Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. City of Aurora

Citations

• 99 Ill. 205
• 1881 Ill. LEXIS 166

Syllabus

<p>1. Municipal indebtedness — to be incurred without a vote — but not by compulsion. Under the constitution of 1848, the legislature could properly confer upon a city the power to incur indebtedness and issue its bonds for a corporate purpose, without any vote of the people, but it could go no further. It could not compel a city or incorporated town to incur a debt, unless the legislative department of the city or town saw proper to do so.</p> <p>2. Same — issue of bonds with conditions. Where an act conferring power upon a city council to incur an indebtedness and issue its bonds therefor, is silent in regard to the time when the bonds shall be made payable, and in regard to the terms and conditions upon which they shall be payable, such matters will be left to the city and the person to whom the bonds are to be issued, to be settled, and when agreed to, the city may make the payment of such bonds depend upon conditions mutually assented to.</p> <p>3. Bonds — when part of condition is void. Where a bond contains two conditions, one authorized by law and good, and the other unauthorized and bad, and the conditions are in their nature severable, the latter may be rejected and the other held good and the bond sustained.</p> <p>4. The city of Aurora, under an act of the legislature authorizing it to issue its bonds as a donation to a railway company to secure the location of its machine shops in the city, passed an ordinance for the issue of such bonds, to be conditioned that both the principal and interest should be paid out of moneys to be raised by special tax, to be levied and collected of property in the east division of the city, and that if such a tax could not be legally assessed, the obligees should procure the passage of a law authorizing the levy of such a special tax, and that if any of the conditions were not fulfilled, the bonds should be void. Under this ordinance the city issued her bonds, conditioned as the ordinance required. It was contended by the