Gould v. City of Paris

Citations

• 68 Tex. 511
• 4 S.W. 650
• 1887 Tex. LEXIS 727

Syllabus

<p>1. Constitution Construed —City Ordinance —Taxation. —On the tenth of April, 1877, the city council of the city of Paris passed an ordinance authorizing the purchase o£ a steam fire engine, cart and hose, and on the same day negotiated the purchase, paying part cash, and also on the same day issued, under authority of the ordinance, its coupon interest bearing bonds for the deferred payment, which on their face referred to the ordinance by its number, date and caption, as the authority for their issuance. The ordinance provided for an annual tax of one-tenth of one per cent on the value of the taxable property of the city to pay the bonds and interest, and declared that no part of the current expense fund, and no part of the interest and sinking fund provided few- the liquidation of pre-existing city debts, should be held responsible for the payment of the debt authorized by the ordinance, and that the acceptance, of the bonds by the owner of the fire engine, etc., should be construed as a consent to this provision. In a suit against the city by a purchaser of the bonds to recover the amount of the matured coupons, held:</p> <p>(1) The passage of the ordinance, the purchase of the property and the execution of the bonds, being contemporaneous, must be construed as one transaction.</p> <p>(2) The recitations contained in the face of the bonds, charged the purchaser thereof with notice of the terms of the ordinance and contract, and estopped him from claiming that the current expense fund of the city was liable for the payment of the bonds.</p> <p>(3) The validity of the contract depended on the authority of the council to levy the tax provided for by the city ordinance.</p> <p>(4) The act of March 15, 1875 (Rev. Stat., 420), was in force when the contract was made, except in so far as it was repugnant to section forty-eight of the general provisions of the constitution.</p> <p>(5) In view of the state of the pleadings and evidence, the city of Paris must be held t