Bd. Of Com'rs Of Stanly County v. Snuggs

• Decision Date: 21 December 1897
• Citation: 121 N.C. 394,28 S.E. 539
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: BOARD OF COM'RS OF STANLY COUNTY et al. v. SNUGGS, County Treasurer.

28 S.E. 539

121 N.C. 394

BOARD OF COM'RS OF STANLY COUNTY et al.

v.SNUGGS, County Treasurer.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Dec. 21, 1897.

Constitutional Law — Statutes — Enactment— Construction—Evidence—Journal Entries— Railroad Aid Bonds—Notice op Invalidity.

1. The house journal is competent to show that a law authorizing a county to raise money on its credit was not ryassed according to Const, art, 2, § 14, requiring the bill to be read in each house on three different days, and that the yeas and nays on the second and third reading be entered on the journal.

2. Acts 1870-71, c. 236, and Acts 1887, c. 183, authorizing a county to raise money on its credit, are void, because not passed according to Const art. 2, § 14, providing that "no law'' shall be passed authorizing a county to pledge its credit, unless the bill shall have been read in each house on three different days, and the yeas and nays on the second and third reading be entered on the journal.

3. Code, § 1996, authorizing county commissioners to subscribe stock to a railroad company, when necessary to aid in the "completion" of a railroad, does not include a railroad not begun to be built before the constitution was adopted.

4. Where the journals of the general assembly show that a law authorizing a county to issue railroad aid bonds was not passed in the manner required by the constitution, the purchasers of the bonds are chargeable with notice of such fact.

Faircloth, C. J., dissenting.

Appeal from superior court, Stanly county; Coble, Judge.

Action by the board of commissioners of Stanly county and others against I. W. Snuggs, treasurer of Stanly county, to enjoin defendant from paying coupons upon certain railroad aid bonds. From a judgment for plaintiffs, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Long & Long and Battle & Mordecai, for appellant.

A. C. Avery, D. Schenck, Jr., and Shepherd & Busbee, for appellees.

MONTGOMERY, J. On the 15th of August, 1889, at an election held in Stanly county, a majority of the voters of the county cast their ballots in favor of subscription to the capital stock of the Yadkin Railroad Company to the amount of $100,000. Bonds of the county to that amount were issued in payment of the subscription, and delivered to the president of the company. The annual interest has been paid regularly, except that accruing on the 1st of July, 1897, which has been collected, and is now in the hands of the defendant, who is the treasurer of the county, and who is about to pay it to the holders of the coupons. The plaintiffs, taxpayers of the county, and the board of commissioners, bring this action, alleging that the Acts of 1870-71, c. 236, and the Acts of 1887, c. 183, under which the commissioners attempted to act, and under which the election was held, were void, for the reason that they were not passed as required by section 14 of article 2 of the constitution, and that the bonds were therefore illegally issued; and they pray that the treasurer of the county, the defendant, be perpetually enjoined from paying the sum now in his hands, or any other sums which may hereafter come into his hands, to the holders of the coupons. The matter was heard before Coble, J., and the restraining order theretofore granted was continued, and the defendant enjoined from paying out the money in his hands until the final hearing of the case. The act of incorporation of the Yadkin Railroad Company (chapter 236 of the laws enacted by the general assembly of North Carolina at its session of 1870-71), in its fourth section, made provision for subscriptions to be made to the capital stock of the company by any county along the line of the road to such amount as a majority of the county commissioners might determine, subject to the approval of the qualified voters of the county; the commissioners, in order to pay the subscription, being empowered to Issue bonds for that purpose, and to levy taxes to pay the bonds and interest upon them. Section 4 of the act of incorporation was amended by chapter 183, of the Laws of 1887, the amendment extending the privilege of subscribing for stock of the company to the towns and cities and townships along the line of the road, and requiring the subscriptions to be approved by a majority of the qualified voters of such cities, towns, and townships; and providing, further, that bonds should be issued in payment of said subscription and taxes levied to pay the same, principal and interest, according to the terms and conditions of said bonds, and that the board of commissioners of the county should issue the bonds, and levy the taxes to pay the township subscriptions. Section 14 of article 2 of the constitution ordains that "no law shall be passed to raise money on the credit of the state or to pledge the faith of the state, directly or indirectly, for the payment of any debt, or to Impose any tax upon the people of the state, or to allow the counties, cities or towns to do so, unless the bill for the purpose shall have been read three several times in each house of the general assembly, and passed three several readings, which readings shall have been on three different days, and agreed to by each house respectively, and unless the yeas and nays on the second and third reading of the bill shall have been entered on the journal." The plaintiffs were allowed to produce copies of the house journal, certified to by the secretary of state, to show that the above-mentioned acts were not passed by the general assembly in accordance with the requirements of the constitution. That journal showed that the bill which became chapter 236 of the Laws of 1870-71 was introduced on the 31st of March, 1871, and referred to the committee on internal improvements; that It was reported favorably on the next day; and that on the 3d of April, two days after its introduction, it passed its second and third readings; and that there was no entry of the yeas and nays on either of its readings. Prom that journal it appears that the bill which was enacted into chapter 183 of the Laws of 1887 passed its second reading on February 26th, and that the yeas and nays were called on that reading, and entered on the journal; that the bill passed its third reading on the 28th of February, but the yeas and nays were not entered on the journal on that reading. We are of the opinion that it was competent to introduce the house journal as proof that the acts referred to were not passed according to the requirements of the constitution, and they establish that fact. That provision of the constitution (section 14 of article 2) is mandatory, as we have decided In Union Bank of Richmond v. Commissioners of Town of Oxford, 119 N. C. 214, 25 S. E. 966. It is the protection which the people in convention have thrown around themselves for the benefit of the minority as well as of the majority. The object of the provision was to prevent hasty and ill-advised legislation by means of which the people might be deprived of their property, not for the ordinary expenses of government, but, by special taxation, for enterprises ostensibly in the name of the public good, but which might prove sources of individual Injustice and injury. When indebtedness of the kind mentioned In the provision Is sought to beincurred, the people have said in that provision that their legislative body, whenever considering the propriety of authorizing it, shall be not only careful, but deliberate; that the bill shall be read three several times, and pass three several readings, and that no two readings of the bill shall be had on the same day, and that the names of the legislators who vote on the question shall be known to the people by the enrollment of their names on the journal. It is a reasonable requirement, too, especially to those who are property holders and taxpayers, and the information is easy to be had, for section 16 of the same article of the constitution ordains that each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which shall be printed, and made public immediately after the adjournment of the general assembly. Therefore it is clear that in legislation in reference to raising money on the credit of the state, or pledging its faith to the payment of debt, or imposing any tax on the people of the state, or allowing the counties, cities, or towns to do so, the constitution itself ordains that such legislation is void, unless the bills have passed three separate readings, on three different days, and unless the yeas and nays on the second and third reading shall have been entered on the journal. The bill may, in point of fact, have been read three several times, and on three different days, and the yeas and nays may have been actually called on the second and third readings, and the presiding officers may have certified thereto, and yet, if the entry of the yeas and nays is not actually made on the journal, the constitution, speaking with absolute clearness, says that the failure of such entry is absolutely fatal to the validity of the act. The entry showing who voted on the bill, and how they voted, must be made before the bill can ever become a law. The constitution does not allow the certificate of the presiding officers, or any other power, to cure such an omission. The certificate of these officers will be taken as conclusive of the several readings in ordinary legislation, even if it could be made to appear that the journals were silent in reference thereto, because, in ordinary legislation, the directions of the constitution are not a condition precedent to the validity of the act. But in that class of legislation, the purpose of which is to legislate under section 14 of article 2 of the constitution a literal compliance with the language of that section is a condition precedent, and one which must be performed In its entirety before the bill can ever become a law. This point, however, has been so recently and so thoroughly discussed in the case of Union Bank of Richmond v....