County of Daviess v. Dickinson

• Decision Date: 12 April 1886
• Citation: 6 S.Ct. 897,29 L.Ed. 1026,117 U.S. 657
• Parties: COUNTY OF DAVIESS v. DICKINSON. Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

6 S.Ct. 897

117 U.S. 657

29 L.Ed. 1026

COUNTY OF DAVIESS v. DICKINSON.

Filed April 12, 1886.

This was an action brought April 3, 1879, in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Kentucky, by Dickinson against the county of Daviess, on bonds and coupons alleged to have been issued under the statute of Kentucky of February 27, 1867, (chapter 1505,) incorporating the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company, the material provisions of which were as follows: By section 1, five persons named, in Daviess county, and certain other persons named, in each of four other counties, are 'appointed commissioners, under the direction of whom, or any three of whom, in each of said counties, subscription may be received to the capital stock of the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company hereby incorporated.' By section 2, 'the capital stock of said Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company shall be one million dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars each.' By section 19, 'the county courts of Daviess' and those four other counties 'shall have power, and are hereby authorized, to subscribe to the capital stock of said company in such number of shares as may be determined by said county courts, respectively, and to levy upon the tax-payers of such counties, respectively, such taxes as may be necessary to pay the stock so by them respectively subscribed; and said county courts may, if they shall deem it prudent, issue the bonds of said counties, respectively, for the amount of stock subscribed, or any part thereof; said bonds to be in such sums, and payable at such times, as said county courts may determine upon. But before such stock shall be subscribed by such county courts, the said county courts shall submit to the voters of said counties the proposition to subscribe stock and the amount thereof, (to be suggested and fixed by the commissioners named herein in each of said counties,) at an election to be held on the third Monday in April, 1867, in each of the counties aforesaid, due notice of which shall be given by the sheriffs in each of said counties, by written advertisements posted in each of the voting precincts thereof for at least thirty days before said day of election; and said stock shall not be subscribed unless a majority of all the votes cast at said election be in favor of such proposition and said county courts shall have power to appoint suitable and necessary officers to conduct such election, and to provide for the collection of the tax aforesaid, if a majority of the votes cast at such election is in favor of the proposition aforesaid.'

At the trial the following facts were admitted: At March term, 1867, of the Daviess county court, upon the suggestion of the five commissioners named in the charter of the railroad company, that court ordered to be submitted to the voters of the county, on the third Monday in April, 1867, this proposition: 'Shall or shall not the county court of Daviess county subscribe ten thousand shares, being the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to the capital stock of said Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company?' At April term, 1868, GEORGE W. TRIPLETT, presiding judge, and a majority of the justices of the peace of the county being present, the county court, upon motion, of EDWARD C. BERRY, one of those justices, adopted the following order: 'In obedience to the will of the majority of the voters and tax-payers of this county, as expressed and recorded in the poll-book at the election held on the fifteenth day of April, 1867, it is now ordered that this court do subscribe two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the capital stock of the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company, and GEORGE W. TRIPLETT, presiding judge of this court, is ordered and directed to make said subscription of said stock in manner and ferm as prescribed by the charter incorporating said company.'

At July term, 1868, of the county court, 'it is ordered that George W. Triplett, presiding judge of Daviess county court, William B. Tyler, [who was the treasurer of the railroad company,] and E. C. Berry be, and are hereby, appointed a committee on behalf of the county court of Daviess county, to have bonds executed and prepared of a sufficient amount to satisfy and pay off the subscription on the part of the county of Daviess to the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company. That said bonds be executed and made payable as follows, viz.: Fifty thousand dollars, five years from date; fifty thousand dollars, ten years from date; seventy-five thousand dollars, fifteen years from date seventy-five thousand dollars, twenty years from date,—the county reserving the right to pay at any time after five years; the interest on the same, at the rate of six per cent. per annum, to be due and payable semi-annually at such place or places as the committee may determine upon; and that said bonds shall be of such denominations as said committee shall deem best, with interest coupons attached, and said bonds shall be signed by the presiding judge of Daviess county and the clerk of the county court of Daviess county, and have the seal of the county impressed on each; and said committee, or a majority of the same, may sell and dispose of said bonds either to the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company, or to individuals, or other corporations, on such terms as said committee may deem best and most advisable to the interests of the county of Daviess in paying the subscription of said county to the said Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company; and they are hereby authorized to raise funds from said bonds, either by sale to individuals or corporations, or by contract with said railroad company, so as to pay off and meet all calls made by the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad Company by reason of the subscription of stock on behalf of the county of Daviess to said railroad company. It is further ordered that whenever any bond shall be sold or otherwise disposed of by said committee for the purposes aforesaid, that a list of said bonds shall be made, giving the amount, number, and denomination of same, with the amount of coupons attached to each at the time of their disposal; and said list so furnished shall be entered upon the records of the county court of Daviess by the clerk of same.'

GEORGE W. TRIPLETT, the presiding judge, and Thomas C. Jones, the clerk of the county court, claiming to act under the authority of this order, signed as such judge and clerk bonds of the county, and under the seal of the county court, as follows:

Bonds payable in five years, to the amount of. $ 51,250

Bonds payable in ten years, to the amount of. 65,200

Bonds payable in fifteen years, to the amount of. 76,500

Bonds payable in twenty years, to the amount of. 127,500

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$320,450 The bonds of each class had distinct letters, and were numbered in a series; and each bond, omitting the letter and number, the sum and time of payment, and the coupons...