State v. Hager

• Decision Date: 06 June 1887
• Citation: 92 Mo. 511,4 S.W. 925
• Parties: STATE ex rel. CRAMER v. HAGER and others.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

4 S.W. 925

92 Mo. 511

STATE ex rel. CRAMER v. HAGER and others.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

June 6, 1887.

TAXATION — INJUNCTION OF LEVY.

County judges will not be enjoined from levying a tax to pay the interest on township bonds, when no evidence appears that they ever threatened or intended to make such a levy, or that the plaintiff had reason to believe that they contemplated doing so; more especially since the Missouri act of March 23, 1868, under which the bonds were issued, has been held to be unconstitutional and void, and the Missouri act of 1879 would make them criminally liable for it.

Appeal from circuit court, Cape Girardeau county.

Hawkins & Cramer, for respondent. Oliver & Limbaugh, for appellants.

BRACE, J.

This is a proceeding by injunction, instituted by the respondent as prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau county, against the appellants, judges of the county court of said county, seeking to restrain said judges from levying taxes upon the property of the tax-payers of Cape Girardeau township, in said county, to pay the interest on certain bonds issued by said county in behalf of said township in aid of the Cape Girardeau & State Line Railway, by virtue of an act of the general assembly of the state of Missouri approved March 23, 1868, generally known as the "Township Aid Act." A temporary injunction was granted by the judge of the circuit court in vacation. The appellants appeared, filed their answer, denying each and every allegation contained in the petition, and the case, coming on to be heard on their motion to dissolve the injunction, was submitted to the court upon the following agreed statement of facts:

"It is hereby agreed by and between the parties plaintiff and defendant in this cause that the same shall be submitted to the court upon the following agreed statement of facts, which, it is believed, embraces all matters material to either party:

"(1) That Maurice Cramer is the prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau county, Missouri.

"(2) That William Hager, Samuel Hitt, and Robert M. Snider are the judges of the county court of said county.

"(3) That in the year 1869, under the provisions of an act of the general assembly of the state of Missouri entitled `An act to facilitate the construction of railroads in the state of Missouri,' approved March 23, 1868, the county court of Cape Girardeau county, for and in behalf of the township of Cape Girardeau, in said county, subscribed $150,000 to the capital stock of the Cape Girardeau & State Line Railroad Company, a corporation duly organized under the laws of the state of Missouri, and afterwards issued bonds in that sum, with interest coupons attached, running twenty years, and bearing eight per cent interest.

"(4) That the said bonds so issued by said county court are yet outstanding and unpaid.

"(...