued in accordance with the law. In his hands, therefore, they are valid instruments.

The third question certified is answered by what was decided in the case of Marcy v. Township of Oswego, supra, p. 637, to which we have already referred. There is no essential difference between this case and that. The assessment-rolls of the township may have been proper evidence for the consideration of the board of county commissioners, when they were inquiring what the value of the taxable property of the township was; but the bonds are not invalid in the hands of a bona fide holder by reason of their having been voted and issued in excess of the statutory limit, as shown by the rolls. Whatever may be the right of the township as against those who issued the bonds, it cannot set up against a bona fide holder of the bonds that the amount issued was too large, in the face of the decision of the board, and their recital that the bonds were issued pursuant to and in accordance with the act of 1870.

Judgment affirmed.

MR. JUSTICE MILLER, with whom concurred MR. JUSTICE DAVIS and MR. JUSTICE FIELD, dissenting.

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