Lincoln v. Iron Company
| Decision Date | 01 October 1880 |
| Citation | 103 U.S. 412,26 L.Ed. 518 |
| Parties | LINCOLN v. IRON COMPANY |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Michigan.
This was an action brought by the Cambria Irom Company against the township of Lincoln, a body corporate and politie, in the county of Berrien, created under the laws of Michigan. Judgment was rendered for the plaintiff, and the township sued out this writ of error.
The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.
Mr H. F. Severens for the plaintiff in error.
Mr. M. J. Smiley for the defendant in error.
The principal question raised in this case by the assignment of errors is as to the sufficiency of the first and second counts of the declaration. These counts are upon certain bonds alleged to have been made and executed by the township of Lincoln, in the county of Berrien, and State of Michigan, in aid of a railroad company; and the objection made to them is that they do not aver that an election was held to authorize the issue of the bonds, as required by law, and do not aver various other prerequisites to such issue. The question is whether the omission to make these averments is error.
The law from which the authority of the township to issue bonds is derived was passed March 22, 1869, and was entitled 'An Act to enable any township, city, or village to pledge its aid, by loan or donation, to any railroad company,' & c.
The first section declared that it should be lawful for any township or city to pledge its aid to any railroad company chartered or organized under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Michigan, in the construction of its road, by loan or donation, with or without conditions, for such sum or sums not exceeding ten per cent of the assessed value of the property in such township or city, as a majority of its electors voting should, at a meeting called for that purpose, determine. The second section prescribed the manner of calling the election, and giving notice thereof. The third section directed the manner in which the elections should be conducted, and the recording of the proceedings on the records of the township or city. The fourth section authorized the issue of coupon bonds for the amount of aid voted, and prescribed the form of the bonds and the manner of their execution; if issued by a township they were to be executed by the supervisor and township clerk, and under the seal of the township if it had one. Subsequent sections directed that the bonds when executed should be delivered to the State treasurer as trustee for the municipality and the railroad company; that the treasurer should record them in a book so as to show their amount, date, number, &c. and that he should deliver them out to the railroad company whenever the company should present a certificate of the governor of the State that it had complied with the provisions of the act, and was entitled to the bonds; that upon delivering them he should indorse upon each bond the date of delivery, and notify the clerk of the township or city; and that the township or city should levy the necessary taxes to meet the interest and principal as they became due. The eleventh section provided that no bonds should be delivered to the railroad company until it should have complied with the conditions voted, and completed its road through or into the township or city concerned, according as the charter required, and thence to its terminus or the some connecting line of railroad; or, if not touching such township or city, then that it should have completed its road through the adjoining municipality, or for a certain number of miles adjoining the nearest terminus.
The declaration, after referring to this statute, and stating the organization of the Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad Company under the laws of Michigan, having for its object the construction of a railroad from New Buffalo through and beyond the township of Lincoln, proceeds, in the first count, to aver that on the 1st of June, 1869, the township, acting under and in accordance with the authority conferred upon it by said act of the legislature, made a donation to said railroad company, and for that purpose made and executed four certain bonds, payable to the said company or bearer (describing them), which bonds were duly delivered to the company, as provided in ...
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Less v. English, 830.
...from what is alleged in the pleading. Drake v. Barton, 18 Minn. 462, 464 (Gil. 414); Adam v. Norris, 103 U.S. 591, 595; Lincoln v. Iron Co., 103 U.S. 412, 415; Co. v. Lindsay, 4 Wall. 650, 656; Ankeny v. Clark, 148 U.S. 345, 355, 13 Sup.Ct. 617; Morrow Shoe Mfg. Co. v. New England Shoe Co.,......
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... ... 724] ... The ... Allen-West Commission Company, the defendant in error, sued ... J. G. Patillo, G. W. Smith, J. A. Patillo, J. P. Smith, and ... Adam v ... Norris, 103 U.S. 591, 595, 26 L.Ed. 583; Lincoln v ... Iron Co., 103 U.S. 412, 415, 26 L.Ed. 518; Railroad ... Co. v. Lindsay, 4 Wall. 650, 656, ... ...
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