Norton v. Taxing District of Brownsville

by Melvin Fuller

United States Supreme Court

129 U.S. 479

Norton  v.  Taxing District of Brownsville

The city of Brownsville was incorporated by act of the general assembly of Tennessee passed on February 24, 1870. The records of the board of mayor and aldermen show the following proceedings had May 12, 1870: 'BROWNSVILLE, TENNESSEE, May 12, 1870. A call meeting of the board of mayor and aldermen met at the mayor's office. Members being all present, the board was called to order. Reading the minutes of the last meeting was dispensed with. Upon application of J. D. Smith, president of Brownsville and Ohio Railroad Company, and in pursuance of authority in us vested by the act of general assembly of state of Tennessee passed February 8, A. D. 1870, the board of mayor and aldermen of the city of Brownsville hereby order and direct that an election be held in our said city on Saturday, the 11th day of June next, at which election the qualified voters of our said city will vote upon the proposition to issue the bonds of the corporation to be subscribed as stock in aid of the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad, and in accordance with the provisions of said act, said bonds to have twenty years to run, and be payable in city of St. Louis, Missouri, and bear interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum, said interest payable annually in said city, and said bonds to be issued to amount to the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and be known as 'Brownsville Railroad Bonds.' Said election is to be advertised in the Brownsville Bee, the county newspaper of Haywood county, for twenty days before said election. Said bonds are to be issued to and taken by the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad Company in lieu of the sum of fifty thousand dollars heretofore voted and subscribed by this corporation to the said company in pursuance of section 6 of said act of general assembly of state of Tennessee of February 8, 1870. In voting at said election those voters who are in favor of the issuance of said bonds in lieu of said subscription shall have written or printed upon their ballots 'Bonds,' and those who are opposed to the issuance of said bonds shall have written or printed on their ballots 'No bonds.' It is ordered that the sheriff of Haywood county give notice by advertisement in the Brownsville Bee for twenty days of the time, place, and purpose of holding said election, and shall open and hold the same at the usual voting place or places in the city of Brownsville on Saturday, June 11, 1870, and shall, as soon thereafter as practicable, certify the result of said election to this board. Full power and authority is hereby given him to appoint judges and other officers of said election, and to do all things else necessary and proper to carry into effect this order.' On the 13th day of June, 1870, the sheriff of Haywood county, Tenn., certified to the mayor and aldermen of the city of Brownsville that he did hold the election thus ordered in conformity to the terms of the order on the 11th of June, 1870, and that at said election 139 votes were polled, and the result was 139 votes were cast for 'Bonds,' and none for 'No bonds.'

And on the said 13th day of June, 1879, the said mayor and aldermen of the city of Brownsville did ordain as follows: 'On motion, the following ordinance was adopted, to-wit: Whereas, it appears from the certificate of John L. Sherman, sheriff of Haywood county, that in pursuance of an ordinance of this board passed 12th of May, 1870, that he did, on the 11th day of June, 1870, open and hold an election within the city of Brownsville upon the proposition to issue fifty thousand dollars corporation bonds running twenty years, bearing interest from date at eight per cent. per annum, payable in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, said bonds to be known as the 'Brownsville Railroad Bonds,' and to be issued in aid of the construction of the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad, and that at said election one hundred and thirty-nine votes were cast in favor of said bonds, and none against, it is therefore ordained by the board of mayor and aldermen of the city of Brownsville that the mayor, T. W. Tyas, subscribe to the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad Company the sum of fifty thousand dollars as stock, and that in payment of said subscription he sign and issue to said Brownsville and Ohio Railroad Company fifty thousand dollars corporation bonds, said bonds bearing interest from date at the rate of eight per cent. per annum, payable in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, twenty years from date,-said interest to be paid annually; said bonds to be issued in aid of the construction of said Brownsville and Ohio Railroad, and to be known as the 'Brownsville Railroad Bonds."

On the 1st day of July, 1870, $50,000 of the bonds of the city of Brownsville were issued under and in pursuance of of the foregoing proceedings, payable July 1, 1890, and the same were by said city of Brownsville paid and delivered to the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad Company in payment of a subscription theretofore made by said city of Brownsville for $50,000 of the capital stock of said railroad company, and said stock so paid for was delivered by said railroad company to said city of Brownsville, and has ever since been held and owned by said city.

The following is a correct copy of one of the said $50,000 of bonds, and the others are like unto it:

'$500. United States of America. $500.

'City of Brownsville, State of Tennessee.

'Brownsville Railroad Bond.

'Interest at eight per cent., payable annually.

'Know all men by these presents, that the corporation of the city of Brownsville, Tennessee, is indebted to the bearer of this bond in the sum of five hundred dollars, for value received, which the said corporation hereby promises to pay on the first day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety, at the office or agency of said corporation, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, with interest thereon from the first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy, at the rate of (8) eight per centum per annum, payable annually, at the said office or agency, on the first day of July of each year, on the presentation and surrender of the annexed coupons as they severally become due. This bond is one of a series of one hundred bonds for five hundred dollars each, numbered from one to one hundred, inclusive, amounting in the aggregate to fifty thousand dollars, and issued by authority of an act of the legislature of the state of Tennessee, passed February 8, 1870. In witness whereof the city of Brownsville has caused these presents to be signed by its mayor and recorder this the first day of July, 1870.

T. W. TYUS, Mayor.

'JOHN CLINTON, Recorder.'

G. W. Norton became the holder and owner for value before maturity, and without notice of any infirmity in said bonds other than that given him on the face of the bonds and by the constitution and laws of Tennessee, of the interest coupons which matured July 1, 1874, taken from said bonds numbered 5, 7, 27, and 41, and the interest coupons which matured on July 1, 1883, 1884, 1885, and 1886, taken from said bonds numbered 27, 35, 41, 44, 62, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 48, 49, 55, 57, 58, 60, 90, 91, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, and 100, being four coupons which matured July 1, 1874, for $40 each, and 24 coupons which matured July 1, 1883, and 24 which matured July 1, 1884, and 24 which matured July 1, 1885, and 24 which matured July 1, 1886, aggregating 100 coupons of $40 each, and upon these 100 interest coupons the said G. W. Norton, on the 20th of May, 1887, instituted his said suit against the board of commissioners of the taxing district of the city of Brownsville in said circuit court of the United States for the western district of Tennessee, being No. 2,933 on the law docket of said court, which is the cause recited in the caption hereof, to be submitted to said court upon the pleadings and this agreement of facts.

The mayor and aldermen of the city of Brownsville, at a meeting of said board held on March 18, 1871, took action, which is thus shown on the minutes of said board: 'On motion, the following ordinance was made and adopted: Be it ordained by the board of mayor and aldermen of the city of Brownsville, Tennessee, that the exchange bank of St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, is hereby constituted and made the agency of the corporation of the said city of Brownsville, Tennessee, for the purpose of paying the principal and interest, as the same shall become due, of fifty thousand of eight per cent. bonds issued by said corporation of Brownsville on the first day of July, 1870, and falling due on the first day of July, 1890; and the mayor is hereby authorized and instructed to collect promptly the taxes levied for the purpose of paying the interest on said bonds, and for the purpose of establishing a sinking fund for the redemption of the same, and to place on deposit at the said Exchange Bank of the city of St. Louis by the 1st day of July of each and every year a sufficient amount in currency to redeem all of the coupons of said bonds falling due at that time, and not otherwise redeemed.' The city of Brownsville paid the interest on said bonds for the years 1871 and 1872, and has paid the interest on some of them, matured since, for the years 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, and 1877, but the coupons sued on as aforesaid by G. W. Norton in the case cited in the caption hereof have not been paid. It is admitted that at an election for mayor of Brownsville, on January 7, 1871, there were 546 votes cast for mayor, and that on June 11, 1870, the citizens of Brownsville entitled to vote in the election held on that day were at least 546 in number. It is also admitted that the Brownsville & Ohio Railroad was never built, and has been abandoned. It is also admitted that by an act of 1879 the charter of the city of Brownsville was repealed, and that a government was afterwards organized under the act of April 1, 1881. All of these acts and others thought applicable may be read from the books containing the acts of Tennessee. It is also admitted that there was no subscription by the authorities of Brownsville to the Brownsville & Ohio Railroad, or to the corporation which preceded it, called the 'Brownsville & Dyer County Railroad,' otherwise than is shown in the paper immediately following this agreement, before the passage of the act of February 8, 1870; and it is also admitted that no election was held as contemplated in the ordinance set out in said paper.

PAPER ANNEXED TO AGREEMENT.

'BROWNSVILLE, TENN., May 11, 1869.

'At a called meeting of the board of mayor and aldermen, held in the mayor's office, members were all present except Recorder Clinton. The board was called to order and Alderman B. J. Lea appointed recorder pro tem. The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted. A communication was received from Messrs. R. S. Thomas, (chairman,) J. P. Wood, John R. Watkins, J. M. Rutledge, W. W. Vaughn, D. A. Nunn, and J. P. Parker, praying the board to order an election to vote a tax on the property in the corporation, for the purpose of aiding in building the Brownsville and Dyer County Railroad, which was received and ordered to be filed; and, on motion, the following ordinance was passed: Be it ordained by the board of mayor and aldermen that the proposition for the board of mayor and aldermen to levy a tax of one per cent. per annum for five years on the taxable property of Brownsville, to aid in the construction of the Brownsville and Dyer County Railroad, for which said tax the said railroad company is, after the last payment, to issue certificate of stock for the amount which is paid by the town of Brownsville, be submitted to the legal voters of Brownsville on the 18th day of May, 1869. Those in favor of said appropriation will vote 'For railroad tax;' those opposed to said appropriation will vote 'Against railroad tax."

The court instructed the jury that the bonds from which the coupons sued on were clipped were issued without the authority of law, and were void, and that the new constitution, which went into effect on the 6th day of May, 1870, did not amend, but repealed and abrogated, the act of February 8, 1870, so far as said act authorized the issuing of bonds by municipal corporations upon an election held after said new constitution went into effect; and directed the jury to return a verdict for the defendants, and against the plaintiff. To the giving of this instruction plaintiff then and there excepted. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant under this charge of the court. Plaintiff then moved in arrest of judgment, and for a new trial, which motions were overruled; to all which holdings and rulings the plaintiff excepted, and tendered his bill of exceptions, which was duly signed, sealed, and made a part of the record. Judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant, and against the plaintiff, for costs, and he thereupon sued out this writ of error.

The act of the general assembly of Tennessee of February 8, 1870, so far as in any way relating to the city of Brownsville, is as follows:'An act to confer upon the town of Brownsville, in the county of Haywood, the authority to issue corporation bonds in aid of railroads, and for other purposes.

'Section 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of Tennessee that section 71 of an act passed the 15th day of February, 1869, or so much thereof as to change the name and style of the Brownsville and Dyer County Railroad to the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad, which road shall run from Brownsville via Friendship, instead of Chestnut Bluff and Dyersburg, to some point in the state of Kentucky west of the Tennessee river, to be determined by said railroad company.

'Sec. 2. Be it further enacted that the corporate authorities of the city of Brownsville, in Haywood county, are hereby authorized to issue corporate bonds to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars, for railroad purposes, to be called 'Brownsville Railroad Bonds,' running not exceeding twenty years, and bearing interest, payable annually, not exceeding the rate of interest at the place where said bonds are made payable.

'Sec. 3. Be it further enacted that the bonds authorized to be issued by this act, or any part thereof, may be subscribed as stock in the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad Company, said bonds to be taken by said company at par, and to issue to the corporation of Brownsville certificates of stock of said railroad company equal to the amount of bonds received from said corporation.

'Sec. 4. Be it further enacted that, upon the application of the president of the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad Company to the corporate authorities of the city of Brownsville, said authorities shall publish, or cause to be published, in the county newspaper, not less that twenty days, for the purpose of holding an election, to be held in the usual way, in said city of Brownsville, at which election all the legal voters shall have the privilege of voting for or against the issuance of said railroad bonds; and, unless a majority of the votes cast at such election be in favor of the proposed issuance of railroad bonds, no authority shall be given by this act to issue the same; but, in case a majority of the votes cast be in favor of the issuance of said bonds, the mayor of the city shall subscribe to the stock of said railroad company the amount so voted; said stock to be paid in bonds, as provided for by this act.

'Sec. 5. Be it further enacted that the corporate authorities of the city of Brownsville shall levy annually an assessment upon all the taxable property within the limits of the corporation, sufficient to pay the annual interest on the bonds that may be issued under the provisions of this act, and also to establish a sinking fund for the ultimate redemption of said bonds.

'Sec. 6. Be it further enacted that a subscription in bonds made by the corporation of the city of Brownsville to the Brownsville and Ohio Railroad Company, under the provisions of this act, may be received in lieu of any other subscription heretofore made by said corporation to said railroad company; and that the provisions of the foregoing sections of this act shall apply to the towns of Troy and Union City, in Obion county, to the same extent as the same applies to the city of Brownsville.

'Sec. 18. Be it further enacted that stock which has been subscribed, or may hereafter be subscribed, by any county, city, or incorporation, to said railroad companies, may be payable in six annual payments; and it shall be lawful for county courts, and the corporate authorities of any city or town, making such subscription, to issue short bonds, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, to said railroad companies, in anticipation of the collection of annual levies, if thereby the construction of the roads can be facilitated.

'Sec. 22. Be it further enacted that this act shall take effect from and after its passage.

'Passed February 8, 1870.'

Chapter 55, Acts Leg. Tenn. 1869-70, p. 360.

• * * Henry Craft, L. P. Cooper,and Sparrell Hill, for plaintiff in error.

Wm. W. Rutledge and Wm. M. Smith, for defendant in error.

Mr. Chief Justice FULLER, after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

Notes