Post v. Supervisors Amoskeag Bank v. Ottawa
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
| Writing for the Court | GRAY |
| Citation | 26 L.Ed. 1204,105 U.S. 667 |
| Parties | POST v. SUPERVISORS. AMOSKEAG BANK v. OTTAWA |
| Decision Date | 01 October 1881 |
Page 668
ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Mr. Sanford B. Perry, Mr. David T. Littler, and Mr. George S. Eldredge for the plaintiffs in error.
Mr. T. Lyle Dickey and Mr. Philip Philips for the defendants in error.
MR. JUSTICE GRAY delivered the opinion of the court.
These actions are brought upon municipal bonds, purporting to have been issued under an act of the General Assembly of Illinois of Feb. 18, 1857. The facts of the cases do not substantially differ from those which appeared when one of the cases was before this court at October Term, 1876, and the principles then affirmed must control the present decision. See Town of South Ottawa v. Perkins and Supervisors of Kendall County v. Post, 94 U. S. 260. Those principles may be summed up as follows:——
First, By the law of the State of Illinois, as often declared by the Supreme Court of that State, before as well as after the execution of the bonds in suit, the provisions of the Constitution of 1848, requiring each house of the legislature to keep and publish a journal of its proceedings, and, on the final passage of all bills, to take the vote by ayes and noes, and ordaining that no bill shall become a law without the concurrence of a majority of all the members elect of each house, are not merely directory; but if the journals, being produced or proved, fail to show that an act has been passed in the mode prescribed by the Constitution, the presumption of its validity, arising from the signatures of the presiding officers and of the executive, is overthrown, and the act is void.
Second, Whether a seeming act of the legislature is or is not a law is a judicial question to be determined by the court, and not a question of fact to be tried by a jury.
Page 669
Third, The construction uniformly given to the Constitution of a State by its highest court is binding on the courts of the United States as a rule of decision.
Fourth, An act of the legislature of a State, which has been held by its highest court not to be a statute of the State, because never passed as its Constitution requires, cannot be held by the courts of the United States, upon the same evidence, to be a law of the State.
Fifth, That which is not a law can give no validity to bonds purporting to be issued under it, even in the hands of those who take them for value and in the belief that they have been lawfully issued.
It was accordingly held that the act of the General Assembly of Illinois of Feb. 18, 1857, under which the bonds in suit were issued, having been adjudged by the Supreme Court of that State in 1870 in the cases of Ryan v. Lynch (68 Ill. 160) and Miller v. Goodwin (70 id. 659),...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State Ex Rel. Caldwell v. Wilson
...is binding upon the courts of the United States, "—citing Town of South Ottawa v. Perkins, 94 U. S. 260, 268; Post v. Supervisors, 105 U. S. 667: Norton v. Shelby Co., 118 U. S. 425, 440, 6 Sup. Ct. 1121; Railroad Co. v. Georgia, 98 U. S. 359, 366; Baldwin v. Kansas, 129 U. S. 52, 57, ......
-
L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Central Stock Yards Co.
...statutes. Green v. Neal 6 Pet. (U. S.) 291, 8 L. Ed. 402; Fairfield v. Gallatin, 100 U. S. 47, 25 L. Ed. 544; Post v. Supervisors, 105 U. S. 667, 26 L. Ed. 1204; Leeper v. Texas, 139 U. S. 462, 11 Sup. Ct. 577, 35 L. Ed. 225; In re Duncan, 139 U. S. 499, 11 Sup. Ct. 573, 35 L. Ed. 219. As w......
-
Louisville & N.R. Co. v. Central Stockyards Co.
...federal statutes. Green v. Neal, 6 Pet. (U. S.) 291, 8 L.Ed. 402; Fairfield v. Gallatin, 100 U.S. 47, 25 L.Ed. 544; Post v. Supervisors, 105 U.S. 667, 26 L.Ed. 1204; Leeper v. Texas, 139 U.S. 462, 11 S.Ct. 577, 35 L.Ed. 225; In re Duncan, 139 U.S. 499, 11 S.Ct. 573, 35 L.Ed. 219. As we unde......
-
Farmers' Savings & Building & Loan Association v. Ferguson
...was not usurious under Tennessee law, and this court is barred by the adjudications of the supreme court of that state upon the question. 105 U.S. 667; 7 Wall. 541; 107 U.S. 33; 94 U.S. 260; 98 U.S. 359; 118 U.S. 425; 125 U.S. 555; 134 U.S. 632; 142 U.S. 293; 119 U.S. 680; 150 U.S. 132; 146......
-
Louisville & N.R. Co. v. Central Stockyards Co.
...federal statutes. Green v. Neal, 6 Pet. (U. S.) 291, 8 L.Ed. 402; Fairfield v. Gallatin, 100 U.S. 47, 25 L.Ed. 544; Post v. Supervisors, 105 U.S. 667, 26 L.Ed. 1204; Leeper v. Texas, 139 U.S. 462, 11 S.Ct. 577, 35 L.Ed. 225; In re Duncan, 139 U.S. 499, 11 S.Ct. 573, 35 L.Ed. 219. As we unde......
-
Ritchie v. Richards, 764
...v. Kempfield, 54 Cal. 112; Illinois Central R. R. Co. v. People, 143 Ill. 434; Railroad Tax Case, 8 Sawyer 293-5; Post v. Supervisors, 105 U.S. 667; City of Ottawa v. Perkins, 94 U.S. 261. On the subject of a marked ballot not being a secret ballot we refer to the following authorities: Bri......
-
L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Central Stock Yards Co.
...statutes. Green v. Neal 6 Pet. (U. S.) 291, 8 L. Ed. 402; Fairfield v. Gallatin, 100 U. S. 47, 25 L. Ed. 544; Post v. Supervisors, 105 U. S. 667, 26 L. Ed. 1204; Leeper v. Texas, 139 U. S. 462, 11 Sup. Ct. 577, 35 L. Ed. 225; In re Duncan, 139 U. S. 499, 11 Sup. Ct. 573, 35 L. Ed. 219. As w......
-
State Ex Rel. Caldwell v. Wilson
...state is binding upon the courts of the United States, "—citing Town of South Ottawa v. Perkins, 94 U. S. 260, 268; Post v. Supervisors, 105 U. S. 667: Norton v. Shelby Co., 118 U. S. 425, 440, 6 Sup. Ct. 1121; Railroad Co. v. Georgia, 98 U. S. 359, 366; Baldwin v. Kansas, 129 U. S. 52, 57,......