State ex rel. St. Joseph Bridge Bldg. Co. v. Severance
| Decision Date | 29 February 1872 |
| Citation | 49 Mo. 401 |
| Parties | THE STATE OF MISSOURI ex rel. ST. JOSEPH BRIDGE BUILDING COMPANY, Relator, v. JOHN SEVERANCE, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF ST. JOSEPH, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Petition for Mandamus.
W. P. Hall, for relator.
It was because of the failure to secure money independent of the city subscription that the modifying ordinance was passed and the original subscription was changed. The city knew that relator could not get money from sources independent of the city, and hence modified its original subscription so that relator might be relieved from the necessity of raising money outside of the city subscription. In the face of these facts, for the city now to say that it intended that the relator should, under the modified subscription, be required to provide means independent of the city subscription, is to ignore the very purpose for which the modification was made. The true meaning of the city's subscription, as modified, is this: that the city should issue $250,000 of its bonds on call, and that, whenever relator should expend on its bridge $100,000, no matter from what source derived, the city should issue to relator $50,000 more bonds, and so on until its subscription was exhausted. This is the cotemporaneous construction adopted by all parties whose duty it was to enforce the ordinances of the city.
Jeff. Chandler, for respondent.
The petitioner applies for a writ of mandamus to compel the defendant, who is mayor of the city of St. Joseph, to deliver a certain amount of bonds on account of the subscription made by the said city to aid in the building and construction of the plaintiff's bridge.
There is no dispute about the power of the city to subscribe, and the facts in the case are agreed upon; and the only question is whether, upon a proper construction of the ordinances authorizing the subscription, and by the terms by which it was made, the plaintiff is entitled to the bonds demanded at this time.
The original ordinance empowering the mayor and council to subscribe for stock in the undertaking, provided that if two-thirds of the qualified voters of the city of St. Joseph, at an election to be held for that purpose, should assent to the subscription, then the mayor and council should without delay cause the bonds and coupons to be engraved at the expense of the city and deposited with the city treasurer; and when $100,000 should actually have been expended by the Bridge Company in the construction of the bridge across the Missouri river at St. Joseph, the mayor of the city should certify such fact to the city treasurer, and the treasurer should thereupon deliver to said Bridge Company, or...
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