Louisiana Ex Rel. Nelson v. Police Jury of St. Martin's Parish

Citations

• 111 U.S. 716
• 4 S. Ct. 648
• 28 L. Ed. 574
• 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1827

Syllabus

<p>When a contract is made with a municipal corporation upon the faith that taxes will be levied, legislation repealing or modifying the taxing power of the corporation, so as to deprive the holder of the contract of all adequate and efficacious remedy, is within the inhibition of the Constitution.</p> <p>On an appeal from a judgment ordering the issue of a mandamus to compel the eollectioh of a tax to pay a judgment recovered against a municipal corporation, the appellate court may authorize, an inquiry whether the judgment was founded upon a contract or a tort, with a view to determine the constitutional rights respecting it; but has no authority to re-examine the validity of the contract or the propriety of the original judgment, those questions having been finally adjudicated.</p> <p>A judgment creditor of a municipal corporation entitled by his original contract to bo paid out of specific tax levies, which agreement the corporation failed to comply with, is entitled, in mandamus proceedings, to a writ ordering the levy and collection of a sufficient tax to pay his judgment according to the assessment roll of the year in which the levy is made.</p>