Citation Numbers: 43 S.E. 3, 131 N.C. 657
Judges: DOUGLAS, J.
Filed Date: 12/20/1902
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/13/2023
FURCHES, C. J., dissenting; CLARK, J., dissenting in part. This is an action to declare invalid certain bonds issued by Murfreesboro Township, in Hertford County, and to enjoin the payment thereof. From a judgment for the plaintiff the defendant appealed. As this case stands upon demurrer, all (676) the allegations of fact contained in the complaint must be taken as true for the purposes of this appeal. However, we have not been satisfied with this legal presumption, but have personally examined the original Journal of the House of Representatives, and find that neither act was passed in accordance *Page 468 with the mandatory provisions of the Constitution. We will give the entry on one reading as an example. We find on one page of the Journal the following written entry:
"H. B. 948, a bill to incorporate the Murfreesboro Railroad Company, passes its third reading by the following vote, and is ordered to be sent to the Senate without engrossment." On the following page is a printed blank which, with the entries in ink, reads as follows:
"H. B. 948; S. B. _____ Messrs. Speaker (here follows the printed names of all the members of the House, with a simple dash( — ) opposite ninety-four names). Ayes, 94; nays, ____; total, ____."
The only written entries are the figures "948" after the capital letters "H. B.," the dashes opposite the names, and the figures "94" after the word "ayes." The dotted lines after the letters "H. B." and "S. B." and after the words "ayes" and "nays" and "total," are all printed. There is not the scratch of a pen after the words "nays" and "total." From this it appears that ninety-four members, whose names are marked, voted in the affirmative; while there is no statement as to those voting in the negative. If there were any members voting in the negative their names should have been entered upon the Journal, while if there were none so voting that fact should be affirmatively
stated. To say that the mere failure to fill out a printed blank is an affirmative declaration that there were no nays is a proposition that does not commend itself either to our views of language or of law. If it were affirmatively stated that (677) there were no nays, or that only 94 members voted, the case would be different. Again, if the Journal gave the names of 120 members voting in the affirmative, we would take judicial cognizance of the fact that there were only 120 members of the House, and that therefore there could be no nays; but there are 26 members on the third reading and 50 members on the second reading who are not accounted for. We may know as a matter of fact that members are frequently absent, but there is no such presumption. If there were any presumption at all it would seem to be that the members of the Legislature were present during its sessions in the performance of the responsible duties for which they were elected. Aside from this we can only repeat what this Court has so often said, that where the names of the members voting in the negative are not given it must affirmatively appear on the Journal that there were none so voting. Smathers v. Commissioners,
In Commissioners v. Call,
In Norton v. Shelby County,
The defendant contends that "the plaintiff is estopped from denying the validity of said bonds and coupons by the judgment in the controversy of W. T. Brown against the Board of County Commissioners of Hertford County." That case was submitted upon an agreed state of facts in a controversy without action, and the validity of the act under section 14 of Article II of the *Page 471
Constitution was in no way involved. Not only was it not decided, but it was not even alluded to in any stage of the proceedings. Therefore it cannot operate as an estoppel under the uniform decisions of this Court. In Glenn v. Wray,
The same caution is reiterated in Black v. Commissioners,
It is contended that the plaintiff is estopped by the judgments in the United States Circuit Court. In no event could these judgments operate as an estoppel in any degree beyond the coupons then actually due and embraced in the judgments. Nesbitt v. Riverside District,
The courts of this State will never sanction the repudiation of a lawful debt; but we are here to declare the law and not to make it. If any hardship results we can only deplore what we are unable to remedy. The Constitution of this State is plenary notice to the world of its organic law. There can be no bona *Page 472 fide holders of unconstitutional obligations, nor can ignorance of public statutes and legislative journals be deemed otherwise than willful or negligent. The Journals are published for the information of the public, and are widely distributed and easily accessible, fully as much so as the public records of a county. Surely no one would be heard to say that he was the bona fide owner of a piece of land simply because he held a deed thereto, when an inspection of the records would show that his grantor had no power to convey.
We are frequently reminded of the hardships arising from declaring bonds invalid after they have been sold and paid for. We see no way of deciding upon their validity before the (682) question is presented to us, and this question can be, and frequently has been, presented and decided before the issuing of the bonds. Charlotte v. Shepard,
The decisions of this Court upon these matters have been uniform, and were foreshadowed by those upon kindred subjects.
In S. v. Patterson,
In the opinion the Court says, on pages 262 and 264: "The answer to these and like questions must be, that requirements of the Constitution shall prevail and be observed; and when it prescribes that a particular act or thing shall be done in a way and manner specified, such direction must be treated as a command, and an observance of it essential to the effectiveness of the act or thing to be done. Such act cannot be complete — such thing is not effectual — until done in the way and manner so prescribed.
"The purpose of thus prescribing an enacting clause — `the style of the acts' — is to establish the act — to give it permanence, uniformity and certainty — to identify the act of legislation as of the General Assembly, to afford evidence of its legislative, statutory nature, and to secure uniformity of identification, and thus prevent inadvertence, possible mistake and fraud. Such purpose is important of itself, and as it is of the Constitution, a due observance of it is essential. The manner of the enactment of a statute is of its substance. This is so in the nature of the matter as well as because the Constitution makes (683) it so." In Commissioners v. Coler,
The bonds now in question are dated 19 September, 1887; but it appears from the record that they were not actually issued until after the determination of the Brown suit in 1888. Therefore they were issued after the decision in Patterson's case, which was determined in 1887. The same principle was decided in practical effect in Galloway v. R. R.,
"'To maintain the honor and good faith of the State untarnished the public debt regularly contracted before and since the rebellion shall be regarded as inviolable, and never to be questioned.' Article I, section 6. `No law shall be passed to raise money on the credit of the State, directly or indirectly, for the payment of any debt, etc., unless the bill is read three times on three different days, and unless the yeas and nays on the *Page 474 second and third readings of the bill shall have been entered on theJournal.' Article II, section 14. (The italics are ours.) `The General Assembly shall,' etc., Article V, section 4. Here we have a declaration of a purpose to maintain the honor of the State and pay off the public debt — a rebuke of hasty legislation in reference to raising money and pledging the faith of the State — and an announcement that although the debt is so large that it cannot be paid off for years, yet the interest must be paid promptly and a sinking fund provided for the discharge of the principal. This purpose could not be effected without putting a stop to the increase of the public debt by restricting the power of the Legislature." In that case it was not alleged that the yeas and nays were not entered upon the Journal, and hence that question was not directly at issue; but the inclusion of section 14, Article II, among the mandatory provisions of the Constitution is a clear intimation of what the Court would have decided had the question been involved.
In Scarborough v. Robinson,
The judgment of the court below is
Modified and affirmed.
McGuire v. . Williams , 123 N.C. 349 ( 1898 )
Rodman v. . Washington , 122 N.C. 39 ( 1898 )
Charlotte v. . Shepard , 122 N.C. 602 ( 1898 )
Black v. . Commissioners , 129 N.C. 121 ( 1901 )
Slocomb v. . Fayetteville , 125 N.C. 362 ( 1899 )
State v. . Patterson , 98 N.C. 660 ( 1887 )
Claybrook v. . Commissioners , 117 N.C. 456 ( 1895 )
Commissioners v. . Payne , 123 N.C. 432 ( 1898 )
Bank v. . Commissioners , 119 N.C. 214 ( 1896 )
Glenn v. . Wray , 126 N.C. 730 ( 1900 )
Comrs. v. . Snuggs , 121 N.C. 394 ( 1897 )
Commissioners v. . Derosset , 129 N.C. 275 ( 1901 )
Scarborough v. . Robinson , 81 N.C. 409 ( 1879 )
Commissioners v. . Call , 123 N.C. 308 ( 1898 )
United States v. County of MacOn , 25 L. Ed. 331 ( 1879 )
Wilkes County v. Coler , 21 S. Ct. 458 ( 1901 )
County of Daviess v. Huidekoper , 25 L. Ed. 112 ( 1879 )
Norton v. Shelby County , 6 S. Ct. 1121 ( 1886 )
Galloway v. . Chatham R. R. Co. , 63 N.C. 147 ( 1869 )