Board of Com'rs v. Woodbury
Board of Com'rs v. Woodbury
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff below was the innocent purchaser for value of 13 bonds of the county of Clark dated April 10, 1889, payable April 10, 1919, with annual interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum evidenced by coupons attached thereto. In August, 1901, the treasurer of the county gave notice that the county would pay these bonds at its fiscal agency in New York on the 10th day of October, 1901, and that they would then cease to bear interest, and the question in this case is whether or not the plaintiff is entitled to interest on his bonds since that-date. The bonds recited that they were issued in payment of a subscription of capital stock of a railroad company made by the county by virtue of the authority conferred upon it by the act of the Legislature of Kansas approved February 25, 1876, Laws of Kansas 1876, c. 107, and by acts of the Legislature amendatory thereof (Laws 1877, cc. 142, 144) and supplemental thereto. The subscription was made on September 24, 1886, and the express terms of it were that in payment of the subscription the county would issue its bonds when the railroad should be completed to the town of Englewood payable “thirty years after the date thereof bearing interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum payable annually, for which interest coupons shall be attached.” In performance of this contract the railroad company built the railroad and completed it to Englewood by March 15, 1888, and on April 10, 1889, in obedience to a mandamus of the Supreme Court of the state of Kansas (Southern Kansas & Panhandle R. R. Co. v. Towner, 41 Kan. 72, 87, 21 Pac. 221), the county issued these bonds, and thereafter the plaintiff for value bought the coupons in suit and the bonds to which they were
The judgment below was right, and it must be affirmed.
It is so ordered,
For other cases see same topic & § number in Dec. & Am. Digs. 1907 to date, & Rep’r Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BOARD OF COM'RS OF CLARK COUNTY, KAN. v. WOODBURY
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by the Court.) 1. Constitutional Law (§ 143*) — Contracts—Impairment op Obligation. On September 24, 1886, pursuant to chapter 107, Laws of Kansas 1876, the county of Clark subscribed for stock of a railroad company, and agreed to pay for it in its bonds bearing interest at 6 per cent, per annum payable in 80 years from their date and on April 10, 1889, it delivered its bonds so payable according to this contract. On March 5, 1887, chapter 77, Laws of Kansas 1887, provided that any county in that state might redeem any of its bonds thereafter issued to railroad companies at any time after 10 years from the date of their issue, and Clark county called these, bonds in 1902, and gave notice that interest would cease thereon on October 10th in that year. Held, if the act of 1887 was applicable to the bonds in controversy, it impaired the obligation of the county’s contract of subscription, and was void, and if it did not apply to them that contract was valid, so that in either case the county was obligated to pay the interest on the bonds for 30 years from their date. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Constitutional Law, Cent. Dig. §§ 346-348; Dee. Dig. § 143.*] 2. Counties (§ 184*) — Bonds—Construction—Statutes—Estoppel of Recital — Chapter 107, Laws of Kansas 1876, and Chapter 77, Laws of Kansas 1887. The fact that there was a recital in the bonds that they were issued by virtue of the authority conferred by the act of 1876 and by the acts of the Legislature amendatory thereof (Acts 1877, cc. 142, 144) and supplemental thereto did not estop the railroad company or the plaintiff, a bona fide purchaser for value, from enforcing the county’s obligation to pay the interest on the bonds after the call because the act of 1887 conferred no authority to issue the bonds, and was not amendatory of or supplemental to the act of 1876. fEd. Note. — For other cases, see Counties, Dec. Dig. § 184.*]