Inhabitants of the Township of Bernards v. Morrison

• Citation: 133 U.S. 523,10 S.Ct. 333,33 L.Ed. 766
• Parties: INHABITANTS OF THE TOWNSHIP OF BERNARDS v. MORRISON et al
• Decision Date: 03 March 1890
• Court: United States Supreme Court

133 U.S. 523

10 S.Ct. 333

33 L.Ed. 766

INHABITANTS OF THE TOWNSHIP OF BERNARDS v. MORRISON et al.

March 3, 1890.

A. A. Clark, and Jas. R. English, for plaintiff in error.

Cortlandt Parker, for defendants in error.

BREWER, J.

This is an action on township bonds. Judgment was rendered against the township, and it alleges error. The bonds were issued under an act approved April 9, 1868, and found in the Session Laws of New Jersey for that year, (page 915 et seq.) Outside of the obligatory words, this was the form of the bond:

'This bond is one of a series of like tenor, amounting in the whole to the sum of one hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars, issued on the faith and credit of said township in pursuance of an act entitled 'An act to authorize certain towns in the counties of Somerset, Morris, Essex, and Union to issue bonds and take stock in the Passaic Valley and Peapack Railroad Company,' approved April 9, 1868. In testimony whereof the undersigned, commissioners of the said township of Bernards, in the county of Somerset, to carry into effect the purposes and provisions of the said act, duly appointed, commissioned, and sworn, have hereunto set our hands and seals the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.

'JOHN. H. ANDERSON, [L. S.]

'JOHN GUERIN, [L. S.]

'OLIVER R. STEELE, [L. S.]

'Commissioners.

'Registered in the county clerk's office.

'WILLIAM ROSS, Jr., County Clerk.'

The first section of the act provides that, upon the application in writing of 12 or more resident freeholders, the circuit court of the county shall appoint three resident freeholders to be commissioners. Section 2 reads as follows: 'That it shall be lawful for said commissioners to borrow, on the faith and credit of their respective townships, such sum of money, not exceeding ten per centum of the valuation of the real estate and landed property of such township, to be ascertained by the assessment rolls thereof, respectively, for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, for a term not exceeding twenty-five years, at a rate of interest not exceeding seven per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, and to execute bonds therefor under their hands and seals, respectively. The bonds so to be executed may be in such sums, and payable at such times and places, as the said commissioners and their successors may deem expedient; but no such debt shall be contracted or bonds issued by said commissioners, of or for either of said townships, until the written consent shall have been obtained of the majority of the tax-payers of such township, or their legal representatives, appearing upon the last assessment roll, as shall represent a majority of the landed property of such township (including lands owned by non-residents) appearing upon the last assessment roll of such township. Such consent shall state the amount of money authorized to be raised in such township, and that the same is to be invested in the stock of the said railroad company, and the signatures shall be proved by one or more of the commissioners. The fact that the persons signing such consent are a majority of the tax-payers of such township, and represent a majority of the real property of such t wnship, shall be proved by the affidavit of the assessor of such township indorsed upon or annexed to such written consent, and the assessor of such township is hereby required to perform such service. Such consent and affidavit shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which such township is situated, and a certified copy thereof in the town-clerk's office of such township, and the same, or a certified copy thereof, shall be evidence of the facts therein contained, and received as evidence in any court of this state, and before any judge or justice thereof.' By section 3 these commissioners were authorized to dispose of the bonds, and invest the money in railroad stock in the name of the township, to subscribe for and purchase stock in the railroad company, and to act at stockholders' meetings. Section 14 provides 'that all bonds issued in accordance with the provisions of this act shall be registered in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the township is situated issuing the same, and the words 'Registered in the county clerk's office' shall be printed or written across the face of each bond, attested by the signature of the county clerk when so registered, and no bond shall be valid unless so registered.'

It is conceded that the commissioners were duly appointed; that the issue of bonds was not in excess of the amount authorized by the statute;...