David Josiah Brewer

“ For instance, whether an election has been held, whether at such an election a majority voted in favor of the issue of bonds, whether the terms of the subscription have been complied with, and matters of a kindred nature, which either expressly or by necessary implication are to be determined in the firs instance by the officers of the county, will, in favor of a bona fide holder, be conclusively presumed to have been fully performed, provided the bonds contain recitals similar to these in the bonds before us. ”

“ It is said that the bonds were placed in escrow, and that when an instrument is so placed there can be no valid delivery until the condition of the escrow has been performed; and if, without performance, the instrument passes out of the hands of the one holding the instrument in escrow, it is not enforceable against the maker, and that in a suit on the instrument the inquiry is always open whether the condition of the escrow has been performed. ”

“ The third of the three peculiar and distinguishing characteristics of negotiable instruments, as stated in 1 Daniel on Negotiable Instruments (section 1) is respecting the consideration; and the author says:
'As between immediate parties, the true state of the case may be shown, and the presumption of consideration rebutted. But when a bill of exchange or negotiable note has passed to a bona fide holder for value, and before maturity, no want or failure of consideration can be shown. Its defects perish with its transfer ”

“ We do not mean to imply that good faith is the only requisie , or that a condition plainly prescribed by the legislature can be ignored by a county, even with the best of intentions. On the contrary, we reaffirm the proposition laid down in Barnum v. Okolona, 48 U.S. 393, 395, 13 Sup. Ct. 638: 'That municipal corporations have no power to issue bonds in aid of a railroad except by legislative permission; that the legislature, in granting permission to a municipality to issue its bonds in aid of a railroad, may impose such conditions as it may choose ”