Casey v. People ex rel. Patton

• Decision Date: 22 April 1890
• Citation: 24 N.E. 570,132 Ill. 546
• Parties: CASEY et al. v. PEOPLE ex rel. PATTON, Collector.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

132 Ill. 546

24 N.E. 570

CASEY et al.

v.PEOPLE ex rel. PATTON, Collector.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 22, 1890.

Appeal from county court, Jefferson county; W. T. PACE, Judge.

Application for judgment for taxes. The application was allowed in part. The property owners appeal, and both parties assign errors.C. H. Burton, for appellants.

W. H. Green, for appellee.

CRAIG, J.

The separable article of the constitution of 1870 which forbids a municipal corporation from making a subscription or donation to a railroad corporation became a part of the organic law of the state on July 2, 1870, and municipal bonds of a town issued under a vote of the people of the town at an election held after that date are void. Wade v. Town of La Moille, 112 Ill. 79. From this view of the law, it follows that the decision of the county court refusing to render judgment against objectors' lots for a tax levied to pay interest on the bonds voted July 16, 1870, was right. This disposes of the cross-errors assigned.

The tax levied to pay interest on the 10 $1,000 bonds voted on the 6th day of June, 1870, was sustained by the county court, and judgment rendered against objectors' lots for the amount assessed against them, respectively, and this decision is assigned as error. Section 15 of an act entitled ‘An act to incorporate the St. Louis and Southeastern Railroad Company,’ (3 Priv. Laws 1869, p. 242,) provides: ‘The several counties in which any part of said railway may be located, or that may lie on or near the line of the railway, and the several townships in such counties which have adopted township organization, and the cities and incorporated towns in the said counties, are hereby authorized to subscribe and take stock in said company, upon the application of said company, for such an amount as they may think proper, payable in bonds, lands, or right of way, and subject to such agreements and stipulations, as to the route of said railway, time of delivery, and payment of the bonds, as may be agreed upon.’ The section contains a proviso that no subscription shall be made until after the question of subscription shall have been submitted to a vote of the municipality at an election ordered for that purpose. It appears from the evidence introduced on the hearing that, at a meeting of the town board of Mt. Vernon township on April 29, 1870, the following proceedings were had and recorded: A petition of 25 legal voters having been presented to the supervisor and town clerk, praying that an...