Weightman v. Clark

Decision Date01 October 1880
Citation26 L.Ed. 392,103 U.S. 256
PartiesWEIGHTMAN v. CLARK
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Illinois.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

Mr. Henry Flanders and Mr. R. J. C. Walker for the appellants.

Mr. John I. Rinaker, contra.

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE delivered the opinion of the court.

By the Constitution of Illinois, adopted in 1848, counties were recognized as existing political subdivisions of the State, and the General Assembly was authorized to provide by a general law for a township organization, under which any county might come, whenever a majority of the voters should, at any general election, so determine. If a county did adopt a township organization, the management of its fiscal affairs by the county court might be dispensed with, and the business of the county transacted in such manner as the General Assembly should provide. Art. 7, sect. 6. Under the authority of this provision of the Constitution, an act was passed by the General Assembly authorizing such an organization, by which townships could be established and made bodies corporate, with certain defined governmental powers. Gross, State. 1869, p. 741.

By another statute each congressional township in the State was 'established a township for school purposes.' Id., p. 691. The business of such a township was to be done by three trustees, to be elected from time to time by the legal voters of the township, and who were made 'a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of 'trustees of schools of township___, range___,' according to the number.' The powers of these trustees related exclusively to the business of the public schools in the township. They had authority to lay off the township into school districts and apportion the school funds, and were charged with certain other duties connected with school affairs and school lands within their jurisdiction. They had no power to levy taxes. That was to be done by the directors of the several school districts which should be created.

Art. 9, sect. 5, of the Constitution of 1848 is as follows:——

'The corporate authorities of counties, townships, school districts, cities, towns, and villages may be vested with power to assess and collect taxes for corporate purposes; such taxes to be uniform in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. And the General Assembly shall require that all the property within the limits of municipal corporations, belonging to individuals, shall be taxed for the payment of debts contracted under authority of law.'

The Illinois Farmers' Railroad Company was incorporated Feb. 28, 1867, and by an amendment to its charter, passed April 15, 1869, the following provisions were made:——

'SECT. 2. It shall be lawful for the corporate authorities of the towns, townships, cities, and counties through which said road shall pass, to take stock in the said company; and shall also be empowered to make assessments, levy taxes, and collect the same in the manner in which the said several towns, townships, cities, and counties assess and collect taxes, for the prupose of paying the said assessments on the subscriptions to the said stock or the interest accruing thereon, and the said towns, townships, cities, and counties may issue bonds, bearing interest, at any point they may designate, either within or without the State of Illinois, at a rate not exceeding ten per cent per annum, payable annually or semi-annually, as they may elect: Provided, that the said townships, or towns shall not subscribe to the stock of the said company without submitting the said proposed subscription to a vote of the legal voters of their respective towns, townships, or cities, thirty days' notice of which shall be given, elections held and returns made as provided by the general election laws of this State: And provided further, that no such bonds shall issue, nor shall any interest be payable thereon or accrue, until said road is completed through the said town, township, city, or county: And provided further, that the subscriptions on the part of the said counties shall not be for a sum exceeding two thousand dollars per mile of the line of the said road in the said counties.

'SECT. 3. In counties not under township organization it shall be lawful for the trustees of schools to make subscriptions for their respective townships, and issue bonds as provided in the preceding section; and for the purpose of paying the said subscriptions or bonds, or the interest thereon, shall levy a tax, not exceeding the rate of one per cent per annum, upon the taxable property of their respective townships, and shall, through their treasurer, certify the said assessment to the clerk of the county court of their respective counties, and it shall be the duty of the said clerk of the county court to carry out the tax so assessed upon the collector's book; and the amount so raised by taxation shall remain in the hands of the treasurer of the proper county, and shall be employed by him in paying, first, the interest due on the said bouds, and then the principal, if any funds shall remain in his hands, and for no other purpose.'

The county of Morgan, through which the road of this...

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21 cases
  • The Grand Island and Northern Wyoming Railroad Company v. Baker
    • United States
    • Wyoming Supreme Court
    • June 30, 1896
    ...422; People v. May, id., 80; Trull v. Board, 72 N.C. 391; Buchanan v. Litchfield, 102 U.S. 278; French v. Board, 74 N.C. 692; Weightman v. Clark, 103 U.S. 256; State v. Co., 14 Neb. 42; In re House 31 id., 505; Young v. Lane (Neb.), 62 N.W. 202; Mfg. Co. v. Harvey, 45 Iowa 466; Shackelton v......
  • Gaud v. Walker
    • United States
    • South Carolina Supreme Court
    • April 29, 1949
    ...collect taxes for corporate purposes,' etc. It is clear, therefore, that this provision is, as is said by Waite, C. J., in Weightman v. Clark, 103 U.S. [256], 259 , speaking of a similar provision in the constitution of Illinois, 'a limitation on the power of the legislature to authorize ta......
  • Gaud v. Walker
    • United States
    • South Carolina Supreme Court
    • April 29, 1949
    ...collect taxes for corporate purposes, ' etc. It is clear, therefore, that this provision is, as is said by Waite, G J, in Weightman v. Clark, 103 U.S. [256], 259 , in speaking of a similar provision in the constitution of Illinois, 'a limitation on the power of the legislature to authorize ......
  • Folsom v. Townshipcounty
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • November 18, 1895
    ...valid act, as far as regards all the kinds of municipal corporations named therein,—cities, towns, counties, and townships. In Weightman v. Clark, 103 U. S. 256, the statute held to be unconstitutional purported to confer the power to issue bonds in aid of the construction of a railroad upo......
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