Bender v. Crawford

Citations

• 33 Tex. 745

Syllabus

<p>1. The Constitution of this State, of 18'69, declares, in the forty-third sec- ■ tion of its twelfth article, that “ the statutes of limitation of civil suits were suspended by the so-called act of secession of the-twenty-eighth of January, 1861, and shall be considered as suspended within this State until the acceptance of this Constitution by the United States Congress.” Re>d, that this constitutional provision is neither an ex post facto law nor a law impairing the obligation of contracts; nor does it conflict in any other respect with the Constitution-, laws or treaties of the United States.</p> <p>2. The people of Texas, through their Constitutional Convention, and at the . ballot box, in voting upon the adoption of the Constitution, had both the right and the power to disregard even vested rights, provided'that m so doing they did not ininnge the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States ; and if they have clearly expressed in their Constitution their intention so to do, the courts of the State are hound to respect and enforce their will.</p> <p>3. The limitation laws of the State of Texas affect the remedy only, in which a right cannot vest; and, therefore, no objection founded on vested rights can be maintained against the forty-third section, twelfth article, of the State Constitution of 1869, declaring the limitation' laws to be suspended until the acceptance of that Constitution by the Congress of the United States.</p> <p>4. ‘On promissory notes due m 1859, suit was brought in July, 1869, and the limitation of four years was set up as a defense to the action. Held, conformably to the foregoing rulings, that the limitation laws being suspended from January 28, 1861, until after the commencement of this suit, they could constitute no bar to the recovery oi the plaintiff.</p> <p>5. In this case the court reviews the leading authorities on the important questions involved, and quotes with marked approval the opinion of this court in De Cordova v