City of New Orleans v. Benjamin

Citation38 L.Ed. 764,14 S.Ct. 905,153 U.S. 411
Decision Date14 May 1894
Docket NumberNo. 981,981
PartiesCITY OF NEW ORLEANS v. BENJAMIN et al
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

This is a certificate from the United States circuit court of appeals for the fifth circuit, under section 6 of the judiciary act of March 3, 1891, the statement and questions of law so certified being as follows:

'The complainant, an alien, filed his bill of complaint in the circuit court against the city of New Orleans and other municipal corporations, citizens of the State of Louisiana, alleging, among other things, as follows, viz.:

"That by an act of the legislature of Louisiana (No. 74) approved September 14, 1868, the parishes of Orleans (includ- ing the city of New Orleans), Jefferson, and St. Bernard were territorially united in one district for the purpose of police government therein, called the 'Metropolitan Police District of New Orleans, State of Louisiana.' That the government of said district for police purposes was vested in a board of commissioners styled the 'Board of Metropolitan Police.'

"That said board was required to appoint all the officers and employes of the police force required in said district, and their salaries, which were prescribed by the act, were required to be paid monthly. That by said act, and acts of said legislature supplementary to and amendatory thereof, said board was required to make annually an estimate of the expenses of maintaining a police force in said district, and to apportion the same to the several cities and parishes within said district, and said cities and parishes were required by said acts to promptly pay, and to provide the means for promptly paying, the amounts thus apportioned to them,' and they were authorized and required to raise the amount by levying taxes for that purpose.

'That said board of Metropolitan police, in obedience to the laws creating and governing the same, organized a Metropolitan police force in said district, and appointed and employed the officers and members thereof, who entered upon their duties and rendered services under contracts therewith to be paid the salaries fixed by law for such employment, such contracts being made upon the faith of its revenues applicable to their payment being unimpaired.

'That said board annually made the estimates of the expenses of maintaining such police force and apportioned the same to the several cities and parishes in the district, and that large sums are due and unpaid on account thereof by the city of New Orleans and other corporations made defendants in the bill.

'That by the provisions of an act of said legislature approved February 27, 1869, and subsequent acts, all warrants issued in payment of salaries of officers, employes, and members of the Metropolitan police, and for the expenses of said board, were made receivable for all parish and municipal taxes and licenses within the limits of the Metropolitan police district, and for all debts due or to become due to the parishes and cities within said district, not exceeding in any one year the amount of their respective apportionments for that year.

"That by an act of said legislature (No. 35) approved March 31, 1887, said act No. 74, of September 14, 1868, establishing said Metropolitan police district; said act No. 44, of February 27, 1869, making all warrants issued in payment of Metropolitan police salaries and expenses receivable for all municipal and parish taxes within the district; said act No. 94, of March 30, 1870, requiring the several cities and parishes within the district to pay, and to provide the means for the payment of, their apportionments of the expenses of the board of Metropolitan police; said act No. 16, of March 24, 1875, entitled 'An act to enforce the payment by the city of New Orleans and the several cities and parishes of the Metropolitan police district of the apportionment made upon them by the board of Metropolitan police, and for other purposes,' as well as all other acts amendatory of said above-enumerated acts, or upon the same subject-matter,—were repealed, and said board of Metropolitan police was abolished, and no provision was made for the liquidation of its affairs, or the payment of its debts.

"That said repealing act was in violation of section 10, art. 1, of the constitution of the United States, in that it impaired the obligation of the contracts made by said board of Metropolitan police with its officers and employes, and others to whom it was indebted, and who had contracted with and rendered services to said board upon the faith of said provisions of law for the enforced payment and collection of the sums due to it as aforesaid from the several cities and parishes within said district, out of which funds only they could be paid, and to that extent said act was and is null and void.'

'The bill further avers that complainant is the holder and owner of Metropolitan police warrants, certificates, and claims against said board of Metropolitan police, said warrants and certificates having been issued by said board for services rendered and supplies furnished, and said claims being for services rendered and supplies furnished thereto under contracts therewith, said warrants, certificates, and claims amounting to $5,032.90, and that other due and unpaid warrants and certificates issued by said board are outstanding, and sums are due and owing by it for services rendered and supplies furnished to it exceeding $200,000.

'And it is also averred:

"That the only assets of said board of Metropolitan police at the time it was abolished were the amounts due to it by said city of New Orleans, and by the other defendants, as herein stated. That the aggregate amount of said indebtedness to said board largely exceeds the total amount of its debts and liabilities. That law and equity require that the amount of said assets should be ascertained, and the just proportion due by each of the defendants adjusted, and that the liabilities of said board of police be fixed and determined, and paid out of said assets, and, if the same exceed the liabilities of the board, that said defendants be required to pay their pro rata shares thereof.'

"That said board of Metropolitan police was a body corporate under the laws of its creation, and by the repeal of said laws ceased to be, and had and has no representative or successor, against whom suit might have been or may now be brought for the establishment of the demands of the complainant herein; and he is remediless, except in this honorable court, where matters of this nature are cognizable and relievable. Wherefore, he brings this his bill in behalf of himself and all other creditors of said board, similarly situated, who may come in, and contribute to the expenses of this suit.'

'The prayer of the bill, in substance, is that an account be taken 'of all the debts, liabilities, and unpaid dues, of every kind, of said board of Metropolitan police, including the warrants, certificates, and claims of your orator, and of all others who may come in and avail themselves of the decree to be made herein, and contribute to the expense of this suit; that a like account may be taken of the amount due by each of said defendants to said board of Metropolitan police for the balances of their unpaid apportionments of police expenses, as well as of all police taxes collected by them, and withheld from said board, and that said defendants be decreed to pay into the hands of some discreet person, to be appointed receiver by this honorable court, their several pro rata shares of the amount so found to be due to creditors of said board of Metropolitan police, including all costs of the administration thereof; and that the funds thus realized be applied to the payment of your orator's said warrants, certificates, and claims, and of such other persons as may be creditors of said board, and who shall come in and establish their claims, and also to the payment of interest thereon, and all expenses of administration, and costs.'

'The defendant the city of New Orleans demurred to the bill, assigning, among other causes of demurrer, the following:

"That the complainant's said bill of complaint—in case the same were true, which this defendant does in no wise admit contains not any matter of equity whereon this court can ground any decree, or give the complainant any relief or assistance, as against this defendant.

"That the bill complains of the repeal by the legislature of Louisiana of the aforesaid acts organizing and relating to the Metropolitan police force and the Metropolitan police board, and by reason of said repeal, the bill alleges, the Metropolitan police board was abolished, and no provision was made, or now exists, for the liquidation of the affairs, or for the payment of the alleged debts, of said board, and the bill calls upon this court to grant relief for the payment of said alleged debts of said Metropolitan police board; but this defendant shows that the only mode of payment of said alleged debts, if any, of the late Metropolitan police board, a political body for the administration of the police of the city, is by taxes to be levied for that purpose, and, if it be true, as asserted by said bill, that no provision now exists for the payment of said debts, this court has no power to direct the levy of taxes for said asserted debts, or any power whatever to grant any relief in respect to the matters of which the bill complains.'

'The demurrer was overruled.

'Said defendant then filed an answer, and, among other things, averred as follows: 'Further answering, defendant admits that, by the act of the legislature of Louisiana, No. 35 of 1877, the various acts organizing the Metropolitan police board were repealed. But all the provision for the payment of said Metropolitan police was the levy of the Metropolitan police taxes authorized by law, and said taxes had already been levied far in excess of taxes that should have been imposed; and the repealing legislation...

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