State of North Carolina v. Temple

• Citation: 10 S.Ct. 509,134 U.S. 22,33 L.Ed. 849
• Parties: STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA et al. v. TEMPLE
• Decision Date: 03 March 1890
• Court: United States Supreme Court

10 S.Ct. 509

134 U.S. 22

33 L.Ed. 849

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA et al. v. TEMPLE.

March 3, 1890.

This suit was commenced in the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of North Carolina by bill in equity filed by Alfred H. Temple, a citizen of North Carolina, on behalf of himself and other bondholders in like interest, against the state of North Carolina and William P. Roberts, the auditor of said state. The object of the bill is to compel said state and its officials, including the auditor, to execute and carry into effect a certain statute of the state, passed January 29, 1869, which provided for raising taxes to pay the interest on certain bonds of the state, called 'special tax bonds of the state of North Carolina,' issued under the provisions of said act, and held by the plaintiff and others. In other words, it is a suit, in the nature of a bill for a specific performance of a contract, brought to compel the state of North Carolina to raise a tax for the payment of the arrears of interest due on the state bonds held by the plaintiff and others. The act referred to authorized a subscription on the part of the state of $4,000,000 of the capital stock of the Wilmington, Charlotte & Rutherford Railroad Company, and the issue of state bonds for the payment thereof, payable 30 years after date, with interest at 6 per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually, to be represented by coupons. The subscription was made, and 3,000 of the bonds, for $1,000 each were issued, of which the bonds of the plaintiff, which constitute the ground of the present suit, are a part. By the sixth section of the act it was provided as follows: 'Sec. 6. For the purpose of providing for the payment of the interest upon the bonds hereby authorized and the principal at its maturity, an annual tax of one-eighth of one per cent. is hereby imposed upon all the taxable property of the state, which shall be levied, collected, and paid into the state treasury as other public taxes, and the surplus, after paying the interest, shall be invested in securities of the United States or other safe securities, and kept as a sinking fund for the payment of the principal money at maturity.' The bill alleges that the plaintiff is the bona fide holder of 10 of said bonds, (giving their numbers,) and that the overdue coupons attached thereto, unpaid, amount to $9,900; that in the year 1869 the collection of the special tax was duly made, and a portion of the coupons was paid; but that in the month of January, 1870, and while large amounts of money arising from the collection of the special tax aforesaid remained in the hands of the state treasurer, applicable to the payment of said coupons, the state of North Carolina, in violation of the constitution of the United States, did by legislative resolution direct the appropriation of the said moneys then in the hands of the treasurer to other purposes; and that after all of said 3,000 bonds had been issued according to law the saw the state of North Carolina undertook to impair the obligation of the contract, and to that end, on the 20th of January, 1870, formally enacted the following resolution: 'Resolved, that the treasurer be instructed and directed not to pay any more interest on the special tax bonds until authorized and directed so to do by this general assembly.' That to the same end, upon the 8th of March, 1870, the state also passed an act declaring as follows: 'Section 1. The general assembly of North Carolina do enact that all acts passed at the last session of this legislature making appropriations to railroad companies be, and the same are hereby, repealed; that all bonds of the state which have been issued under the said acts now in the hands of any president or other officers of the corporation be immediately returned to the treasurer. Sec. 2. The moneys in the state treasury which were levie and collected under the provisions of the acts mentioned in section one of this act are hereby appropriated to the use of the state government, and shall be credited to the counties of the state upon the tax to be assessed for the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, in proportion to the amounts collected from them, respectively.' That with the same view, upon the 23d of November, 1874, the general assembly passed an act containing the following provisions: 'Sec. 2. That the treasurer shall not pay or discharge any claim for interest upon any portion of the bonded debt of this state, except as hereinafter provided for by law. Sec. 3. That the auditorshall not audit or recognize any claim for principal or interest upon any portion of the bonded debt of this state heretofore made or pretended to be made by authority of this state, except as hereafter provided for by law. Sec. 4. That any money in or which may be paid into the treasury on account of special taxes heretofore levied for the payment of interest on bonds or pretended bonds of this state is hereby transferred and appropriated to the general fund.' That in like connection, on the 3d day of November, 1880, the following constitutional amendment was adopted by the state: 'Nor shall the general assembly assume or pay or authorize the collection of any tax to pay, either directly or indirectly, expressed or implied, any debt or bond incurred or issued by authority of the convention of the year 1868, or any debt or bond incurred or issued by the legislature of the year 1868, at its special session of 1868 and at its regular session of 1868 and 1869 and 1870, except the bonds issued to fund the interest of the public debt, unless the purposing to pay the...