State of North Carolina v. Temple

CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Writing for the CourtBRADLEY; HARLAN
Citation10 S.Ct. 509,134 U.S. 22,33 L.Ed. 849
PartiesSTATE OF NORTH CAROLINA et al. v. TEMPLE
Decision Date03 March 1890

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,

Page 23

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

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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...

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72 practice notes
  • Seminole Tribe Florida v. Florida, 9412
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • March 27, 1996
    ...The Eleventh Circuit has stayed its review of that decision pending the disposition of this case. 7. E.g., North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 30, 10 S.Ct. 509, 511, 33 L.Ed. 849 (1890); Fitts v. McGhee, 172 U.S. 516, 524, 19 S.Ct. 269, 272, 43 L.Ed. 535 (1899); Bell v. Mississippi, 177 ......
  • Ernst v. Roberts, No. 02-2287.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)
    • August 12, 2004
    ...when establishing the judicial power of the United States." Hans, supra, at 15, 10 S.Ct. 504.[7] 7 E.g., North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 30, 10 S.Ct. 509, 511, 33 L.Ed. 849 (1890); Fitts v. McGhee, 172 U.S. 516, 524, 19 S.Ct. 269, 272, 43 L.Ed. 535 (1899); Bell v. Mississippi, 177 U.......
  • State Highway Commission of Missouri v. Volpe, No. 72-1512.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)
    • April 2, 1973
    ...of but will require affirmative action by the sovereign or the disposition of unquestionably sovereign property. North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 10 S.Ct. 509, 33 L.Ed. 849 (1890)." 337 U.S. at 691 n. 11, 69 S.Ct. at Notwithstanding, we do not consider the court's decree in the instan......
  • Vann v. Kempthorne, No. 07-5024.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (District of Columbia)
    • July 29, 2008
    ...of but will require affirmative action by the sovereign or the disposition of unquestionably sovereign property. North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 10 S.Ct. 509, 33 L.Ed. 849 Larson, 337 U.S. at 691 n. 11, 69 S.Ct. 1457. The Cherokee Nation claims that the Freedmen improperly seek "affi......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
70 cases
  • Ernst v. Roberts, No. 02-2287.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)
    • August 12, 2004
    ...when establishing the judicial power of the United States." Hans, supra, at 15, 10 S.Ct. 504.[7] 7 E.g., North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 30, 10 S.Ct. 509, 511, 33 L.Ed. 849 (1890); Fitts v. McGhee, 172 U.S. 516, 524, 19 S.Ct. 269, 272, 43 L.Ed. 535 (1899); Bell v. Mississippi, 177 U.......
  • State Highway Commission of Missouri v. Volpe, No. 72-1512.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)
    • April 2, 1973
    ...of but will require affirmative action by the sovereign or the disposition of unquestionably sovereign property. North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 10 S.Ct. 509, 33 L.Ed. 849 (1890)." 337 U.S. at 691 n. 11, 69 S.Ct. at Notwithstanding, we do not consider the court's decree in the instan......
  • West Coast Exploration Co. v. McKay, No. 11187.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (District of Columbia)
    • January 26, 1954
    ...of but will require affirmative action by the sovereign or the disposition of unquestionably sovereign property. North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 10 S.Ct. 509, 33 L.Ed. 849 15 United States v. Missouri Pac. R. Co. is apparently cited for language used in the opinion, as follows, in re......
  • Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon, No. 84-351
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • June 28, 1985
    ...II, 465 U.S., at 98, 104 S.Ct., at 906, has been affirmed time and time again, up to the present day. E.g., North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 30, 10 S.Ct. 509, 511, 33 L.Ed. 849 (1890); Fitts v. McGhee, 172 U.S. 516, 524, 19 S.Ct. 269, 272, 43 L.Ed. 535 (1899); Bell v. Mississippi, 177......
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1 books & journal articles
  • Citizen Suits Against States and Territories and the Eleventh Amendment
    • United States
    • The Clean Water Act and the Constitution. Legal Structure and the Public's Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment Part II
    • April 20, 2009
    ...(same); Smith v. Reeves, 178 U.S. 436, 446 (1900) (same); Fitts v. McGhee, 172 U.S. 516, 524 (1899) (same); North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 30 (1890) (same); Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 13, 15 (1890) (assert-ing that federal jurisdiction over suits against states “was not contempl......

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