Seibert v. Lewis

Citations

• 122 U.S. 284
• 7 S. Ct. 1190
• 30 L. Ed. 1161
• 1887 U.S. LEXIS 2108

Syllabus

<p>It being the settled doctrine of this court that “ the remedy subsisting in a state when and where a contract is made and is to be' performed is a part of its obligation, and” that “any subsequent law of the state which so affects that remedy as substantially to impair and lessen the value of 'the contract is forbidden by the Constitution, and is therefore void;” and the legislature of Missouri having, by the act of March 23, 1868, to facilitate the construction of railroads, enacted that the county court should from time to time levy and cause to be collected, in the •same manner as county taxes, a special tax in order to pay the interest and principal of any bond which might be issued by a municipal corporation in the state on account of a subscription, authorized by the act, ,to the stock of a railroad company^ which tax should be levied on all the real estate witliin the township making the subscription, in accordance with the valuation then last made by the county assessors for county purposes, Held:</p> <p>(1) That it was a material part of this contract that such creditor should always have the right to a special tax to be levied and collected in the same manner as county taxes at the same time might be levied and collected;</p> <p>(2) That the provisions contained in §§ 6798, 6799’, and 6800 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri of 1879 respecting the assessment and collection of such taxes are not a legal equivalent for the provisions contained in the act of 1868; and</p> <p>(3) That the. law of 1868, although repealed by the legislature of Missouri, is still in force for the purpose of levying and collecting the tax necessary for the payment of a judgment recovered against a municipal corporation in .the state, upon a debt incurred by subscribing-to the stock of a railroad company in accordance with its provisions.</p>