Commonwealth of Virginia v. State of West Virginia

• Citation: 206 U.S. 290,27 S.Ct. 732,51 L.Ed. 1068
• Decision Date: 27 May 1907
• Docket Number: No. 7,O,7
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA v. STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA. riginal
• Court: United States Supreme Court

206 U.S. 290

27 S.Ct. 732

51 L.Ed. 1068

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

v STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA.

No. 7, Original.

Argued March 11, 12, 1907.

Decided May 27, 1907.

This is a bll filed, on leave, February 26, 1906, by the commonwealth of Virginia against the state of West Virginia.

The bill averred that——

On the 1st day of January, 1861, complainant was indebted in about the sum of $33,000,000 upon obligations and contracts made in connection with the construction of works of internal improvement throughout her then territory. By far the greater part of this indebtedness was shown by her bonds and other evidences of debt, given for the large sums of money which she from time to time had borrowed and used for the above purpose; but a portion of her liabilities, though arising under contracts made before that date, had not then been covered by bonds issued for their payment.

'In addition to the above liability to the general public, there was a large indebtedness evidenced by her bonds and other liabilities held by and due to the commissioners of the sinking fund and the literary fund of the state, as created under her laws, amounting, the former, to $1,462,993.00, and the latter, to $1,543,669.05, as of the same date.

'The official reports and records showing the exact character and amounts of the public debt thus contracted and how the same was created are referred to, and will be produced upon a hearing of the case

'(2) That portion of the territory embraced in what constitutes the present territorial limits of Virginia was, prior to that date, devoted mainly to agriculture, and to some extent to grazing and manufacturing, which afforded its chief sources of revenue, while that portion included in what now constitutes the state of West Virginia had vast potentialities of wealth and revenue in the undeveloped stores of minerals and timber, which had been known for many years prior to the date named, and their prospective values, if made accessible to the markets of the country, were understood to be well nigh beyond computation. It was to hasten and facilitate the development of these sources of wealth and revenue by the construction of graded roads, bridges, canals, and railways, extending through the state from tidewater towards the Ohio river, that the commonwealth of Virginia, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, entered upon a system of public internal improvoments which it was contemplated should include the entire territory of the state, and embraced in its design the construction of public works adapted, not to the needs of any one portion of the state alone, but of the entire state, as a unit of interest. The larger part of these works were constructed east of the Appalachian range, as leading up to the undeveloped territory west thereof, but a very considerable portion of them were, at an expense of several millions of dollars, constructed west of said range, within the territory now included in the state of West Virginia; and the completion of some of the main lines of improvement beyond the said range and through to the Ohio river, since the 1st day of January, 1861, has increased to a very great and material extent the values of real estate, including coal and timber, in the said territory now included in West Virginia, thus carrying into effect the original scheme of improvement, which could not have been done had not the lines east of said range been first constructed; and your oratrix believes and avers that the property values within the limits of West Virginia have been enormously enhanced in a large measure by reason of these improvements. The money appropriated to the payment of the annually accruing interest on the said debt, prior to January 1, 1861, and to the formation of the sinking fund for the ultimate redemption thereof, was derived from taxes imposed upon the property subject to texation throughout the entire state. The first of this indebtedness to be contracted was a small amount borrowed by the state in the year 1820, and the debt was thereafter from time to time continued and increased by renewals and new loans until it reached the amount above stated in 1861.

'() The commonwealth of Virginia was induced to enter upon the construction of this general system of internal improvement in a very large measure for the purpose of developing the aforesaid resources of the western portion of the state, now constituting the state of West Virginia, thereby ameliorating the condition of her citizens residing therein; and it was with this view that she took upon herself the burden of the public debt for which her bonds were issued, without which debt such improvements could not have been undertaken. In corroboration of this view it will appear from an inspection of the legislative records of the state, where the vote carrying the appropriations for such public improvements was recorded, that in nearly every instance a majority of those members of the house and senate of the original state, who then represented the counties now composing West Virginia, voted for such appropriations. Indeed, it appears from those records that a great majority of the acts of the legislature of Virginia under which said indebtedness was created would have failed of their passage had the representatives from the counties embraced in what is now West Virginia opposed their enactment, and that a very large proportion of said indebtedness was actually contracted over the votes of a majority of the representatives from the counties and cities embraced in the limits of the present state of Virginia. This will be found to be true, not only in the legislature for one single session, but in the legislatures for many successive years, thus showing it to have been a fixed policy of the people in that portion of the state now constituting West Virginia to participate in, support, and carry out this general plan of internal improvements in the state.

'4. The development of this system of public improvements thus entered upon was, from its character and extent, necessarily progressive, and the same extended with the general growth and increasing needs of the state, and was incomplete, as above stated, in 1861, though a very considerable portion of such improvements had, prior to that time, been constructed as above stated, in the territory now constituting West Virginia, in order to meet the needs of the people of that portion of the state for their local purposes. As early as the year 1816 a board of public works was created by law for the state, the members of which were elected by the voters of the state at large, and this board had in charge the construction and supervision of all the works of public improvement in this state. The annual reports of this board will be referred to for information as to the character, extent, cost, and location of the public works and internal improvements constructed in the state prior to January lst, 1861. The amounts expended upon the construction of these works in what is now West Virginia can only be accurately ascertained by an examination of the numerous entries in the records of this board extending through a number of years and showing such expenditures as made from time to time.

'5. On the 17th of April, 1861, the people of Virginia, in general convention assembled, adopted an ordinance by which it was intended to withdraw Virginia from the union of the states. From this action a considerable portion of the people of Virginia dissented, and organized a separate government which was known and recognized by the government of the United States as the 'restored state of Virginia,' and will be hereafter referred to in this bill as the 'restored state.'

'6. On the 20th day of August, 1861, the restored state of Virginia, in convention assembled, in the city of Wheeling, Virginia, adopted an ordinance to 'provide for the formation of a new state out of the portion of the territory of this state,' § 9 of which ordinance was as follows, to-wit:

"9. The new state shall take upon itself a just proportion of the public debt of the commonwealth of Virginia, prior to the 1st day of January, 1861, to be ascertained by charging to it allth e state expenditures within the limits thereof, and a just proportion of the ordinary expenses of the state government since any part of said debt was contracted, and deducting therefrom the moneys paid into the treasury of the commonwealth from the counties included within the said new state during said period. All private rights and interests in lands within the proposed state, derived from the laws of Virginia prior to such separation, shall remain valid and secure under the laws of the proposed state, and shall be determined by the laws now existing in the state of Virginia.'

'7. On the 31st day of December, 1862, an act was passed by the 37th Congress of the United States [12 Stat. at L. 633, chap. 6], providing that the new state thus formed in pursuance of the ordinances of the Wheeling convention above referred to, should, upon certain conditions, be admitted into the Union by the name of West Virginia, with a constitution which had theretofore been adopted for the new state by the people thereof, such conditions being that a change should be made in such proposed constitution in regard to the liberation of slaves therein; and it was provided by this act of Congress that whenever the President of the United States should issue his proclamation stating the fact that such change had been made and ratified, thereupon the act admitting the new state into the Union should take effect sixty days after the date of such proclamation. Such proclamation declaring these conditions to have been complied with was duly made by President Lincoln on April 20th, 1863, and West Virginia, in conformity therewith and by the operation of said act of Congress, was admitted into the Union as a state on the 20th day of June, 1863; and thereupon the state...