Wagner v. Meety

Citation69 Mo. 150
PartiesWAGNER v. MEETY et al., Plaintiffs in Error.
Decision Date31 October 1878
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Missouri

Error to Shelby Circuit Court.--HON. JOHN T. REDD, Judge.

A. J. Baker for plaintiffs in error.

J. G. Blair for defendants in error.

1. COUNTY SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS: injunction against, by citizens and taxpayers.

SHERWOOD, C. J.

The Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad Company were certainly not entitled to the bonds of Scotland county, unless upon compliance with the terms and conditions imposed in the order of subscription to the capital stock of the company. The State v. County Court Daviess County, 64 Mo. 30. There was no such compliance. This the demurrer to the petition of plaintiffs, who are residents and tax-payers of Scotland county, admits. The route was changed, and the consideration for the subscription and the bonds therefore failed. In the Daviess County case, supra, we held the county court justices absolved from any duty to issue bonds when the conditions of the subscription had not been complied with, and by parity of reasoning they should be restrained from issuing bonds when such issuance would be without authority, in consequence of a failure on the part of the company to comply with the contract; the only right to the bonds was based on compliance; when that failed so also did its dependent right. Nor do we doubt that plaintiffs, being tax-payers and citizens, are directly interested in seeing to it that their county officials do not waste their substance and encumber their property by taxation to meet bonds which the county court, unless restrained, would issue without authority of law. And bonds would be issued and delivered without such authority, when the fundamental condition of the subscription had not met with at least substantial compliance; otherwise, it would prove but a vain and useless formality for the county court to impose any conditions precedent to the issuance of bonds; they might subscribe for a road in one direction, and have to up put with one in another direction, built in total defiance of the terms of subscription. These considerations make it abundantly evident that plaintiffs had both the legal capacity, as well as proper grounds, for their present procedure. Newmeyer v. M. & M. R. R. Co., 52 Mo. 81; Hooper v. Ely, 46 Mo. 505.

2. ____: consolidation of railroads.

The Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad Company never had any existence until 1870; after which the subscription was made. That company was the result of an alleged consolidation of other companies, one of which being chartered in 1857, had the privilege of having subscriptions made without a vote first taken. This privilege, however, never became a vested right in that company, thus chartered, because a subscription was neither...

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18 cases
  • Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. v. City of Sioux Falls
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 8th Circuit. United States District Courts. 8th Circuit. District of South Dakota
    • July 11, 1904
    ......Co. v. Kenton County Court, 12. B.Mon. 144; Fidelity Trust & Safety Vault Co. v. Lawrence. Co., 92 F. 576, 34 C.C.A. 553; Wagner v. Meety, . 69 Mo. 150; State ex rel. Wilson v. Garroutte, 67. Mo. 445; List v. City of Wheeling, 7 W.Va. 501;. Cumberland & O.R. Co. v. ......
  • Edwards v. Lesueur, Secretary of State
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Missouri
    • February 5, 1896
    ...... of legislature); Francis v. Blair, 89 Mo. 291;. Valle v. Ziegler, 84 Mo. 214; Ewing v. Board of. Education, 72 Mo. 436; Wagner v. Meety, 69 Mo. 150; Ranney v. Bader, 67 Mo. 476; Matthis v. Town of Cameron, 62 Mo. 504; Rubey v. Shain, 54. Mo. 207; Newmeyer v. ......
  • Neosho City Water Company v. City of Neosho
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Missouri
    • December 23, 1896
    ......493;. People v. Waynesville, 88 Ill. 469; Casey v. People, 24 N.E. 570; State ex rel. v. Court, 64. Mo. 30; Onstott v. People, 15 N.E. 34; Wagner v. Meety, 69 Mo. 150; State v. Montgomery, 74 Ala. 226; Black v. Cornell, 30 Mo.App. 641. (2) That the. city officers had no power to waive, ......
  • State ex rel. Wine v. Keokuk & Western Railroad Co.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Missouri
    • November 4, 1889
    ...was annulled, and the new company (M., I. & N.) became organized under the general laws of the state, and not under a charter. Wagner v. Meety, 69 Mo. 150; Railroad v. Georgia, 63 Ga. 483; State ex v. Garroutte, 67 Mo. 445; Railroad v. Maine, 96 U.S. 499; Trask v. Maguire, 18 Wall. 391; Cle......
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