St. Joseph & Denver City R.R. Co. v. Buchanan Cnty. Court

Decision Date28 February 1867
Citation39 Mo. 485
PartiesTHE ST. JOSEPH AND DENVER CITY RAILROAD COMPANY, Petitioner, v. BUCHANAN COUNTY COURT, Respondent.
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

Petition for Mandamus.

Woodson & Jones, for petitioner.

The counsel for petitioner refers to the following authorities; 27 Mo. 225; 28 Mo. 259; 30 Mo. 111; 41 Me. 15; 33 Mo. 440; 18 B. Mon. 848; 22 Barb. 404; 2 Gray, 370; 11 B. Mon. 154; 12 Mo. 166; 2 Kan. 455; 23 Mo. 517; Redf. on Railw. 535.

Ensworth, for respondent.

I. The power desired to be forced upon the County Court of Buchanan county, Mo., to exercise by the subscription of capital stock in the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad Company of the State of Kansas to construct a railroad outside of this State, and compel the citizens of this State to contribute to the fund to enter into said speculation, is unconstitutional--22 Mo. 387.

II. The power granted to the County Court of Buchanan county was a discretionary power.

III. The writ of mandamus will not be granted unless the party asking it has a clear right, and no other specific remedy; and will not be granted to review the proceedings of inferior courts in a case where a writ of error will lie, or where the party can be otherwise redressed--27 Mo. 225, and citations; 23 Mo. 454; 3 Dallas' U. S. R. 42; 2 Barn. & Ad. 124 & 163; 3 Id. 270; 14 East. 395; 3 Bin. 372, & 5 Bin. R. (Penn.) 73; 19 Johns. 259; 8 B. Mon. 65; 33 Mo. 303; 14 Gray, 164; 7 Gray, 280.

WAGNER, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a petition for a mandamus by the relator, a corporation of the State of Kansas, against the judges of the County Court of Buchanan county to compel them to make a subscription in behalf of the said county to the stock of the said corporation. The petition avers that the relator is a corporation duly incorporated by the State of Kansas for the purpose of building a railroad; that its eastern terminus is at Ellwood, in Kansas, on the Missouri river, opposite the city of St. Joseph, in Buchanan county; that by an act of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, entitled “An act to authorize the County Court of Buchanan county to subscribe stock for railroads and other purposes,” approved February 11, 1861, it was provided that the said County Court of Buchanan county should have power to subscribe for the capital stock of railroads terminating at or near the said county of Buchanan, or for the stock of any other improvements tending to promote the general interest of said county; to issue the bonds of the county for said subscription, and to provide by special tax or otherwise for the payment of calls due on said stock and interest due on said bonds, and the payment of said bonds when due--provided the proposition to subscribe for said stock, specifying the nature, amount and terms of said subscription, and the manner in which the same is to be met, and liquidated by special tax or otherwise, should be first submittted to a vote of the taxable inhabitants of said county, and a majority of the votes polled for or against the said proposition should be valid and binding upon the said county;--that the County Court, at its March term, 1866, in pursuance of the said act, submitted a proposition to the taxable inhabitants of Buchanan county who were qualified voters, for their ratification or rejection, to subscribe for four thousand shares of the capital stock of the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad Company, said shares amounting in the aggregate to four hundred thousand dollars; that an election was held in pursuance of said order of said County Court, and that two thousand one hundred and thirty-eight votes were cast in favor of the proposition, and eight hundred and fifty-nine votes were cast against it; that an application was filed in writing with said court praying the court to subscribe for four thousand shares of the capital stock of said company upon the terms prescribed in the order of said court and ratified by the people of the said county at the said election; that the court rejected the said application and refused to make the said subscription.

The respondents filed a demurrer to the petition, and allege substantially that the act of the Legislature authorizing the County Court of Buchanan county to subscribe for shares in the capital stock of a foreign corporation is in contravention of the Constitution of this State; that the submission to a vote of the people was illegal and not in conformity with law; and that the act of the Legislature vested a discretionary power in the County Court as to making the subscription, and that its action ought not to be controlled in this court by mandamus.

We have not been able to find anything in the Constitution inconsistent with the power delegated to the County Court giving it authority to make subscriptions of stock to railroads terminating at or near Buchanan county. The object was to promote the trade and commerce of the county, and conduce to its general benefit; and in a frontier country these objects are as essentially accomplished by building up lines of transit, although they run through another State, when they terminate at or near its boundary, as if the lines or corporations were wholly within our own territory. This very question was much discussed and considered in this court in the case of the City of St. Louis v. Alexander, 23 Mo. 483; and the bonds issued by the City of St. Louis to the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, a foreign corporation, were held valid and binding. This seems to be the current law on the subject, and the power undoubtedly exists when there is no express...

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