Williams v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 22 April 1890
• Citation: 24 N.E. 647,132 Ill. 574
• Parties: WILLIAMS v. PEOPLE ex rel. WILSON, Collector.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

132 Ill. 574

24 N.E. 647

WILLIAMS

v.PEOPLE ex rel. WILSON, Collector.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 22, 1890.

Appeal from county court, White county; B. S. ORGAN, Judge.Wm. Hamill and J. R. Williams, for appellant.

This was an application by Samuel J. Wilson, collector of the revenue of White county, to the county court of that county for judgment against delinquent lands and lots for the taxes of 1888. The appellant John R. Williams, a tax-payer, filed objections to the entry of judgment against certain of his lands for the tax to pay interest on $99,500 of the bonds of said county, issued in 1872 to the Cairo & VincennesRailroad Company or bearer, with interest at 8 per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually. The county court overruled the objections, and rendered judgment against the lands of the objector.

The objections involved the validity of the bonds, of which the following is the form: ‘United States of America. White County Bond. No. _____. State of Illinois. $500. Know all men by these presents, that the county of White, in the state of Illinois, acknowledges itself indebted to the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad Company or bearer in the sum of five hundred dollars, which sum the said county promises to pay said company or bearer, in the city of New York, twenty years after date, with interest thereon from and after January 1, 1873, at the rate of eight per centum per annum, payable half yearly, on the first day of January and July of each year, on the presentation and surrender, at the place in the said city of New York where the treasurer of the state of Illinois pays the interest and debt of said state, of the coupons hereunto attached. This bond is one of two hundred of like tenor and amount of the same issue, and is issued pursuant to an order of the county court of said county, authorized by a majority of the legal votes cast at an election held in said county pursuant to law, on the first day of October, A. D. 1867. This bond is also issued under the provisions of an ‘Act to incorporate the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad Company,’ approved March 6, 1867, and under the provisions of an act to amend said act, approved February 9, 1869; also under the provisions of an ‘Act to fund and provide for the payment of the railroad debts of counties, townships, cities, and towns,’ approved April 16, 1869; and is in part payment of a subscription to the capital stock of the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad Company, in the total sum of one hundred thousand dollars. In testimony whereof the said county of White has executed this bond by the county judge of said county, under the order of the county court of said county, signing his name thereto, and by the clerk of said county, under the order thereof, attesting the same, and affixing hereto the seal of said court. This done at the office of the clerk of said court this ___ day of _____, A. D. 1872. ________, County Judge of White County, State of Illinois. Attest: ________, Clerk of the County Court of White County, Illinois.'

Section 10 of said act of March 6, 1867, (2 Priv. Laws 1867, p. 561,) is as follows: ‘Sec. 10. The several towns, cities, or counties, through or near which said railroad shall pass, may subscribe for and take stock in this company, and may issue bonds in payment for such stock, of $500, each bearing interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum, or less, payable half yearly, in the city of New York, on the first days of January and July of each year, and bonds to run not longer than 25 years; and a tax of not more that one dollar on each hundred dollars worth of taxable property may be levied and collected in such town, city, or county, per annum, to pay the installments on such stock, or to pay the interest and principal of bonds issued in payment for such stock: provided, that no such subscription shall be made, no such bonds shall be issued, and no such tax shall be levied, unless a majority of the legal voters of said town, city, or county shall vote for the same, at an election to be held under order of the corporate authorities in cases of towns and cities, and of the county court in cases of counties: Provided, further, that a majority of legal voters at any such election shall beheld as a majority of the legal voters of any such town, city, or county, and the questions of making a subscription, issuing bonds, and levying taxes may be submitted as one question, or as separate questions, at such election; and either or all of said questions may be submitted to an election at any time in the discretion of the authorities authorized to call such election.’

Section 3 of said act of February 9, 1869, is as follows, (3 Priv. Laws 1869, p. 259:) ‘Sec. 3. Be it further enacted that all contracts made by towns, cities, and counties, into, through, or near which the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad Company shall run, whereby, as an inducement for the construction of said railroad, such towns, cities, and counties agreed, upon the completion of certain portions of said railroad, to sell to the said company, at a nominal price, the stock of said company for which such towns, cities, or counties, by a vote of their electors, had theretofore subscribed and agreed to issue bonds in payment thereof, thereby, in effect, agreeing to make a donation to said company of certain amounts of the bonds of such towns, cities, or counties, as an inducement for the construction of said railroad, are hereby declared to be valid and binding upon such towns, cities, and counties, and shall be carried into effect, in good faith, by the same; and all orders for and notices of elections and elections, and returns of such elections, in respect to such subscriptions of stock to said company, in any such towns, cities, and counties, are hereby declared to be valid and binding upon such towns, cities, or counties.’

On the 4th day of September, 1867, the following, among other, proceedings, were had and entered of record by said county court: ‘It is hereby ordered by the court that an election be held on Tuesday, the first day of October, 1867, upon the following questions, to-wit: (1) That White county subscribe the sum of $100,000 to the capital stock of the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad Company. (2) That, in payment of such subscription to the stock of said company, bonds of White county, Illinois, be issued to said railroad company in the denomination of $500 each, said bonds to bear interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum, payable half yearly, in the city of New York, on the first days of January and July in each year, said bonds to run twenty years, and the faith of the county of White to be pledged for the payment of principal and interest thereon. (3) That a tax of not more than one dollar on each $100 worth of taxable property of White county shall be levied and collected to pay the interest and principal of said bonds when issued. (4) That the county court of White county shall not deliver the said bonds to any person or persons whatever until such time as said Cairo & Vincennes Railroad Company shall have completed the road from Vincennes to the south line of Wabash county, and the cars are running from Vincennes to said south line of said Wabash county. (5) That the people of White county pledge themselves to vote a bonus of $100,000 to any railroad company which shall, within five years from this date, complete a railroad from St. Louis, Missouri, to Evansville, Indiana, running through the towns of Enfield and Carmi, in said White county, Illinois; said bonus, or any part thereof, not to be payable until said road shall be entirely completed, and the cars running from said city of St. Louis to said city of Evansville. It is further ordered by the court that all of said questions be voted upon as one question, and all voters of White county who favor the adoption of said propositions shall have written or printed on their ballots, ‘Yes:’ and all voters of White county who oppose the adoption of said propositions shall have written or printed upon their ballots, ‘No.”.

On October 17, 1871, the county court entered the following order: ‘It is ordered that all contracts heretofore made by this court with the C. & V. R. R. Co. or its agents or attorneys be, and teh same are hereby, revoked; Gen. E. F. Winslow, agent of said R. R. Co., being in open court, and assenting to said order. It is ordered that the clerk of this court be authorized and directed to subscribe to the capital stock of the C. & V. R. R. Co. the sum of $100,000, in accordance with a vote of the people of said county, at an election held in said county on Tuesday, the 1st day of October, 1867.’

MAGRUDER, J., ( after stating the facts as above.)

The main objection urged against the validity of the bonds is that the election of October 1, 1867, was not held in pursuance of legal notice thereof previously given, and on this account was invalid; and that the subscription to the stock of the railroad company was invalid, because it was not made until after the constitution of 1870 had been adopted, and because it had not been authorized under existing laws, by a vote of the people of the county prior to such adoption.

The order of September 4, 1867, under which the election was held, is silent upon the subject of notice, and none of the proceedings of the county court in regard to the election, the subscription, or the bonds contain any information as to the notice of the election. It not only does not appear from those proceedings what notice was given, but it does not appear that any notice whatever was given. The bonds in question were issued after the adoption of the constitution of 1870. The burden of proof rests upon the parties affirming their validity to show, affirmatively, that they were authorized by a vote of the people of the municipality, under existing laws, prior to the adoption of the constitution. Jackson Co. v. Brush, 77 Ill. 59;Middleport v....