Cape Girardeau County Court v. Hill, 118 U.S. 68 (1886)

118 U.S.
68
6 S.Ct. 951
30 L.Ed. 73
COUNTY COURT OF CAPE GIRARDEAU CO., MISSOURI,

and others
v.
UNITED STATES ex rel. HILL.1
Filed April 19, 1886.
This is a proceeding by mandamus, commenced in the circuit court of the

United States for the Eastern district of Missouri. The information is
based upon a judgment obtained by the relator in that court, April 7, 1881,
for the sum of $6,659.80, the amount of certain past-due coupons of bonds
issued by the county of Cape Girardeau, in that state, for the payment of a
subscription made by the township of the same name to the capital stock
of the Cape Girardeau & State Line Railroad Company. The authority for
making the subscription and issuing the bonds was a popular vote at a
township election held on the thirteenth of April, 1869, under a statute of
March 23, 1868, entitled 'An act to facilitate the construction of railroads
in the state of Missouri.' Laws Mo. 1868, p. 92. The first section of that
act prescribes the condition upon which such elections could be ordered
by the county court, and requires coupon bonds to be issued in payment of
any subscription voted, 'if it shall appear, from the returns of such
election, that not less than two-thirds of the qualified voters of such
township voting at such election are in favor of such subscription.' By the
second section it is made the duty of the county court, from time to time,
in order to pay any subscription so voted, or the interest and principal of
any bond issued on account of such subscription, to 'levy and cause to be
collected, in the same manner as county taxes, a special tax, which shall
be levied on all the real estate lying within the township making the
subscription, in accordance with the valuation then last made by the
county assessor for county purposes.' By an act passed March 10, 1871,
the second section of the last-mentioned statute was so amended as to
require this special tax to be 'levied on all the real estate and personal
property, including all statements of merchants doing business within the
said city, town, township, or county, lying and being within the township
making the subscription, in accordance with the valuation then last made
by the county assessor for county purposes: provided, however, that no
county, city, town, or township shall ever, in the aggregate, subscribe a

sum exceeding ten per cent. of the last annual assessment within said
county, city, or township.' Laws Mo. 1871, p. 55.
It is averred in the information that a demand was made upon the county
court and the judges thereof to pay the said judgment, interest, and costs,
or that they levy and cause to be collected upon the real estate and
personal property in the township subject to taxation, including merchants'
licenses, a tax according to law, for the purpose of paying the said
judgment, interest, and costs; that such demand was refused; and that the
county has no property out of which the judgment, interest, and costs can
be made. The return to the alternative writ of mandamus admits the right
of the relator to a levy of a tax upon the real estate in the township, but to
so much of the information as seeks to compel a levy upon personal
property and merchants' licenses the county makes the following defense:
That the act of March 10, 1871, was repealed by the general assembly of
Missouri in 1879, before the relator obtained his judgment; and that the
county court has not had since such repeal, and has not now, any authority
to levy taxes upon personal property or merchants' licenses, in the
township of Cape Girardeau, for the purpose of paying relator's judgment.
Upon the final hearing of the cause it was ordered that the county court,
within 30 days after being served with a copy of the order, shall cause to
be paid whatever amount of money may be in the treasury of the county
to the credit of the township applicable to the payment of the judgment
herein; 'said amount being whatever sum has not been heretofore paid on
judgments and writs thereunder, pro rata, rendered upon coupons for
which taxes have been collected for the coupons due of the same year,
from which said judgments and writs, if any other than the relators in this
case, unless of equal date therewith, are to be excluded in said pro rata
computation.' It was further ordered and adjudged that, in default of the
payment of the full amount of the principal, interest, and costs, the county
court 'cause to be levied and collected, in the same manner as county taxes
are levied and collected, a special tax to be assessed and levied on all the
real estate and personal property lying and being within the township of
Cape Girardeau, in the said county of Cape Girardeau, and including all
statements of merchants doing business within said township, for the
pupose of paying the judgment of relator, or so much thereof as may
remain unpaid at the time of making said levy, together with interest and
costs;' that the levy so ordered and directed be made at the time of making
the annual levy of taxes for state and county purposes in the year 1883;
that the said special tax be extended on the regular tax-book for said year,
in a separate column on said book; and that it 'cause the collection of said
tax by suit, distraint, or otherwise, as by law required, and when collected

to pay the same to the relator or his attorney of record.' From that
judgment the present writ of error has been prosecuted.
R. B. Oliver, for plaintiffs in error.
J. B. Henderson, for defendant in error.
Mr. Justice HARLAN, after stating the facts in the foregoing language,
delivered the opinion of the court.
The plaintiffs in error concede, as they must have done, that the coupons upon
which the relator obtained judgment are, in view of the decisions of this court,
obligations which may be enforced by suit against the county. If any question
could have been made as to their validity, it is concluded by the judgment
which is the foundation of the present proceeding. The only question now
before us is whether the relator is entitled to have a tax levied upon any
property other than real estate lying within the township. In behalf of the
plaintiffs in error it is contended that, as the act of 1868 only required a tax to
be levied on real estate, it was beyond the power of the legislature by
subsequent enactment, after the bonds were issued, to subject any property
other than real estate to taxation for the purpose of meeting this liability of the
township. Such legislation, it is claimed, is in violation of the prohibition,
found in both the national and state constitutions, of laws impairing the
obligations of contracts. This position cannot be maintained. There was not,
within the meaning of such prohibition, any contract between the state and the
township in respect either of the subscription which the latter voted, or of the
bonds issued in its behalf. The township being a part of the civil government of
the state, established for public purposes, the powers conferred upon it were at
all times subject to legislative control or modification,at least to such as was
not inconsistent with the contract rights of third parties. But for the provision in
the state constitution making the assent of the voters of the township, given at
an election held for that purpose, a condition precedent to the right of making a
subscription in its behalf in aid of the construction of railroads, the legislature
could have imposed the tax without submitting the question to popular vote.
The provision in the act of 1868 subjecting real estate to the tax therein
authorized was nothing more than an expression of the legislative will, and did
not prevent the enlargement, in the discretion of the legislature, of the subjects
of taxation. The township having legally incurred an obligation to pay the
bonds in question, it was competent for the legislature, at any time, to make
provision for its being met by taxation upon any kind of property within the
township that was subject to taxation for public purposes.
The only remaining point to be considered is whether the act of 1871 was in
force when this proceeding was commenced. We are of opinion that it was. It
certainly had not then been expressly repealed. But it is argued that the
legislature refused to incorporate it in the Revision of 1879, and by such refusal
indicated a purpose to repeal it. One answer to this argument is that it does not
appear that the legislature so refused. Its express direction, at the regular
session of 1879, was that the Revised Statutes, which it then ordered to be
prepared, should contain all laws of a general nature in force at the
commencement of that session, and 'not expressly repealed, nor repugnant to
the provisions' of any act passed at that session, 'and continued in force by their
own provisions.' Rev. St. Mo. 1879, 3154. It was further declared that 'all
acts, or parts of acts, of a general nature, in force at the commencement of the
present session of the general assembly, and not repealed, shall be, and the
same are hereby, continued in full force and effect, unless the same be
repugnant to the acts passed or revised at the present session.' Section 3161. It
is not claimed that the act of 1871 was repugnant to any act passed at the
session of 1879, when the revision was set on foot; and, as it had not then been
'expressly repealed,' it results that it was continued in full force. And this seems
to have been the view of the legislature at a subsequent session; for, by an act
passed March 24, 1885, after the judgment below, the act of March 10, 1871,
was expressly repealed. We perceive no ground for holding that the act of 1871
was repealed prior to the passage of the act of 1885. The judgment is affirmed.
S. C. 16 Fed. Rep. 836.

Cape Girardeau County Court v. Hill, 118 U.S. 68 (1886)

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118 U.S.

COUNTY COURT OF CAPE GIRARDEAU CO., MISSOURI,

This is a proceeding by mandamus, commenced in the circuit court of the

county, city, town, or township shall ever, in the aggregate, subscribe a

tax by suit, distraint, or otherwise, as by law required, and when collected

S. C. 16 Fed. Rep. 836.

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